Portugal

Various art in Faro

And pi in to 20-or-so decimal places

Views inside...

The 20 minute ferry to Praia de Faro saves 2 hours of walking around the airport, giving me extra time to explore the hiking trails and beach town.
Here are some pics from my 3-hr walk

Roman ruins of salting bins for fish.

Current salt production.

Tavira is about 30 minutes from Faro by train.

There's a great attraction called the Camera Obscura. It's a big building and you take the elevator (or if you are me, the stairs) up and they open a window in the building and the light reflects into a white bowl in front of you, where you can see the reflection of the city. The guide shows various views of the city, and by rotating the window, you end up with a 360 view in real time. Very cool. Afterwards, as we walked around the city and the walls, we waved at the camera . You can see the camera on the top of the big round tower.

The Igreja da Misericordia is a beautifully tiled church. There happened to be a pianist playing - not sure if he was practicing or if this was a regular concert experience. There was only a handful of people listening, but it was really fantastic.

The walls/fortress had great views.

Then we ate lunch at a little out-of-the way place called Tres Palmeiras where you can order from the menu, but the norm is to just sit down and let them bring you the fish of the day (four of them for the two of us), along with salad, potatoes, bruschetta - more than we could eat. Plus 1/2 litre of wine for me and a bottle of beer for Steve. And at the end, they brought a huge basket of fresh fruit to choose from, which included apples, pears, oranges, banana and tangerines. Enough for a meal in itself.

Olhao is described as a small fishing village. It's only 5k from Faro, but only on a highway, so I couldn't walk it and the train was only 7min. There was a nice old town and walking promenade.

I extended my walking with paths through the Ria Formosa (nature preserve, which stretches along the coast including Faro). A good spot for bird watching, if that's your thing.

But mostly the village is all about the fishing, with tiles and murals.

I loved the painted planters on the old town streets.

Albufeira was better reached by bus. I was actually trying to take the train, but they were on a morning strike, so I had to take the bus, which turned out to be fortuitous as the train is 5k away from the town and the the bus goes to the centre. I had missed that the info on attractions I'd found on-line showed distances from the bus station, not the train station. Lucky strike for me!
Albufeira was a 90 min bus ride on the way there, seemingly stopping at every corner in Faro and beyond. On the way home I found an express bus (10 vs. 5 euros, which was totally worth it) that was only 45 min with just one stop at the airport. The driver seemed disappointed that I didn't get off at the aeroporto stop with everyone else so he had to drive me to the bus station.

Albufeira is a beach town - lots of beach and no nature preserve between the town and the beach. Thus, it is very touristy. In Feb, not so busy with very few people in the water, but lots of crowds in the square and walking (likely crazy crowded in the summer). Ended my trip with a salmon burger at a restaurant right in the middle of the beach. Great view and good burger.

Yesterday, we ventured together to Lagos. This is a 90 min train journey to a beach town that is less touristy than Albufeira and, I would argue, has much more interesting beaches, including rock formations and openings in the rock from one beach to the next. Interesting and different walking experience. Although we decided to spend our time walking in Lagos, there are also a lot of tours on offer for exploring nearby grottos and caves.

Unfortunately the fort was closed "indefinitely".

Loved exploring these beaches

We have an apartment for 4 weeks and it is fantastic, very large, and has everything we need. Unlike Torremolinos, the bedroom is REALLY quiet and the bed and pillows are comfortable. Lovely for sleeping. Temperatures have ranged from 14-20 highs (Celsius) and lows from 8-12; however, the wind has been moderate (25-35k), so it has felt quite cold most days. Works well for drying the clothes on the balcony, though.

Here's a pic of me playing Scrabble on-line with my Mom (who still lives in my original hometown on Vancouver Island) in the den/2nd bedroom - 1pm for me; 5am for her. We typically play twice a week and it's nice to be able to continue that when I'm away from home.

We have views on both sides; the nature preserve/lagoon from the balcony and the city from the kitchen and bedroom.

As per usual, I've been walking and here are some pics from around Faro. Is it just me or does that look like our PM - when he had his beard - selling real estate in Faro?

On Thursday, the sunniest warmest day so far (19C and low wind), we took a 25-min ferry to Praia de Faro, a favourite beach spot (also accessible via a 1h45 walk and bridge from our apartment) and spent some time in the Havana Café and on the beach.

One day, I made some yummy chicken vegetable soup from a sopa kit.

Here I am on the Rio Douro...

Pinhao on the Rio Douro, Portugal after the Camino