"Xelb" a Silves Travel Page by Balam

Silves is probably the Algarve's most enticing inland town and was once the Moorish Capital of the Algarve (al-Gharb). It was called Xelb by the moors and had a population which was 3 times the current one.

It is surrounded by Orange groves and dominated by a fantastic Red Moorish castle. unfortunately many fine buildings were destroyed in the 1755 earthquake which ravaged the Algarve and it is today a pleasant market town with busy cobbled streets some interesting shops and pleasant restaurants.

Under the Moors, Silves was a thriving port and a place of great grandeur, it has been described in many contempory accounts as being "of shining brightness". It was also famed for it's artistic community and in the 10thC it was considered to be culturally more important than Grenada which was then the leading Moorish city in Spain. it's greatness lasted until 1189 when Sancho I arrived at the head of an army of Crusaders, and Silves permanently fell to the Christian forces in 1249. over the the next few centuries the gradual Silting up of the Rio Arade ended Silves role as a port and one of the great Cultural centres of Iberia