Sights in Silves
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Castle
The russet-coloured, Lego-like castle has great views over the town and surrounding countryside. It was restored in 1835 and you can walk around its chunky sandstone walls, which today enclose unfinished archaeological digs that reveal the site’s Roman and pre-Roman past. In the north wall you can see a treason gate (an escape route through which turncoats would sometimes let the enemy in), typical of castles at the time. The Moorish occupation is recalled by a deep well and a rosy-coloured water cistern, 5m deep. Inside, the cistern’s four vaults are supported by 10 columns. Probably built in the 11th century, by the 16th century the castle was abandoned. Recently the ca…
reviewed
-
B
Museu Municipal de Arqueologia
The impressiveMuseu Municipal de Arqueologia is well laid-out . In the centre is a well-preserved 4m-wide, 18m-deep Moorish well surrounded by a spiral staircase, which was discovered during excavations. The find, together with other archaeological discoveries in the area, led to the establishment of the museum on this site; it shows prehistoric, Roman and Moorish antiquities. One wall is of glass, showing a section of the fort wall (also of Almohad origin) that is used to support the building.
reviewed
-
Sé
The sé, built in 1189 on the site of an earlier mosque, then rebuilt after the 1249 Reconquista and subsequently restored several times following earthquake damage. The stark, fortress-like building has a multi-arched Portuguese-Gothic doorway, and some original Gothic touches left, including the nave and aisles and a dramatically tall, strikingly simple interior. There are several fine tombs, one of which is purported to be of João do Rego, who helped to settle Madeira.
reviewed
-
C
Museu da Cortiça
The Museu da Cortiça is housed in the Fábrica do Inglês (English Factory), a large complex, unashamedly catering to large groups. The museum, with the former workshops, machine room and press room, has good bilingual displays on the process and history of cork production. Cork was a major industry in Silves for 150 years, until the factory’s closure in the mid-1990s, largely due to the silting-up of the Rio Arade.
reviewed
-
D
Igreja da Misericórdia
The 16th-century Igreja da Misericórdia, plain apart from its distinctive, fanciful Manueline doorway (not the main entrance) is decorated with curious heads, pine cones, foliage and aquatic emblems.
reviewed
-
Krazy World
Near São Bartolomeu de Messines, about 17km northwest, there’s Krazy World, an animal and crocodile park with mini golf, pony rides and two swimming pools.
reviewed
