Faro, Algarve, Portugal, 2019-04-24

Faro is the biggest city and the capital of Algarve and has a population of 65,000. In prehistoric times many people settled at the Ria Formosa lagoon. A fortified a settlement was built long before the Romans transformed it into a town called Ossonoba to become Faro. The Romans rebuilt the wall around the main city area, which corresponds now to the Old Town, where the forum, the temples and other public buildings were situated. In the Roman period the town grew outside the city walls, where a second quarter consisted mainly in rich patrician houses. Faro became a Bishop’s seat in the 4th century and kept it even after the Visigoth occupation in the 5th century. These people of Germanic origin, ruled the city until the Moors conquered and occupied it in the 8th century and improved the city wall. The Moorish occupation would last about 500 years. Towards the end of this period, the city became the capital of an independent Moorish kingdom, ruled by a family called Harun, whose name would give origin to the actual name of Faro. The famous Arabian geographer Edrici wrote: “The town is built near the ocean and its walls are washed by the ocean at high tide. It is a town of a reasonable size and nice outlook. It has a main mosque, a secondary mosque and an oratory”. The Portuguese king Afonso III conquered Faro in 1249 and integrated it into the Portuguese territory. The city of Faro was defended by strong walls and large wooden doors. In order to enter the city, the Portuguese brought a large quantity of wood, placed it in front of the main city door and burned the wood. When the door was destroyed, Portuguese soldiers stormed into the city. As in many other conquered cities, the main mosque was replaced by a Christian gothic Church, called Santa Maria church (now Cathedral). Short after the conquest, the Moorish population that lived in the town (‘Mouros Forros’ in old Portuguese), was granted civil rights and the maintenance of their economical activities, such as farming, trade and handicrafts. Outside the city wall there were two other important quarters: the Moorish quarter and the Jewish quarter. The first book pressed in Portugal was pressed in a Jewish typography of Faro. In 1596, in a period when Spanish kings ruled Portugal, an English army of about 3000 men, commanded by the Earl of Essex, sacked the town. They burned some buildings and seized the library of the Bishop of Faro. The 18th century was a period of economic wealth in the history of Faro, mainly due to the gold from Brazil. Unfortunately, the earthquake of 1755 destroyed many buildings in Faro. However, the destruction was relatively less than in other cities in the Algarve, due to the sandy banks of the Ria Formosa lagoon protecting the city of Faro. After the earthquake, the capital of the Algarve changed from Lagos to Faro. The earthquake destruction gave opportunity for a large-scale city restoration (mainly in neoclassical style) and the building of a few remarkable buildings. At the centre of the old town is the main square, the Largo da Sé, with the cathedral on one side and the Episcopal palace on another. The cathedral is very simple in style on the outside but inside it is rather more ornate with gilded carvings and decorated tiles. Along the sea front the main row of shops includes some beautiful buildings including the Bank of Portugal

Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo, the start and end point of our city walk in Faro.

Portugise tiles art

Along the sea front the main row of shops includes some beautiful buildings among these the Bank of Portugal

Faro harbour. In the background the garden Jardim Manuel Bivar and the old town.

Stork nests are perched on top of just about every one of the old chapels. Turns out there are all inhabited by a rather large stork population that covers a large portion of Faro. Being a protected species within Portugal prevents the removal of these conspicuous bundles of roughage.

The entrance to the old town: Arco da Vila with 3 stork nests on top.

Largo da Sé is the main square in the old town. On the square, you can find the statue of Dom Francisco Gomes do Avelar, who was a bishop of Faro in the 18th and early 19th century.

The inside on of the mansions of the old town

A part of the old city walls.

Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo is one of the Algarve's most dazzling churches, this twin-towered baroque masterpiece was completed in 1719 under João V. After the 1755 earthquake, its spectacular facade was paid for with Brazilian gold.