You know that feeling you get when you go to a summer resort town in the winter. The ice cream shops are boarded up. The fairground rides are all wrapped, and the shopkeepers stand around forlornly. Well, that’s what Faro is like. It seemed that there was one tourist bus in town today. They alighted as a pack with lanyards around their necks, and trudged up the mall in a group through the rain. We actually saw one tour vendor bring in his boards and lock up the shop after the group went past, and it wasn’t even lunchtime.
And the weather didn’t spare us either. We woke to the sound of rain, and when we got up we found ourselves sloshing through a flooded kitchen. The kitchen window, which was properly shut, has a major leak, and the rain had been running in all night. Obviously a normal occurrence, which explained why there was a dehumidifier permanently running in the lounge room, and a powered air freshener running flat out. So there we were, with our jeans rolled up, trying to get breakfast things out of the cupboards and the fridge.
When the owner of the apartment finally answered our message some time later, there was no surprise or apology, just directions about where to find the mop, and a reminder to leave the dehumidifier on!
With our walking tour cancelled this morning, we went a’wandering by ourselves. A different type of cuisine here. Where every bakery in Porto was in to croissants, Portuguese tarts and pastries, bakeries here are more in to cream filled and iced offerings, but what the heck, you have to have something with your coffee.
Walked past all the old churches, through the old walls and gates, and up and down the cobble stoned roads. Saw the convents, the palace and the Arch of Rest before heading home.
After lunch we walked up to the large municipal shopping centre, and found half of it closed. Returned via the largest municipal park in the town, and found it boarded up for repairs that seemed abandoned.
The city is a lovely place to wander around in, which we did again after tea, and would be a terrific destination in summer, but at the moment the whole place has just a slight feel of desperation.
