Faro: Last day in portugal

December 10, 2018

I had a nice morning to spend in Tavira before catching a 9:45am train to Faro. I went wandering around the city and found a cathedral.

It had lovely gardens inside the walls

And a fantastic view outside of them.

Wild poinsettias?

Back in Faro I dropped my things at the hostel and went walkabout. I think I semi-accidentally had duck fried rice for lunch, but with the language barrier I'm not entirely sure.

I went to visit the cathedral in the old part of town, with hopes that I'd time it right and finish in time to catch sunset over the water at dinnertime. The cathedral itself was grand.

And it had a Capela dos ossos, a chapel made of bones. They used skulls in place of bricks for some of the construction. Theres another bigger chapel like it in another church in Faro, which I was disappointed to find closed for renovations.

Also a nice courtyard with orange trees.

As chapels so often are, the inside of this one was gorgeous with ornate gold everything.

I payed the extra euros to climb up the bell tower.

And was rewarded with a great panoramic view of the city and coast.

This bell appeared to be stationary, but there was still a working one close by that scared the bejeebus out of everyone standing on the top of the tower when it tolled without warning.

Luck was with me, and I did sit down ahead of the dinner crowd but right at sunset. I chose a restaurant with a good view on purpose. 

The drink I chose had gin and cucumber and lime among other things, and showed up in a teapot. I wasn't expecting that.

It was delicious with my spaghetti and the view.

I took one last spin around town before turning in for the night, exploring the cobblestone streets at random.

A successful last day in Portugal.

My one day in Dublin on the way back was pretty chill. I did some shopping, went to a park, ate some ice cream, and had dinner in a pub with a live band. Another successful last day, but not a very photographically interesting one.

All in all my first trip to Europe was a 10/10, would go again.

Wreck Diving in Lagos

December 6-8, 2018

I had three days of diving in Lagos. Since it was low season, I pretty much got a personal tour. The first day there were two other guys who signed up last minute. (Read about John and I going to a beach in this post) the second day it was just me with the owner of the shop (Nuno) but a guide from another shop joined on the boat with his customers. The third day it was just me, Nuno, and another divemaster who worked at the shop during the summer, but was just along for fun that day.

From the boat we had beautiful views of the cliffs I had hiked a couple days earlier.

Underwater, the diving wasn't too interesting the first day. Not much in the way of a reef, just worn down limestone. Some fish, but I wouldn't go back specifically. The second two days we dove three wrecks that had been sunk to make artificial reefs, and there were great.

Underwater photography is hard and for the most part unsuccessful (for me at least) but I've got some highlights for your viewing pleasure.

This boat was still upright, so we started the dive by swimming along the top deck towards the stern.

One of my favorite shots, we swam through one of the compartments and came out right behind the steering wheel.

Remnants of a watchtower.

When you bust open a mussel underwater, it becomes a fish feeding frenzy.

It was fun diving, though I was definitely cold each time. I love wrecks in general, and these were excellent ones. I'd go again sometime.

Tavira and the beach

December 8 -10, 2018

After my last day of diving in Faro and an afternoon beach walk, I packed up my bags and headed to the train station. The ticket office was still closed for lunch, so I enjoyed a late lunch myself with a view of the marina, then caught the 5:00 train to Tavira, past Faro to the east.

It was an easy walk down the train station down the hill into Tavira, and I enjoyed all the holiday lights decorating the night. In the main plaza there was a giant Christmas tree too.

I wasn't really hungry, and nothing seemed to be open anyway, so I just went to bed.

The next morning I caught sunrise over the Gilão River, grabbed breakfast at a cafe, and headed out for a day at the beach.

There were two ways to get to the island beach offshore from town. Walk southwest for a ways to another town and cross a bridge, or take a ferry from Tavira. My plan was to walk there, walk all the way up the beach, then take the ferry back at the end.

The sunny morning walk took me through the small fishing town of Santa Luzia. It was apparently low tide as a bunch of boats were beached in the mud flats.

The bridge to Praia de Barril crossed the mud flats, and there was an adorable little train that ran to take people the short distance to the beach. I opted to walk.

And at the end of the path I found sand dunes and shining ocean.

There was a beach bar or two, and an anchor cemetery, which is a remnant of the tuna fishing history of the past. When the fishermen stopped fishing, the anchors were left to rust, and somewhere along the way someone decided to line them up.

It took a while to walk the three miles all the way up the beach. I stopped along the way to watch the many fishermen casting out into the surf.

I walked some in the water and some on the hard sand with my shoes back on when my feet got tired.

At the top of the island I found more beach bars and restaurants, and a couple jettys with lighthouses marking the mouth of the river.

After one unsuccessful attempt at finding the ferry I bought ice cream and asked for directions, then gave it a second attempt and managed to find the terribly marked ferry dock. I couldn't make heads nor tails of the posted ferry schedule, so I settled down for a wait of an undetermined amount of time.

In less than an hour a ferry showed up and it was a quick 5 minute motor to the other side of the water to Quatro Aguas, the little town.

Walking back to Tavira was a hot, 20 minute affair, with interesting views of clam beds and salt pans next to the road.

My search for food was only slightly more successful than the previous night (don't visit during ghost town low season if you're a foodie) but I did find a bar that was more Irish than the ones in Dublin.

There was a very Irish young man playing guitar, and everyone else in the bar had an Irish accent and was  clapping, dancing, and singing along to the mostly traditional tunes. I had a snack of bar food (including soda bread) and enjoyed myself. After that however, I was unable to find an open restaurant for actual dinner, so I resorted to buying trail mix and a juice box at the grocery store. Sometimes traveling is glamorous, sometimes it's less so.

I set out the next morning to catch the train back to Faro for my last day in Portugal. I'd like to come back to Tavira sometime when it was slightly more populated in a different time of year and see how it compares.