By enjoying a meal in one of the participating restaurants, you will have access to the ongoing exposition “Tavira, Sea Heritages” at Palácio da Galeria/Municipal Museum.

The participants will also have the chance to win a week-end “Near the Sea” in one of the following hotels: Aldeamento Turístico Pedras da Rainha (Cabanas), Casa de Hóspedes Viana (Cabanas), Cabanas Park Resort (Cabanas), Aparthotel Golden Club (Cabanas), Apartamentos Turísticos Pedras D’El Rei (Santa Luzia) e Vila Galé Albacora (Tavira).

The success of the previous editions of the Gastronomy Festivals has been a decisive factor to promote even more Tavira’s Gastronomy.

Healthy food, eat with time, and preferrably in a traditional restaurant. Talk and have fun with friends. Exercise and walk, admire and protect the environment. Respect culture and habits, have a calm life based on quality principles in a fast and demanding world. These are the fundaments of Cittaslow to what Tavira joined in December 2008.

Linked to this concept is also the “Slow Food”, allowing people to discover the pleasure of eating and understand the food origins, how it’s made and by whom. In this way, the Tavira Gastronomy Festivals go hand-by-hand with this concept and movement having as a primary objective to raise awareness towards the local gastronomy and dishes that bring together family and friends.

Download the Sea Gastronomy Festival leaflet with information about participating restaurants and maps:
6th Sea Gastronomy Festival Leaflet

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Tavira 6th Sea Gastronomy Festival

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Tavira Medieval

05 July * 02 August * 06 September
Urban route that explains the fortified walls from the Islamic Period. From the Christian Period, two “neighbourhoods” will be visited: Mouraria Arab Quarters and the S. Francisco Convent.

Tavira of the Discoveries

12 July * 09 August * 13 September
At the end of the Middle Ages the city expands the walls and approaches the river and the sea – it is the beginning of the Discoveries, in whose process Tavira played a crucial role. What has changed in the city? How did the Manuelino style appear and later the Renaissance come about?

Baroque Tavira

19 July * 16 August * 20 September
From the 17th century, the churches changed their interiors into “treasures of gold and porcelain”. How did the new trend manifest itself outside the churches? Why is the urban landscape of Tavira dotted with towers and domes? How are the Baroque shapes and forms reflected in the city’s convents and palaces?

Contemporary Tavira

26 July * 23 August * 27 September
In 19th century Tavira, the construction of the Jardim do Coreto (Bandstand Garden), a place where one would go only to stroll, to See and be Seen! marks the committing of a space associated with new social habits. This is the starting point for a route through 20th century architecture where we come face to face with the “confrontation” between modernist architecture and the so called “português suave” architecture.

Organized by:
Palacio da Galeria
Museu Municipal de Tavira

Start: 6:30 pm
Exceptionally, on 5 July, the visit will start at 5:30 pm
Duration: approx. 1 hour
Meeting Point: Palacio da Galeria/ MMT
Maximum recommended: 40 people
Guide: Rita Manteigas – Art Historian
Free

Informations:
Serviço Educativo do Palacio da Galeria/ MMT
Tel: +351 281 320 500 (ext. 324)
edu.museus[at]cm-tavira.pt

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Come and learn about the history of Tavira!

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• Route 2: The Defense of the coastline against attacks from the Sea (part 1 of 3)
• Route 2: The Defense of the coastline against attacks from the Sea (part 2 of 3)
• Route 2: The Defense of the coastline against attacks from the Sea (part 3 of 3)

At the advent of modern times, the city of Tavira witnessed great vigor and development which dwindled when the course of the Gilão River was diverted. The movements of armies departing for the conquests in North Africa and in defense of the areas which were under threat contributed much to this splendor. These factors helped Tavira to very quickly become the chief region of the Algarve, since it served as a port of call for all [ships] and a departure point for passengers and goods from the region, which included lots of honey, wax, leather goods, dried fish, dates, horses and livestock, among others, which brought great wealth to the land.

Commerce and the conquest campaigns, as well as the almadravas (traditional tuna fishing craft or armações do atum) brought great economic prosperity to the Algarve, but also a big problem: pirates and privateering. Boats, almadravas and villages became attractive, often being soft targets. In 1577, Brother João de S. José, author of Corografia do Reino do Algarve (Chorology of the Kingdom of the Algarve), described the instability in Tavira due to enemies who often carried out exercises on this coastline, which they [the noblemen residing in Tavira] watched over day and night in summertime, with their feet in stirrups and a lance in their hand. The incursions carried out into enemy territory by the Berbers were frequent and violent between the months of April and September, and were aimed at the following: obtaining agricultural products and tuna. Sometimes people were captured and reduced to lavery.

According to Valdemar Coutinho, what forced the Portuguese to take more defensive than offensive measures from the XVIth century onwards was above all the political and religious attitudes in Magreb. Religious leaders linked to a Zawiya (a type of convent), with great power over the people, incited political leaders to Yihad (jihad) against the Christians of North Africa and against the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, through attacks by privateers and pirates, which had devastating effects on the coastal populations.

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Route 2: The Defense of the coastline against attacks from the Sea (part 2 of 3)

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• Route 2: The Defense of the coastline against attacks from the Sea (part 1 of 3)
• Route 2: The Defense of the coastline against attacks from the Sea (part 2 of 3)
• Route 2: The Defense of the coastline against attacks from the Sea (part 3 of 3)

In a region which is intimately linked with the sea and its riches, populations have long been establishing themselves along the coastline, exploiting marine resources, simultaneously blessed with the ease of contact with the sea and vulnerable to the evil intentions of some people brought to their door by the immense ocean.

In order to address these dangers, defensive systems were created throughout the centuries. These were of varying effectiveness, more or less in step with the military innovations which threatened them and especially conditioned by the political and economic stability of a country whose nerve centre was too far away.

In the municipality of Tavira, there are various examples of coastal defensive structures. However, of all the known structures on the coastline, only three have survived. The others were lost in time (due to their abandonment when their defensive qualities became obsolete), and are only known due to their having been recorded in historical texts. The oldest of the three structures is the circular tower at the site of Torre d’Aires, which was followed by the construction of Forte de Rato and Forte de S. João em Cabanas.

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Route 2: The Defense of the coastline against attacks from the Sea (part 1 of 3)

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At Praça da República, localized near the the River and its old Roman Bridge it’s the City center. There you will find the City Hall, were you will be able to identify the City’s Coat of Arms, and in the right corner, and according to tradition, the sculpted face of D. Paio Peres Correia (who conquered the City from the Moors). In the center of this square there is a monument dedicated to the I World War soldiers. Follow towards Porta de D. Manuel and you will be entering “Vila-a-dentro”.

This door was opened in the Kingdom of D. Manuel I to allow communication with Praça da Ribeira (where the old market is). At the top you can see the arms of King D. Manuel I “The Venturous”, going up and at your left is the Tourism Informations Centre and in front of you the Misericórdia Church; National monument from the XVI century considered the most valuable of the Renascentist in the Algarve. Admire the extraordinary facade (concluded in 1551) by the master-builder André Pilarte, a Renascentist door opened by a perfect arch with the image of Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia, sided by St. Peter and St. Paul and the Royal Arms of the City.

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Trough the city of Tavira

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This wall, to which is attributed, a prior, a timeline which belongs to the Portuguese and on which several towers were built, such as the great oca tower, is completely encased by private houses or surrounded by courtyards which are very difficult to access, therefore any conclusion of an archaeological dig would be mere conjecture.

By the reign of D. Manuel, the Moors had already been completely dominated throughout the Iberian Peninsula, and the fight against islamicised population had shifted, more than a century prior to that time, to Northern Africa. In spite of Tavira not being a fortified city of great grandeur, the role which the city played as a base of support for the Portuguese campaign in Morocco and the commerce which was maintained in this area of Maghreb attracted a certain level of attention from the monarchy to the defensive restoration of the city. Apart from the gate which retains its name and which was aimed at facilitating communication between the area inside the walls and the surrounding area which was undergoing earnest expansion, the fortified section of the wall, erected in Rua de Trás dos Muros and swallowed up a substantial part of the military taipa towers, which, as has already been stressed, defended the Porta dos Pelames, was also from this period. Also of the same period is the section of the wall which borders the river, at Rua dos Pelames, and is still referred to as the Barbican. In this ante-wall, there is a door from this period which still opens, at the end of Rua de D. Ana, as can be affirmed from the bevelled stones which make up the pillars of the arch.

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Route 1: The walls of Tavira II (part 6 of 6)

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From here until the taking of the city by the knights of Santiago, the walled section was extended, with the construction of a new section of wall defending yet another extension of the city; this time to the West. This construction came out of the Western part of the castle and was to surround the entire zone which leads from Rua dos Escuteiros to the point where Rua da Porta do Postigo intersects with Rua dos Mouros. This wall, of which there still remains a large section behind Rua da Porta do Postigo, was built as a military taipa (horny wall), with clay mortar, lime and gravel, which gave it great strength, and was a building material which was typical of the Almoadas.

This religious political group was also responsible for the construction of at least four albarrã towers (mural towers), characterised as being outside the wall, to which they were linked by a sturdy bridge. These are the towers which are still standing in the castle, two in Bela Fria, which defended the port of the same name and the other adjacent to the bridge.

It is not known what the towers which have disappeared would have looked like, however, an analysis of the tower of the castle allows us to infer that they were military taipas, encased in stone. The connecting bridges would have been of cyclopean taipa.

The remains of another three towers are also known, linked to the wall, in military taipa, with a quadrangular layout. Two of these towers flanked the Pelames gate and the other was in the excavated building at Praça da República (BNU) and would have served to protect the door which predates Arco de D. Manuel.

It is also known that the walls of the city underwent renovation following the Christian conquest, Dom Dinis carried out work on the castle and Dom Fernando extended the boundary.

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Route 1: The walls of Tavira II (part 5 of 6)

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This wall, which, following the direction of the hands of a clock, would have started close to the Old Bridge, which itself was an Islamic construction, on the corner between Rua Gonçalo Velho and Praça da República, continued into the block in front of the Town Hall, until Arco de D. Manuel, where there once would have been a door. From here it would have continued on to the castle, where it intersected the Eastern facade. A section of the castle wall is still to be seen, jutting out of the wall of a more recent building.

The outline of the castle would have been practically identical to the previous one, descending from the castle to Igreja de Santiago and continuing along the primitive wall until Calçada de Santa Maria, where, instead of veering in the direction of the castle, as the former military work would have done, it continued on in the direction of the river, where, at what is now known as Largo do Parguinho, it turned in the direction of the river mouth and ended at Largo do Terreiro da Vila, now known as Rua Gonçalo Velho.

Here it continued until the point where we began this description; the place where Rua Gonçalo Velho intersects Praça da República.
This wall was to see the opening of a few entrances:

1st – The one that was replaced by Porta de D. Manuel and which gave access to the gulf which would have existed at what is now Praça da República;

2nd – another on Largo do Postigo, the narrowest door, through which, according to the chronicles, the proud monks, commanded by Dom Paio Peres Correia, would have gained access;

3rd – Porta da Bela Fria, an entrance of great importance, located as it was on the Roman road running from Baesuris to Balsa and Ossonoba and from here went North, to Alentejo.

4th – Still in the North face, the city would have had another door, namely the Pelames door, also situated on the Roman road. In the yard of the city, now Rua Gonçalo Velho was to see the opening of two further doors; the Terreiro da Vila door, on the aforementioned Roman road and the river;

6th – a connecting door, of which the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Piedade remains – clear Christianisation of one of the accesses to the city.

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Route 1: The walls of Tavira II (part 4 of 6)

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Those who sought refuge there included Muslims, Christian Arabs, Jews and renegade Christians, forming a wealthy population but ill disposed to obeying an authority from beyond their territory.

The political situation of the Spanish Muslims and the unstoppable advance of the Christian armies so threatened Western Islam that the members of an emerging religious movement from Maghreb, the Almoadas, forced intense military intervention in the Iberian Peninsula.

The force of the Almoadans was so great that they conquered and reunified almost all of the peninsular South in no time, and even conquered Leiria. The principal danger lay in the North, and perhaps for this reason Tavira was not immediately affected by their intervention. It is true that chroniclers favouring the Almoadans referred to Tavira in not so flattering terms, classifying it as a home for pirates, infidels and renegades, however it took them several years to intervene in this city. The time which elapsed between the Almoadan invasion in 1146 and the fall of the city in 1167-8, was used by the inhabitants to fortify it, making it almost unbreachable.

As proven by excavations carried out in 1996, in the tier of houses in front of the Town Hall, boroughs were destroyed in the XIth and XIIth centuries, to make way for a strong wall, sometimes with a thickness of 4m and tom tall. This defensive wall was built in the so-called cyclopean taipa (horny wall), consisting of an amalgam of stone and lime mortar, of great strength, and with the faces covered in faceted stones, which were strongly bound to the same mortar, which served as a casing (see sheet 1). The outside was plastered and white-washed with lime with ingrained ochre.

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Route 1: The walls of Tavira II (part 3 of 6)

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Throughout the XIth century, with the conquest of the territories further North by the Christian kingdoms, and subsequent persecution, not only of followers of Islam, but also of Christian Arabs, more populations which were violently expelled from their houses and lands sought refuge in the tranquillity and exquisiteness of the South of the Iberian Peninsula.

During the XIth and start of the XIIth century, the city grew towards the river, with new boroughs springing up outside the walls, which gave shelter to landed inhabitants, as shown by the archaeological excavations carried out in this part of the urban nucleus. In this area, apart from living structures from those periods, objects have been gathered which demonstrate not only that the area was inhabited, but also that those who lived there had the possessions and habits of an opulent lifestyle. One example of this are the world-famous Vase of Tavira and the wealth of pieces gathered in the same archaeological context.

World famous Vase of Tavira (XIth century)

In the meantime, the power of Almoravide dynasty disintegrated and small kingdoms, known as taifas were created. These were states with independent policies through which they were alienated, not only from other Muslim kingdoms, but also from the emerging Christian monarchies, depending on their immediate interests.

At that time, Tavira was a republic, independent from any taifa and with a population which engaged in commerce and piracy between the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula and Africa. Knowing how to play with this situation which dominated the Islamic world, the Christian monarchs, successfully ensuring the neutrality of some, alliances with others, signing treaties with sovereigns from these little states in order to attack others, gradually amplified their territories towards the South. Among these Christian kings, Dom Afonso Henriques is of obvious interest to us. Having gained his independence from the kingdom of León in 1140, with a territory which hardly reached the Mondego, he resolved to create a stable border to the South, and to this end he directed his attentions to the valley of the Tagus, which he finally conquered in 1147, taking Santarém, Lisbon, Sintra, Almada and Palmela; economically flourishing fortified cities, with flourishing commerce and rich agriculture.

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Route 1: The walls of Tavira II (part 2 of 6)

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