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The town has many fine 18th Century buildings along with its 37 churches.
A Roman bridge links the two parts of the town across the River
Gilão. The church of Santa Maria do Castelo is built on the
site of a Moorish Mosque and in it is the tombs of Dom Paio Peres
Correia and his seven Knights. Its original economic reliance on
the fishing industry has now been surpassed due to the change in
the migration patterns of the tuna fish. The population is in the
region of 20,000 inhabitants supporting a military base whilst the
surrounding area is still very rural and undeveloped. This is now
changing due to the demands of the tourist industry and opening
of golf courses in the near vicinity. The beach for this town lies
past the salt pans and is reached by a ferryboat that takes the
visitor to the sandy-bar island known as Ilha de Tavira.
Tavira Nearby Locations
Near to Tavira is Cabanas and Pedras del Rey, both small beachfront
villages catering specifically for the tourist. In the small village
of Luz de Tavira there is one of the finest examples of Manueline
craftsmanship around the southern door of the Parish Church. Santa
Luzia gets its name from a shipwrecked Italian effigy of the Virgin
Mary and is a very small unspoilt village with a fort. Near to the
Torre de Aves there is the remains of a Roman villa. To the east of
Tavira and overlooking the sea is the still original traditional village
of Cacela-a-Velha used by the Phoenicians and later becoming the possession
of the Knights of Santiago in 1240. |
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