[ Feb.2017 ] On the first day in Tavira in Portugal, we went out for a walk after dark.
We did not plan to, but we went to the good looking bar in the Pousada, our hotel in the historic building to eat and drink lightly and ordered glasses of sparkling wine, but the wine was stale and the nuts they served were not so good, so we decided to go out of the hotel.
But the town of Tavira at night was so quiet and we could not see any restaurants.
Well, the atmosphere was very nice, though.
The port town of Tavira developed during the Age of Discovery in the 15th century as the base for expeditions to North Africa.
And they exported salted fish, almonds, figs and wine to northern Europe from here, too.
According to our guide book, by 1520 it had become the largest town in Algarve region.
But after that, it declined because Gilao river which runs in the town became silted up and the large boats could not enter the port.
On top of that they had plague in 1645 and earthquake in 1755.
It became prosperous again by tuna fishing and canning industry, but that died down in 1950s and nowadays the main income for the town is tourism.
So it was worrying that there were almost no people walking at around 8 pm at night, for their economy.
I happened to get to know someone from this town later, and he said that Tavira was classified as one of the best unknown cities in Europe to visit, so it could develop from now on.
And maybe because it is ‘unknown’, the lovely old town was maintained and it kept its quaint atmosphere.
Because no one was walking, we could not ask anyone for the restaurant recommendation.
But this is an age of conveniences.
We found a pleasant tapas restaurant using our mobile phone.
The restaurant’s name was Pausa and it was a neat place though it was small.
When we got in, we found that it was full of German tourists.
I ate the octopus dish with the sweet potato crisps.
My hungry husband ordered as many as 5 dishes until he was satisfied.
With the glasses of wine, the bill was 31 euros, which was reasonable.
