Nao fala Portuguese

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Faro, Portugal. Why there? What makes it worth visiting? Why would someone spend 3 hours and 40 minutes on a train to get there? To me, it made sense. The transatlantic sailing finished in Lisbon…..my 3rd time there. Well, it turns out that there were no discount airlines between Lisbon and London…or none that went at a decent time and arrived at a decent time at one of the London airports…..not to mention the fact that I had to get from a London airport down to Southampton cause I wanted to visit with Stuart and some other friends for a few days.

Ah….Faro had a slew of discount airlines to the UK and even had one called FlyBE which flew from there direct into Southampton!!! Faro is pretty much in the center of the touristy Algarve region of Portugal. Chapter one of my latest odyssey ended when I had to wait 3 hours for that train that would take 3 hrs 40 minutes to Faro….a pretty long travel day. Well, the train wasn’t half full, had a café car, and lo and behold, the same 4 people that I had the last dinner with aboard Crown Princess. (who were going to a town called Albufeira for 2 weeks). Oh, and the fare came to only about $23.00!

Arriving in Faro and trying to remember my high school Portuguese, I took a taxi to the Hotel San Bernardo which was just a short 10 minute walk from the old city. Then it was time to explore the reasons why Faro was such a touristy town. Yeah, the old town was quaint, pretty large and filled with British and German people. But there was no beach right there. It sat pretty much at the end of a marshland area very similar to the Everglades. The ocean was a couple kilometers away. Fresh fish, of course, was the main restaurant staple so thats what I had for dinner. They chopped off the head, sliced it in half and threw it on a grill. Yup….I got to practice removing the bones !!!!!

Next morning (the 6th) I set out to explore the old city after a very filling included breakfast. Seems that Faro dated back to the times even before the Moorish invasion, but a lot of the old town was built after the Moors were kicked out in the 12th century. Still lots of Moorish touches tho….in the window designs, the ventilation chimneys, the narrow streets, etc. All in pretty whitewashed buildings. I climbed up the 58 steps to the top of the bell tower for an overall view of the city….and was watched over by a real stork that had taken up residence near the bell. I must have gone into 10 churches and seen tons of gold decoration. What in the world was the reason to create chapels made of human bones and skulls….with an altar? Walking thru the “waterside” park, a young lady tried to sell me a tour thru the marshland to see all the birds, even including flamingos. Her sales pitch kind of lessened when I told her I lived on the edge of the Everglades and explained what that was all about. Dinner that night was chicken fried in garlic with French fries…..good thing I wasn’t meeting anyone!!!

Had my usual big breakfast the next morning, finished packing and took a taxi to the airport for my FlyBE flight to Southampton. Very nice flight and landed right on time where Stuart was waiting in the arrivals area. I have to say that the 60 cloudy degree temperature in Southampton was pretty much a shock to my system after being in bright 80 degree sun in Faro. Lots of things planned in Southampton so you’ll have to read the next installment.

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