11th Century Castle, Silves, Portugal, 2020

We took a trip to Silves to see the castle. It is only about 20 minutes drive from Praia da Rocha, and well worth going. Silves was originally the ancient capital of the Algarve. It was under the Moors from the 9th to the 12th century.

We got our first glimpse of the castle sitting on the hill as we were driving into town. It is really hard to get a sense of just how big the castle and ground are, the guide information said 12,000 sq meters (google converted that to 2.96 acres).

We walked up a really long hill and arrived at a big archway. I thought we had arrived at the castle. But no. This was just the outer walls. And a beautiful courtyard.

We continued our uphill trek to the Silves Cathedral. This cathedral was erected in the 13th century. Some of the information says it was erected on the site of the old grand mosque.

There are lots of sarcophagus along each side of the church. The literature suggests over the years some of the bones have been relocated. A Portuguese King was buried in this cathedral, but he was moved in 1499.

We left the church and walked uphill some more, finally reaching the castle. It was not possible for me to capture the sheer size of the place. There are a total of ten towers.

Even a place for refreshments.

Even outside the walls there is still much of the structure. Those wall do look like they were built to last.

Going down is just as far, but so much easier than the going up!

There is a functional ancient bridge in the town. This Ponta Romana, Roman Bridge, has been around since the 15th century and is still used as a foot bridge. Yes we had to walk on it.

Silves is another pretty little town. Unfortunately it was the day after my hospital stint and there was only so much energy to go around. Thankfully Daryl got some beautiful pictures.