Faro

Hello folks,

It's that time again and I'm taking a few hours to update you. I'm currently sitting in Portugal - more precisely in the Algarve - and enjoying my time in a very hip campsite.

So I still have to show you all the places that took me to the almost southwestern point of Europe. This includes, after my first defeat when I arrived in Portugal from Spain, I got into a fight with an employee of the campsite, which was supposed to be my first stopover. The dear employee didn't want to let me park my normal car on a property because this is only reserved for caravans and "real" campers. But she would have allowed a car with a roof tent. After I called the next larger campsite and the lady there told me the same thing about her campsite, I briefly thought about whether this was the case throughout Portugal and whether I would have to put up and take down my tent every time . I didn't feel like doing that and in my fatalistic thoughts I was about to write off Portugal and go back to Spain. Fortunately, this train of thought was only there for a very short time and I then decided on a spot on the tent meadow but simply didn't put up a tent. I therefore paid €6 less and the campsite ruined its own business. THAT'S RUBBISH!

I prepared breakfast for the next day the evening before so that I could get away from this campsite as quickly as possible and then drove to Faro. I parked the car here and looked for a nice spot for my breakfast.

On the way to this spot I already saw some of the typical sights of the city, as I parked the car near the harbor and outside the old city walls.

The stork nests in particular were pretty cool, although I have to say that since I was so used to storks in the Black Forest, I no longer find them as extraordinary as before.

As can be seen from some of the pictures, the city was currently in the process of dismantling a festival that took place throughout the city from September 1st to 4th. Unfortunately I was too late for this.

The mosaic floors in Faro are really beautiful and have a wide variety of shapes and forms. I then made myself comfortable on the harbor square and enjoyed my breakfast under the watchful eyes of a few pigeons. I was attacked from behind by a magpie, which made itself comfortable in the shady tree above me. Afterwards I sat in the sun because the risk of losing my breakfast and thus making my day noticeably worse was too high.

Can you see them? The well-known thieving and deceitful magpie?

However, only small boats are allowed in the port of Faro and there is no space for the larger ships, which I think gives the port a very small and cute touch.

As you can see in the photos, I was there relatively early and was therefore able to enjoy some peace and quiet in the city.

This statue reminds me of someone, but I just can't remember who. I think it was a cartoon character, but I'm not sure. Maybe you can give me a hint?

After I had explored enough of the city center, I went to one of the more bizarre attractions in the Algarve - the bone chapel. I really wanted to see this because I had already seen the Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic and was wondering whether this bone chapel looked similar.

Shame on my head, but I actually saw this “trough” while walking into the church and wondered what it was called again. I didn't think of the name, but it certainly looked pretty in the shape of a shell.

The Capela dos Ossos is definitely worth seeing and the €2 entrance fee to the church was well worth it, but the Kutna Hora is definitely a lot more interesting. The bones are those of monks from that time.

After I slowly strolled back through the city center, I got weak in one of the cork shops and picked up a small souvenir of the Algarve.

After I had looked at Faro and had already seen through research that there was a Starbucks not far away, I grabbed my laptop and sat in the outside area of the Starbucks with half a liter of coffee and informed you about the other places I had seen until then. Unnecessary side information: This was the cheapest half liter of coffee so far at €4.20 for an Iced Caramal Macchiato.

Afterwards we went to a small family-run campsite where the dogs and cats greeted us very friendly and where my usual "sleeping in the car" was no longer a problem.

From there I planned to do a hike in the "hinterland", hiking along the coast of the Algarve and checking out Albufeira.

But more on that in the next posts.

To Faro,
Your Britta