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Tunes in Central Algarve Portugal, Tunes the village of Tunes comes under the district of Silves, many say that the town got its name from settlers from Tunis (Tunisia ) however as Portuguese is a Latin based language the word Tunes in Latin means Modos (which Translates as mode of ), this could be seen as mode of: (as in mode of transport ).the village has a coat of arms (see Above ) that has the steam train incorporated in it. The village was insignificant in the 1700’s it was still not even mentioned on the William faden map of Portugal, even in 1797 when near by small village of Algoz and Porches were.
Tunes came into its own in the 1890’s when Portugal had it’s first railway in 1856 in Lisbon. The need to expand it to the far reaches of the Algarve, was now seen as being important. Due to the farming and millers in the area, as well as the fishing industry the Algarve was famous for, due to the warm Atlantic waters and many varieties of different fish especially Tuna, that later produced a huge income for the Algarve as it was one of the first fish to be canned In the 1900’s.
The village today is divided in two, by the railway line of four tracks wide with a direct link to Lisbon in around 4 hours running twice a day, due to the fact it went from slow diesel trains to the fast express trains of electric in the year 2000. It is also one of very few trains that has dedicated wheelchair hoists, and dedicated Disabled carriages.
The village has it charm as you would expect from the Algarve, the old metal water tower stands as a reminder that the town grew from the days of the steam train when the need to fill trains with water at regular intervals to produce the steam.
Tunes has a good undercover daily market, for fresh fish and vegetables as well as daily baked bread, on the same side of the village crossing the railway is a monthly market held on the 4th Saturday of the month selling mostly shoes, clothes and household items held along the street, toward the rear of the village heading toward the A22 to reach the other side , on entering Tunes you will notice many hundreds of solar panels, this is part of the newer project to reuse greener environmentally friendly way to produce electricity . There are plenty of shops, as well as a good choice of Restaurants, in 2011 saw a very popular India restaurant open it doors.
The old water Tower
Daily Fish Market
Tunes Little Chapel
Pedestrian overpass joins the village
Roundabout Train theme
Disabled carriage with winch