My Portugal Property

Forgotten your password?

Create account

My Portugal Property

Create a My Portugal Property profile

It's free to use and allows you to:

Receive email alerts for relevant properties
Save & Rate your favourite properties
Save relevant searches

Create account

My Portugal Property

Create account

I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

I would like to receive the PortugalProperty.com newsletter

My Portugal Property

Next steps

In the next few minutes we will be sending you an account activation email. Please check to see if you've received the email and click on the 'Activate your account' button in the email.

My Portugal Property

Reset your password

My Portugal Property

Reset your password

We have sent you a link to reset your password - please check your email account.

Property in Silves

Silves is a beautiful and attractive town with a rich history built on the banks of the River Arade. The river was navigable in historical times and represented an important link between the inland and the coast.

Read more

The town, which is built on top of one of the largest underground aquifers in the south of Portugal, the Querenca-Silves aquifer, straddles the river and retains a medina-style gate, the Porta de Loule, and parts of the poured concrete walls that date back to the time of Moorish occupation

The area has been inhabited since Paleolithic times but the town reached its peak after the Moorish invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 713. By the tenth century, Silves, then called Xelb, was the capital of the area now known as the Algarve.

Today Silves is an attractive, charming place of outdoor cafes and scented orange groves dominated by one of the best-preserved castles in the Algarve. The Moorish Fortaleza, which boasts a complete set of sandstone walls and detached towers, occupies twelve thousand square meters on top of the hill that overlooks the town. Iron Age remains have been found, along with a well, a governor's palace and the Cisterna Grande, a thirteenth century water cistern that once served the whole town. The Cisterna stands ten meters high, is supported by six columns and said to be haunted by the ghost of a Moorish maiden. A Moorish-style garden has recently been re-created and is open daily to visitors, along with the rest of the Fortaleza, whose walls offer impressive views over the town and surrounding countryside.

Below the Fortaleza is Silves' cathedral, built on the site of a grand mosque and flanked by wide Gothic towers. The cathedral retains some of its original grandeur. Lining the cathedral walls are tombs belonging to bishops and crusaders who died taking Silves back from the Moors. Opposite the cathedral, much of which dates back to the eighteenth century.

A defunct cork factory known as the Fabrica do Ingles (Englishman's factory) is home to a couple of museums and a cluster of bars, cafes and fountains that come alive in August during the town's annual beer festival. There is a market on the riverfront, near a narrow thirteenth century bridge, every morning from Monday to Saturday.

5 properties found

€£$ / m² €£$ / m² +/- Price ▽

Make an enquiry

Thank you

We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Request Callback

Thank you

We will call you as soon as possible.

Make an offer

Thank you

Your offer is now with the Portugal Property team. If you checked the box to say that you wish to be contacted, we will do so within 24 hours. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.