How Can the Beach Be That Far Away?

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4/14/07 Seville-->Faro

We caught a bus to Faro that left at about 3:00pm (that way we could have a little more time in Seville). We ended up sitting next to this group of Australian guys. Pete (the one that I sat next to) had been to Morocco about the same time that Sudie and I were there so we talked about that, and he showed me videos of last nights bull fight (they killed 6 of them—I’m really glad I didn’t go). When we got to Faro, we all said goodbye (they were going on to Lagos) and then we set off in search of our hostel. The majority of hostel directions thus far were terrible, and these were no exception. We ended up walking around for ever until we finally found it. After putting our bags in our rooms, we went down to see where the beach was (the beach was pretty much the only reason we came to Faro), and found out that it was a 20 minute bus ride away. This was very disappointing, to say the least, but we figured that we could still go and catch the bus and spend a little time there before it got dark. When we got to the bus station the lady basically told us that we would get there and then have to come straight back and it really wasn’t worth it. We ended up walking around a little more, and watched the sunset before we eventually headed back to the hostel where we played cards before finally going to sleep. Not a very exciting day in Faro, and not what we were expecting.

4/15/07 Faro-->Lagos

We woke up fairly early, so that we could make it to the beach before we left for Lagos. As we were standing in the doorway to our room a group of Portuguese guys (dresses in black capes, and other random things like an inflatable life vest), who were there for some sort of band competition (we were woken up by the sound of drums and someone talking through a megaphone), ended up singing and playing the guitar for us before the hostel lady came up and yelled at them. It was quite entertaining. After breakfast, we walked to bus station, caught the bus to the beach, and then 20 minutes later arrived (so much work). The beach was really quite nice (the water was freezing) though it was so freaking far. There was barely anyone there. We sat there in the sun (yay!) for an hour until we had to catch the bus back. We went back to our hostel, grabbed our bags, checked out, and then made our way back to the bus station to catch the bus to Lagos. On the whole, I’m not really sure if it was worth it. The beach was a little too far for what we were expecting or what we even wanted, and we didn’t really find a lot to do in Faro itself.

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Photos

Faro
No beach here, but it sure was a pretty sunset.

Faro
I am quite fond of the plane in this picture

Faro
Some of our serenaders

Faro
Almost to the beach!

Faro
Finally!