we were let off at the bus station, situated right on the marina and off of a big plaza. after finding a pretty sketchy xeroxed map at a nearby hotel we made our way to the hostel. we quickly discovered faro was a small town, after traversing the entire old town and walking along the train tracks to arrive at our hostel in about 20 minutes.
the hostel was nicer than expected and the woman at reception was great. we wandered around the city at dusk (or was it twilight?). the city's rather small and we managed to wander all through the 'tourist' district and down to the marina. we caught it at a beautiful time of night. we were encouraged to find a restaurant that wasn't on the pedestrian (i.e. touristy) street but all we found was a chinese place so we went for it. chinese portuguese food. not bad. in our walking we discovered the principal difference between portugal and spain.. (besides the language, which is beyond bizarre. it looks like spanish but sounds like something slavic) the portuguese aren't really known for staying out late. though to be fair, we did go directly from the craziest week in sevilla to a small coast town in portugal. for an interesting comparison we happened upon a similar holy week procession on our way back to the hostel. the biggest difference was that people seemed to be taking it much more seriously. everyone was quiet and many of the townspeople seemed to have joined in the procession behind it.the next day we enjoyed the hostel breakfast (delicious cafe con leche, yogurt, bread/meat/cheese) before heading out to explore. we went to an indoor market the hostel woman had recommended and we were not disappointed; it was great. between the produce stalls and the grocery store below we came away with cheap chocolate, delicious strawberries and pears to last us the rest of the day. we did a little window shopping and had a tasty pizza lunch before taking the bus to the beach. while waiting for the bus we discovered a little market where we found some lovely (and cheap!) scarves. kelly doubled her scarf collection in one day; i was so proud.
twenty minutes and less than two euro later, we were at the beach. the beach was beautiful and virtually deserted. this was probably because it was rather windy (a trend that continued throughout the rest of our trip) and some clouds were floating through. the difference between the full sun and when the clouds passed through was dramatic. we still enjoyed our time at the beach, variously reading and napping on the sand. i felt very authentic, reading my josé saramago in portugal. kelly.. well i'm not allowed to divulge what she was reading but i will say.. i've mentioned its name somewhere in this post..
the rest of our time in portugal we spent wandering the streets and enjoying the architecture of the city. what i remember most of portugal is peeling, fading paint jobs. after wandering and taking pictures we visited the market and made our way back to the hostel for a homemade meal. we had a very healthy salad and then gorged ourself on bread, cheese, chocolate, and strawberries. it was delicious. we played cards until we were kicked out of the common room (why even have a common room?) and forced to continue in the hallway - but not without getting scolded by the night guard. he suggested we play outside.. where it was dark, windy and cold.
the next day was easter but we didn't notice any real difference. we visited our favorite market and walked the streets before getting on a bus to head back to spain. it was great to have seen portugal and faro was a nice little town that seemed to have avoided being overly touristy. but it would have been nice to see more of portugal; the coastline seem to just get nicer as you travel down the algarve. another time, perhaps.
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