Above - Tiles inside the Cathedral.
Above - Tiles inside the Cathedral.
Above - The street signs are made out of tiles.
Above - Cobbled streets.
Above - Cobbled Streets.
Above - the view over Faro and the marshland from the top of the Cathedral.
Above - Faro's Cathedral.
Above - The gateway into the old part of Faro.
Above - Cathedral Square.
Above - the tourist train.The alarm clock sounded at 4h30. I had a flight to catch at 8h. Sometime back in January when booking my flights I opted for the earlier option because a) it was cheaper and b) it meant I’d get to spend more of the day at my destination - Faro. But at 4h30 when it’s still pitch black outside I wasn’t so sure. I left for the train station at 5h30. The streets of Brighton were deserted. I think I passed one bus. The train station wasn’t much better either. It was even too early for the rush hour of commuters to London. But when I arrived at Gatwick airport at about 6h15 it could have been midday. There were lots of people. All going on holiday. I queued in a ridiculously long queue to check in, thank goodness it went down quite quickly! We took off on time at 8h. The flight was the longest I’d ever been on at just over two and a half hours and when we landed the sky was blue and the temperature significantly warmer than it had been in England. I asked the lady at the tourist information desk in the airport where I could get the bus, I also asked her for a map of Faro and how to say thank you in Portuguese – obligada. I got the bus from Faro Airport to the town centre. I had to wait quite a while for a bus – over an hour – but it was warm and sunny in the airport carpark.
When I got off the bus in Faro I consulted my map and my directions to the youth hostel courtesy of google maps. It took me about half an hour to noisily find the hostel, noisily because the streets were cobbled and well, it’s not exactly a silent job wheeling a suitcase over cobbles… By the time I got there I was starting to feel a little overdressed for the Algarve sun – jeans, boots, jacket… The lady in the hostel told me I couldn’t check in until 17h but that I could leave my suitcase. I swapped my boots for flipflops, removed the jacket and left to discover the town. I stumbled across a tourist train which I went on to get an overview of the town. It took us through what looked like an old, walled part of the town as well as around the more modern looking bit. A commentary would have been useful but never mind – it gave me an idea of where to go to see things.
After the tourist train I went in the tourist information centre and asked the lady there what she recommended me to see and do in Faro. She told me to go around the old part of the town and climb to the top of the Cathedral. She also recommended two churches and the beach which you can reach by bus. Apparently, and I didn’t know this, there is a national park of marshland between Faro and the actual coast and beach hence the reason for needing to take a bus to the beach.
I left the tourist information centre and went to the old town and Cathedral. (Second Portuguese word learnt – Sé – Cathedra,l shortly followed by third word – Largo – Square) I climbed to the top of the Cathedral where I could see the marshland between Faro and the beach. I also got a cracking view of the town and it’s harbour. Inside the Cathedral there were lots of tiles – blue and yellow – all over the walls. I’d also noticed that the street names were tiles too… In fact, there were tiles and cobbles everywhere! After I’d walked around the old part of the town I went to the pedestrianised part and had coffee and ice cream – what a combination, a tasty one though. I then made my way back to the hostel where I saw my room. It was a six bed room and everyone in it was travelling alone. They were all really nice and we got on well –Cecilia from South Africa, Bree from Australia – both living and working in London, Dora from Canada and a girl from Japan who was studying in Newcastle.
