The Algarve's most elegant town — Roman bridge, tuna history, and 40 churches
Tavira is the most handsome town in the Algarve and arguably the most livable in all of southern Portugal. Straddling the Rio Gilão on a Roman bridge, it wears its Moorish and Portuguese history quietly — 40 churches (for a town of 26,000), tiled mansions, and the ruins of an 11th-century Moorish castle all within a few minutes' walk. Offshore, the Ria Formosa lagoon system creates a chain of barrier island beaches — Ilha de Tavira among them — that are among the most beautiful and uncrowded in Portugal.
Tavira was one of the most important towns in the Algarve under Moorish rule — the Romans had a bridge here, the Arabs a castle and mosque. The Portuguese reconquest came in 1242; the town then became a key embarkation port for the North African campaigns, including the 1415 conquest of Ceuta that launched the Age of Discovery. Its 16th-century tuna fishing industry made it the wealthiest town in the Algarve, funding the extraordinary concentration of churches — each guild and noble family built their own. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake damaged much of the Algarve but Tavira's buildings survived…