Faro, Portugal

Faro is the place that Europeans go in the summer to party on the beach, only we weren’t there in summer - it was late October! It was also All Saints Day (November 1st), so there weren’t many people around. Turns out we celebrated the last All Saints Day in Portugal since Portugal’s government is removing it and some of the other national holidays next year in an attempt to create more work for people… but from what we saw, there wasn’t much of a town center to really revive.

On Sunday at the coffee shop it was us and a bunch of old folks watching church on TV, we kid you not. This was actually a very nice break from the touristy towns that we had been in so far in both Portugal and Spain. We had time for leisurely morning strolls in the old town and along the waterfront before hitting the espresso bar.

Faro is next to a large estuary and is home to some serious low tides and serious big storks that peered down at us from the lamp posts and church steeples. It might be fun to come back to Faro with some friends for the high season, but not yet… not yet.