Portugal Trip

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Today we left for Tavira without ever having met the owners of the villa we
rented in Albufeira. They were due to meet us on the first day we arrived
but never showed up and neither did they bid us farewell, funny way of doing
business, luckily we hadn’t given them the deposit they had requested. The
taxi was right on time but the driver nearly got a hernia trying to lift
Jocelyne’s suitcase into the back of the cab but all’s well that ends well
and off we went to the bus station.

We took what was supposed to be a direct bus route to Faro but it made so
many stops that I lost track of how many times it did. Finally, upon
arriving in Faro we got off the bus and after getting our bus tickets for
our trip back to Lisbon for when we leave to go for home (sob, sob), we just
about missed the 9:30 bus to Tavira and if it hadn’t been for Joce running
after the bus that was leaving and getting a disgruntled driver to stop and
let us on with our multiple baggage or as one taxi driver said, our
wardrobe, we would of had to wait for the next bus which was leaving only at
11:00; it seems they only mark the final destination on the front of the bus
so it up to you to figure out the rest.

We finally arrived in Tavira at noon, called the owner, he picked us
promptly and brought us to a wonderful, newly renovated and modern 2
bedroom apartment. It’s conveniently located in downtown Tavira close to
everything we could possibly need, including the newly built Continente
Grand Plaza which is said to possibly be the largest shopping centre in
Europe.

Tomorrow we plan on taking a ferry, which is a 2 minute walk from our
apartment, and we will go visit the Isle of Tavira which has a beach set in
a lagoon. We will keep you posted on that one.

Note: the picture was taken a block away from the apartment

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