Tavira is on the banks of the River Gilao with elegant houses on either side of the river. Travel brochures describe it as the Venice of Portugal. with 16th - 18th century buildings and 37 churches it is the most genteel town on the Algarve. There is a busy fishing port which was formerly the base for Portugese expeditions to North Africa.

It was a lovely town but we think it is now the home of the largest gypsy encampment in Portugal!! We have never seen so many motorhomes wild camping one one place so we decided we would join them for a night and see what it was like. You can see us in the pictures. The site was right at the end of the village alongisde the river and would have been a great place for a proper camp site. You just drove on, picked your spot and that was it. There must have been over 60 motor homes parked up from all over Europe. There was even one old thing that looked more like a horse box that housed an English couple and six children under the age of about 10!!!!!!!!!!! Goodness knows where they all sat whilst on the road it must have been illegal with no seat belts or proper seats just a bunk house!

Having said all this it was actually one of the nicest towns we went to with plenty of cafes and flower filled squares..an easy place to have spent a few days.