Tavira: First stop in Portugal

From Jerez, we had to bus to Sevilla to catch an international bus into Portugal. We both remember Seville being dusty and sleepy. Now it seems like a gleaming metropolis. Tavira is the bus's first stop in Portugal at the eastern end of the Algarve (which means "the West" in Arabic). Tavira is actually in the Gilao River Delta that meets the Atlantic. The tiny old town by the riverside is really cute.

As popular destination as the Algarve is, we have very few friends that have visited. We like what we see so far. Judging by the fact that two of the dozen or so restaurants on the main drag are Indian, we deduce that a large number of British visitors concur.

On the bus from Jerez to the Spain/Portugal border, we saw numerous vineyards in the white-ish soil.


How about these Deco-ish industrial building?


Huelva, the last significant Spanish city before the border, has a very cool bus station.




Next, the Rio Guadiana is the border between Spain and Portugal.




Sun-Ling, caught from behind, on the walk from the bus station to our hotel in Tavira, Portugal.


The view from our hotel room balcony in Tavira.


The so-called Roman Bridge.




Church.


Views from the Castelo, the highest point in town.




Well, actually this water tower behind the Castelo has the highest viewpoint in town. ;-)


Typical for this part of Portugal, each room in a building has its own "dome".


Tavira is a true "fishing village" with only a few pleasure craft to be seen.








Outside of town, there is a newly surfaced road to 4 Aguas, where one can take ferries to barrier islands, or just stroll and bird-watch as we did.