Five Feet, Nine Inches Above Ground

First off, it’s been a week or more since I have posted anything here, mostly because it began to seem like work and not a vacation and being on vacation is a lot more fun. On Thursday January 4, Randy took me on a tour of Tavira, an ancient port town that has history beyond Roman times. It’s built on the banks of the Gilão River where it meets the Atlantic Ocean.

A Tavira villa that is up for sale..

A bit of floral colour.

It was a down hill trek from our parking spot into the older part of town.

Stairway through the wall of the old town.

Organ in Misericordia Church.

Main altar in Misericordia Church.

More of the interior of the church.

Clock tower of another church.

Remnants of the castle walls.

View from the castle walls.

Looking down from the castle walls.

Even in winter, there are flowers.

The interior of another church.

Main altar.

Grotto dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.

I think its safe to say you can’t throw a stone in the old part of Tavira and not hit a church and they have incredible history and interiors. The Roman bridge was temporarily closed for a film crew shooting scenes for a Portuguese soap opera. We eventually crossed the river and had a lovely lunch in a restaurant filled with locals.

It was low tide when we crossed the river.

The mud of low tide looking toward the Roman bridge.

A neighbourhood square.

These look similar to Bleeding Heart plant we have at home.

A flowering vine – perhaps trumpet vine and balcony.

Child’s shoes from another era in a window display.

A walking tour develops a healthy lunch time appetite .

Memorial at the bridge.

Central avenue in Tavira with bandstand. Every town has a band stand and they put them to use in season.

Turtles in the moat around the band stand.

Portuguese hero.

one of many abandoned buildings.

Decaying elegance.

Flowering banana tree.

See the next photo.

Name of flower in previous photo.

Hydrangea tree in flower.

An open gate in a stone wall beckoned us into an enclosed garden where an Hydrangea tree was in bloom.

The garden was actually a cemetery …

With ancient tomb stones…

Displaying local ancient heraldry…

and symmetrical arches…

providing a moment of quiet

in the heart of an ancient city.

From the simplicity of trees…

To ornate sculptures…

marking the history…

of lives no longer known but imagined.