Faro and Portugal!

Trip Start Jun 10, 2007

104

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Portugal Faro, Portugal
Monday, October 8, 2007

Our final destination in Portugal was Faro, the capital of the Algarve. We arrived on October 5, a national holiday and the place was a ghost town. Only a handful of restaurants were open and barely a soul could be seen. We did manage to find a liquor store that was open that also sold basic sustenance. As our room had a balcony and it was a glorious day, we did a brief stroll of the town and headed back to our balcony to take it easy and have one of our classic dinners of wine, bread, cheese, olives, etc... and of course fabulous conversation.

The next day we wanted to see what Faro was like open for business. The only real site that intrigued us was the "Chapel of Bones". It is in the back of an old church and dates from the 1800s. The chapel is actually made out of bones dug up hundreds of years ago (for a reason that wasn't clear to us). See pictures as it is a little creepy. That evening we went to a restaurant to enjoy our last night in Portugal (at least for a while). We sat next to a very loud American man who we believe only knows how to communicate by shouting. We tried a new food experience. Meg ordered pizza with bananas and green wine (both were fabulous), and I ordered grilled swordfish (more liek chicken than fish). It was neat to get the bill and see that grilled swordfish with all the trimmings was €2 cheaper than a personal pizza. You know you are on the coast when...

As we ate, our American neighbour made up for the volume at which he spoke in one wonderful phrase. On his way out, he approached us and said in very slow and clear english (he obviously thought we were Portuguese)...

chapel of bones... yes walls made of human bones

"You are a very nice looking couple... Do you understand what I said?" We smiled, thanked him and thought maybe he wasn�t that annoying after all.

That is all from Faro.

We are writing this on our flight from Faro to Madrid (for about €30 each by the way). We have had a fabulous time in Portugal and feel that we covered much of what the country has to offer. For such a small place, it is interestingly different in each place. Porto seemed like a classic city where it seems little has changed over the centuries. Coimbra is very well organized and is remarkably beautiful everywhere you turned in the maze that is the old city or greenspace with its romantic history. Lisbon is absolutely crammed with an intense history that may be the reason why Portuguese culture is still so dominant here. The Algarve is one of the most breathtaking places we have been. Something the English are well aware of.

We have been doing this for four months now and we still can't believe how much we are experiencing. This is fabulous. We have one more country to wrap our heads around before we retreat to the Swiss Alps for the winter to circle the wagons and fully immerse ourselves in another culture.

Bring it on Spain!