TE19 Iberian Adventure

John Hartley

explained, “killing 6000 Moors in the process.”

After the Reconquista, Silves served as the seat of the provincial governor.

“Each year they re-enact the bloody 15-day siege of 1189,” Pedro explained, “featuring a souk, hammam, ersatz and period consumes.”

“We went a couple of years ago,” Grandad confirmed – “it was too busy for our liking.”

“That’s the problemwhen you’re staying with a couple of seventy- somethings,” Judy laughed.

The Moors reconquered the city, but a short while later Sancho II and Afonso III chased them out for good, concluded the Reconquista. TheMoorishdefeatsevered traderoutes toNorthern Africa and led to the town’s demise. The lastMuslimhadabeautiful daughternamed Fatima; captured in the course of an ambush. Don Gonçalo Hermingues, a young Catholic knight, loved her and for him she stayed behind. The young Fatima converted in order to marry. The husband’s love for her was so strong that he later renamed the town in her honour. Fatima Al-Zahra, the ‘Resplendent One’, was the favourite daughter of the prophet Muhammad. As a child, Fatima was deeply affected by the persecutions her father endured. Yet, she stood by him and defended him—even into her adulthood. She 176