Beautiful empty beaches with sands that seem to go on forever.
Fields of orange trees, heavy with the scent of blossom. Then hills of fig and almond trees and houses with dazzling whitewashed walls and distinctive chimneys decorated to resemble the fine tracery of lace. And last of all, the great open spaces of the hills, where eagles soar, birds sing and flowers bloom.
The castle and the bell-towers of a multitude of churches. The river like a mirror reflecting houses and gardens. The distinctive outline of roofs in the local "tesouro" ("treasure") style. Broad vistas of sea and sand. These are among the charms of Tavira, a city of art and history and an essential port of call on any cultural tour of the Algarve. This is just a hint of the charms of Tavira and its municipality, an invitation to come and find out more.
Faro's beaches and the Ria Formosa, where flamingos can be seen taking to the air, mark the border with the sea.
The walls that surrounded the town in Moorish and medieval times; the vestiges of the past still to be seen in churches and museums; the refreshing green of a garden beside the Ria and the sea; the outline of noble residences that bear witness to Faro’s splendour in centuries past; narrow streets of whitewashed houses that recall the town’s Moorish heritage: these are among the sights to be savoured on a walk around Faro, a city where there is lots to see, to enjoy and to remember.
On the flat terrain behind are the houses and buildings of Faro, green vegetable plots that thrive on the fertile land and water wheels that were once used to draw water from the ground another reminder of the city's Moorish heritage. In the distance a semi-circle of gentle hills, their slopes clad with fruit trees, frames the landscape. Villages where life goes on at the same easy pace as in centuries past, where unassuming churches conceal art works of astonishing beauty, where vestiges of the magnificence of the Romans still litter the fields. These are among the charms of Faro and its municipality, an ideal starting point for exciting voyages of discovery.
