"So Far(o) , So Good" a Faro Travel Page by Ekaterinburg

Everyone knows Faro Airport. Thousands throng its arrivals and departure areas weekly and then vanish westwards to the heavily touristed beaches and golf clubs of The Algarve.

Big mistake !

The city of Faro is that rarest of things in The Algarve: a city that exists for its inhabitants to live and work in and not to serve the great deity of Tourism. It provides a perfect taste of many aspects of Portugese life, culture and cuisine. Small enough to walk everywhere, with an incredibly beautiful Old Town, a short break in Faro will leave you feeling very pleased with yourself for being smart enough to have turned east, rather than west as you left the airport. We spent five days there recently and I would have happily stayed for another week.

In this page I'll mention some highlights of the Old Town but the laid back pedestrianised town centre and the slightly more dilapidated but hugely atmospheric Moorish quarter were also very picturesque The harbour ranges from glitzy marina at the Hotel Eva side to far more down to earth fishing boats and activity at the old Town side. Circumnavigating it on a sunny morning( including a short hop across the railway bridge) was a lazy and pleasurable meander, including close encounters with the local insect life and an occasional cat.

I'll also look at some of the many side trips you can take from Faro, by bus, train and boat.

Coming from a grey Irish winter, the colours in Faro will blind you. First of all there's that strange yellow thing in the sky ??? I believe it's called the sun but I have so little exposure to it, I've almost forgotten what it looks like. Then there's the BLUEST of blue skies, the shimmer of aforementioned sun glinting on water and great balls of orange fire constantly assaulting your eyeballs. Streets lined with Orange trees should be compulsory in every town in the world. Sadly, they're not but Faro has the best I've seen so far.

Just behind Faro's marina/harbour is this amazing waterworld of lagoons, sandbanks and little islands that appear and disappear with the movement of the tides. You can take a boat trip here or hire a boat yourself and spot some wildlife. Visiting one of the islands between Faro and the sea, especially one of the more deserted ones, adds a whole extra dimension to a trip here.