Silves Castle

Silves, Portugal, Portugal

---

Silves Castle in Silves, Portugal, stands as one of the Algarve's most impressive and best-preserved Moorish fortifications, built primarily between the 8th and 13th centuries on earlier Roman or Visigothic foundations.

The Arabs significantly expanded it during their occupation, adding extensive red sandstone walls, 11 towers, and an irregular polygonal layout that dominates the hillside overlooking the town, complete with cisterns for water storage and defensive features like a main gate flanked by towers and a guardhouse.

Captured briefly by Christians in the 12th century but retaken by the Moors, it was definitively conquered in the 1249 reconquest under Afonso III, earning National Monument status in 1910 for its outstanding Islamic military architecture.