Faro
We arrived in Faro via bus from Huelva around 7 PM. The bus required a change in Tavira, Portugal along the way. Tavira looked like a nice town and it would have been nice to stay for more than a bus change. Unfortunately, that is all we could do since our bus tickets were for a specific time. Although Tavira has a train station, due to the train schedule the bus was the best option to get to Faro.
While we were on the bus to Faro, we booked an apartment in the center of town and a short 5-minute walk from the station. Faro is in the Algarve area of southern Portugal and is a cozy little oceanfront town with cobblestone streets and beautiful old buildings. The apartment we booked was managed by a hostel and that is where we picked up the apartment keys and started our long-awaited Algarve journey.
A Stroll Around Town
After dropping off our backpacks, we immediately headed out to see the town as sunset was less than two hours away. Faro felt like a Mediterranean coastal town with a harbor and old architecture. Luckily, since it was early June, there were not many tourists and we could stroll along the streets without the crowds.
The old town area is surrounded by an ancient wall that was once part of a fortress protecting the city. Within the walls, there are museums, a cathedral, and restaurants. Several of the restaurants had outdoor seating that appeared to cater more to tourists than locals. We prefer to visit the areas where the locals tend to hang out when possible. Due to our late arrival, we missed several attractions in the old town area that were already closed. Therefore, we continued walking around as we were running out of daylight.
Dinner
Just past the center of town, we found a street with several restaurants, cafés, and pubs. This was a good location for us to find food that everyone could agree on. Several of the cafés were busy and did not have seating, or the right menu to make everyone happy. Finally, we found an Irish Pub to have some fish and chips, and of course a Guinness. It wasn’t a local specialty for our meals, but we were getting hungry by then. After dinner, we walked around for a little while before heading back to the apartment.
The next morning we returned our keys at the hostel and headed to the train station with our Eurail passes in hand. We were going west as we had booked 2 nights at a villa in the Benagil area of the Algarve. The Algarve is a popular retirement location and we wanted to see what the buzz was about. So far, the Algarve seemed like a sleepy and laid-back coastal area and we could understand the appeal to retirees.
Faro is a nice place to stop over for a night. However, it would be great if you had a few days to explore the area and not just a few blocks around the city center as we did. Unfortunately, Faro is often overlooked as a destination and is typically only a pass-through location for many visitors using the airport.
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