Portuguese Street Art | Painted Electricity Boxes in the town of Silves in Portugal

One of the best ways to highlight a town or city's personality is via urban art. A little imagination, a little creativity and a splash of paint can turn a neglected or drearily dull public space into a vibrant and beautiful setting.

Most big cities around the world are known for their street art, be it large colorful frescoes, eclectic murals, woodblocking, yarn bombing, graffiti or stencil art. Portugal is no different. Lisbon is known for its beautiful street art as is Porto whose urban art scene is revamping the historic centre of the city. Even smaller towns and villages are appreciating urban art and are understanding the value these pieces of art being to the community. An example would be the village of Alte where a number of houses and buildings feature lovely murals worth admiring.

In Silves, you will find urban art on electricity boxes. It is a part of a project that is being promoted by the Municipality of Silves, where a number of electricity boxes across the city have been painted by artists Meire Gomes, Fly Pontes and Hélder José - Bambi to increase interest in art in the municipality, as well as improving the quality of the urban space.

The project began in 2016, with the painting of the electricity boxes scattered throughout the city of Silves. It was a part of the commemoration of the International Day of Educating Cities and was later extended to the rest of the parishes.

Walk down any street in Silves and you will come across these colourful electricity boxes often featuring monuments, iconic characters, Portuguese art or architectural details from Silves and the wider Algarve region.

Flamingos are a regular guest to the Algarve region as they migrate from France to Spain and can be seen in many parts of the Algarve from November to March. No wonder they find themselves featured on the electricity boxes in Silves.

These large wading birds with a beautiful pinkish plumage are social creatures and live & breed in large colonies. In the Algarve, you can find them in the Ria Formosa lagoon, the coastal town of Olhao, in Faro (especially the Ludo Trail), the Quinta da Rocha (in Alvor) and in Quatro Caminhos (in Tavira) to name a few places.

Portuguese love their sardines. And the tinned sardine lies at the very heart of Portugal’s preserved seafood tradition. Step into any local store/supermarket and you will varities of tinned sardines in the canned food section.

If you happen to visit Portugal in the month of August, head to the historic city of Portimão where an annual Sardine Festival is held every August. Visitors come from near and far to sample the Algarve's best sardines along the waterfront area of Portimão.

Portugal has around 140 or so species of butterflies and over half of these are found in the Algarve region. Impressive, isn't it? The green landscape of Monchique seems to attract a variety of butterflies. And the Algarve on the whole is considered to be a stronghold for a number of rare and endangered butterfly species.

Portugal has a long coastline that is dotted with lighthouses. These were built to serve as navigational aids to shipos and in the olden days featured open fires and lanterns. Today, most functional lighthouses have electric lights and are run automatically, often with remote monitoring.

Some of the popular lighthouses in Portugal are the Ponta da Piedade Lighthouse (in Lagos), the Cabo da Roca Lighthouse (in Sintra), the Vila Real de Santo António Lighthouse and the Alfanzina Lighthouse (which can be seen on the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail).

Windmills have a captivating charm about them and if you travel around Portugal, you will find a wide variety of lovely windmills - some modern, some ancient, some being used as holiday rentals and some still functional!

The electricity box in the photograph below seems to depict a traditional Portuguese windmill like the one located near the Algarve town of Odeceixe.

These are just a few of the painted electricity boxes we spotted in Silves; there's lots more to see. If you are headed to Silves, do keep an eye out on the narrow streets; you never know what you might find!