Santa Luzia & Vila Real de Santo António

This week we’ve traveled a little further from our home base to take a look at the border town of Vila Real de Santo António. We also visited a seaside village that can easily be reached from Tavira - Santa Luzia, known as the Octopus capital of the world!
The wonderful beaches and waterways are hard to resist in this part of the world..... so early in the week we set off to see the seaside village of Santa Luzia - just a 35 minute walk from town. Local buses from Tavira are also available, although infrequent and non-existent on weekends......but the walk is easy - with a sidewalk and bike-path to follow - we’d hardly left the outskirts and last few houses of Tavira, before we passed a few orange groves and some massive clumps of bamboo and had reached the small village that’s adjacent to us. We’d picked a great day for a walk as the temperatures that had been “flirting” with 40C for a few days had finally moderated to the 30C range - and a nice breeze was blowing off the ocean.
Santa Luzia is a sleepy little village of less than 2,000 year-round residents. It was named after “Saint Lucy,” following the recovery by a local fisherman of a holy relic which had been lost at sea following a storm. Still an authentic Portuguese fishing village - the brightly coloured fishing boats return early in the mornings to sell their catch at the fish market....we arrived much too late for that....but maybe another time! The fishing fleet still uses traditional and sustainable methods of fishing to catch the octopus for which they’re famous. Their technique has remained almost unchanged for generations - they use clay pots that are lowered onto the seabed, the unsuspecting octopus can swim in, but cannot escape!
Similar to Cabanas de Tavira, Santa Luzia also has a promenade that runs along the length of the town - but it’s much smaller and there are far fewer restaurants, only a couple of cafés and virtually no shops. The promenade looks over the lagoons and waterways of the Ria Formosa Park, with beaches on the sandbar islands across from it. We took one of the small ferries across to the closest beach - the Praia da Terra Estreita. Taking just 10 minutes, the ferries run regularly during the summer season, charging the “area standard” of €2 euro per person for a return fare. Regarded as one of the the best beaches in the region, it’s also a lot quieter than others in the area - even in mid-August! Similar to Ilha de Tavira, the ferry docks on the lagoon side, where there are numerous sandy coves where, inexplicably, no-one seems to bother sitting! The beach itself is accessed across a planked wooden walkway through the dunes. With just a couple of huts used for sunbed/umbrella rentals (they also double as refreshment stands and toilets) it’s all about the beach.....and it’s stunning! Not a tourist restaurant in sight......just clear shallow water and miles of sand.....even the water is quite warm for the Atlantic, making Estreita beach certainly the one to visit in order to escape the crowds.
After walking the beach for quite some time we walked back across the dunes and caught the ferry back to the village. We’d already walked the promenade, the harbour and the village - plus watched an area being set up for an upcoming “octopus festival” - so now we were ready to find a place to sample the famed octopus.....but it was not to be! The few restaurants in the village were closing - lunch time was over and there was nowhere to taste it - even as a “snack item” - so we’ll just have to return another day - but nexttime during either lunch or dinner-time hours! With only a couple of small cafés open in the late afternoon, we settled for a cold beer before our walk home to Tavira. **Note - for anyone planning a holiday, or even a day trip to Santa Luzia, it should be realized that it is a very small village, with only a handful of restaurants and limited facilities for tourists.
Spending time in Tavira is always interesting - although a small town, its delightful cobbled streets are a pleasure to explore. During a lazy day of just wandering around - and during the hottest time of the afternoon - we spent sometime in The Palácio da Galeria. This classic 16th century palace, with its many roofs and Baroque window mouldings, is a reminder of Tavira’s wealthy past. It now serves as a Municipal museum and art gallery. Upon entering we offered our (senior) entrance fee of €1.50 each, but were told that there was no exhibition today - just the art exhibition for €1. Although we did want to see the current exhibition on “The Mediterranean Diet,” it was an easy decision - considering the price, we’d take a look at the artwork anyway.....and it was quite interesting!
Displayed in rooms that had beautiful old, high wooden ceilings, but otherwise were stark, was a selection of the artwork and the writings of José de Almeda Negreiros. Born in 1893, this Portuguese artist and writer held his first exhibition in Lisbon at the age of 20. Five years later he was a published writer and was doing the choreography and costume design for ballets. After living in Paris and then Madrid - where he also had exhibitions and did set decoration for theatres and the cinema - he returned to Portugal and settled back in Lisbon at the age of 40, where he married the painter Sarah Affonso, who became his muse. He continued his writing plus his artwork - in various mediums - murals, stained-glass, tapestries and canvas, until his death at the age of 77. During his lifetime he was also an occasional actor and dancer.
The writing and artwork of Alamda is serious, avant-garde and both pro-feminist and erotic...his prolific writings were political and provocative and his artwork defied any single category. To non-artists such as us - it was both bold and interesting - we were happy to have seen it.....most of the subjects in his paintings were serious, working people - who, to us, looked a lot like himself and his wife!
Leaving the museum we had a pleasant surprise when we found the door to the “Mediterranean Diet” exhibition was open....so we actually did get to see it! With some old photos and lots of written display boards, we learned what I think most people already know - a Mediterranean diet and way of life is a healthy one. While the information boards traced the history of the life-style throughout the surrounding area, the displays showed examples of the main components of the diet - cereals, bread, vegetables, fruit, nuts, herbs, spices (other than salt), olive oil as the main culinary fat, and a high consumption of fish, plus the moderate consumption of wine during meals. It also stressed the eating of local and seasonal foodstuffs and the importance of sharing meals with family and friends in an ongoing social environment. We’d expected a little more from this exhibition than just information posters and pictures, so although informative, it was, frankly a bit disappointing - but who can complain when we saw 2 exhibitions for €1 each?!
For our next out of town trip, we travelled about 25 minutes by train from Tavira to the town of Vila Real de Santo António, which sits across the river from Spain. On the day we went there was some debate (in a variety of languages) amongst the other people at the station as to which platform and direction the train would arrive. With only 2 platforms to choose from, we all followed each other - like lemmings - across the train tracks, as the group decision changed a couple of times - but we did, fortunately, all end up on the correct platform - if only world diplomacy was that simple! During the journey we passed through mainly agricultural land filled with orange groves.
Upon arrival, we walked from the train station down a long straight road to the riverfront.......unlike most of the towns and villages in the Algarve, Vila Real is set up on a grid system, which was designed by the Marquês de Pombal and implemented by Royal Charter In 1773. The Avenida da República runs along the front of the town, adjacent to the river Guadiana, giving lovely views across the river to Ayamonte in Spain. This long promenade is attractively laid out with lots of trees, benches and some modern sculptures.......we did, of course, walk it end to end - gazing not only out at the river, but also looking at some of the lovely old buildings across the street. One of the buildings - an old hotel, the Guadiana - caused a bit of a stir due to its eclectic architecture, when it was under construction at the beginning of the 20th century.......with both Classical and Art Nouveau features, it was in direct contrast with the city’s design, but is now recognized by the town for its beauty. Another lovely looking hotel - The Grande Hotel Guadiana - holds a prominent place in the centre of the promenade, overlooking the marina.
As we walked along the promenade we saw plenty of fishermen trying their luck fishing the river.......at the very end of the promenade we saw one man catch a large fish, which he brought in - with the help of a friend with a net, who clambered down the rocks to help. Walking back along the promenade we noticed that there seems to be some large stretches of beach across the river, in the town of Ayamonte on the Spanish side. Access to the beach in Vila Real is not “in-town,” but is either reached by a long walk down a dusty road or a drive around to the other side of town to where the river ends......once there, it’s apparently worth the effort, as there’s a long uninterrupted stretch of sand. Deciding against the long dusty road, we turned back towards town, passing the marina which is full of lovely and expensive looking boats. We debated on taking the ferry across to Spain, but decided “not this time.” The ferry runs every hour, with an adult fare of €1.90 each way.....**** Note to any travellers who cross into Spain - the time is 1 hour ahead of Portugal.
Opposite the river, The Avenida da República is filled with restaurants and shops - good quality linens are a very popular shopping item here - especially with the Spanish who visit Portugal regularly to “stock up.” We browsed the shops and then walked to the main town square - aptly named - “Praça Marquês de Pombal.” This large area - which was laid out to his precise specifications - has attractive whitewashed houses with terra cotta roofs on two of its sides. The patterned cobblestones on the ground, radiate out from a central obelisk, and orange trees provide shade all along the perimeter. The main church of the town is also in this square, but we could only peek in, as a service was in progress at the time. We spent our time in the square indulging in “people watching”....and......eating a very late breakfast of extra thick toasta mistas (delicious hot grilled ham and cheese sandwiches). With hot and salty French fries.....all washed down with ice-cold beer.....can’t be beat! We then slowly made our way back to the train station - walking through the town’s grid of narrow streets and shops. On this day the train was only 45 minutes late......or it could have been 20 minutes early according to the time-table!