Alte and Silves, the Algarve, Portugal
At last weather caught up with us, and with somewhat of a revenge! It was raining when we docked at Praia da Rocha, near Portimao, and slowly abated as we started traveling up into the mountains towards the town lying at the foot of hills and huddled around its parish church. The church was built in the 16th century. Many interesting trees were to be seen at the town, among them the carob, the pepper tree and the Judas Tree. Small shops offered us their typical tiles, and other handicrafts. Then on we went to Silves who reached its splendor under the Berbers from Africa during their occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. They even made it the capital of the Algarve. Here we walked partly up to the old cathedral, built in the 13th century, in the Gothic style. It suffered terribly during the earthquake of 1755, and was later restored. Then we walked up again to the Moorish fort that has been reconstructed. Besides visiting the ramparts, some of us visited the collection of torture mechanisms. In view also was a big metal cage with a human skeleton, part of the collection seen. Lovely trees grew inside the old fort, the jacarandas being the frondiest.
At the entrance of the fort we admired (!) a metal bull with a door on its side, where the king used to have his enemies stuffed in, and a fire was built under the animal, to torture them. Eventually the people revolted against him, and he met the same fate!
After the visit we returned to the ship for lunch, and began our last leg of travel to Cadiz.
At last weather caught up with us, and with somewhat of a revenge! It was raining when we docked at Praia da Rocha, near Portimao, and slowly abated as we started traveling up into the mountains towards the town lying at the foot of hills and huddled around its parish church. The church was built in the 16th century. Many interesting trees were to be seen at the town, among them the carob, the pepper tree and the Judas Tree. Small shops offered us their typical tiles, and other handicrafts. Then on we went to Silves who reached its splendor under the Berbers from Africa during their occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. They even made it the capital of the Algarve. Here we walked partly up to the old cathedral, built in the 13th century, in the Gothic style. It suffered terribly during the earthquake of 1755, and was later restored. Then we walked up again to the Moorish fort that has been reconstructed. Besides visiting the ramparts, some of us visited the collection of torture mechanisms. In view also was a big metal cage with a human skeleton, part of the collection seen. Lovely trees grew inside the old fort, the jacarandas being the frondiest.
At the entrance of the fort we admired (!) a metal bull with a door on its side, where the king used to have his enemies stuffed in, and a fire was built under the animal, to torture them. Eventually the people revolted against him, and he met the same fate!
After the visit we returned to the ship for lunch, and began our last leg of travel to Cadiz.
