The Castle of Salir () is an Almohad fortress, located in the civil parish of the same name (Salir (Loulé)), 16 kilometres from the municipality seat of Loulé in the Portuguese Algarve.
History
The castle is a late Islamic castle, built during a period of intense pressure from Christian forces. It was part of the a network of Almohad castles, an extensive line of coastal defenses that stretched into the interior from Castro Marim until Alcoutim. Salir was a rural defensive post, one of several that were aligned towards the interior: it was an advanced outpost. Its function was to protect the farmers from attacks by Christians, and which intensified after the conquest of Tavira by knights of the Order of Santiago. The master was to await the arrival of Afonso (1248–1279) so that they could unite their forces and remove the last vestiges of resistance in the Algarve. It is situated in an area of ample visibility over the fertile valleys to the north and west.