Source: The Smith Journal
Tavira, Portugal
This one’s right up there with the Easter Island heads in terms of haunting landscapes: hundreds of massive iron anchors standing in perfect rows in the sand on an isolated Portuguese island.
Not merely the detritus of the ocean, they are the last remnants of Tavira’s once thriving tuna-fishing industry – an enterprise that fed Portugal for hundreds of years.
But when the tuna dried up, the ships stopped sailing. And whenever one of them docked for the last time, they’d leave their anchor on Barril beach. After a while, there was enough that someone decided they needed to be kept in order, as if waiting for the moment when the island's lifeblood would return. Sadly, it never did.
