Okay guys. It’s the home stretch. I’m almost all caught-up. We’re in Portugal now!

When planning our leg of the trip, Kristina and I had originally wanted to just do the big cities: Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Porto. But the connecting flights weren’t the nicest price-wise, and we got some tips on checking out Cordoba and Sevilla. Therefore, when we ended up in Sevilla, it was too expensive to get up to Porto. Cue a Google search or two to find the little town of Faro, a bus ride away from Seville. Reviews said that most people just use Faro as a gateway from Spain into the rest of Portugal, but the town has quite a bit to offer in and of itself. Sounds like my kind of place!

We arrived mid-morning and stepped into the heat. Our hostel was nice and close to the bus station, so we went to check-in and drop off our things. The girl at the front desk was so sweet! She was from Brazil (they speak Portuguese there, too), and she had come to Faro to go to school. Supposedly Faro is a college town, but I really wasn’t getting that vibe. The girl kept calling us ‘girls’ very endearingly. ‘Okay, girls, you can just leave your bags over there…. Girls, it is too, too hot today, so be careful.’ It was so cute!

We were pretty tired, but seeing as it was a hostel, we didn’t have the option of taking a nap because our beds weren’t available until two. Kristina wrapped up her blisters and we set off to find lunch. We actually stumbled upon a place right around the corner from us, and only because we went the wrong way in the first place (away from downtown). It was one of those lovely little places where patrons sit almost exclusively outside. I got a chicken salad and a fresh orange juice, and Kristina got….. hm… I actually can’t remember what Kristina got, but I’m sure it was delicious! We kept trying to speak Spanish to the waiter, though. That was a bit awkward. It’s a tough habit to break!

The heat was getting to us, as usual, so when we turned around toward actual downtown, we ended up sitting down in practically the first snack shop we came to. Ha! Too hot to move. This place was a fresh fruit and frozen yogurt shop. I got a giant cup of mangoes and peaches with natural frozen yogurt on top (tasted almost exactly like the Greek yogurt Jamba Juice puts in their smoothies), and Kristina got a smoothie.

‘Liz, you have to try this,’ she said shortly after I handed it to her. ‘This is the realest smoothie I’ve ever had in my life.’ And she wasn’t joking. I had watched them make it: three apples were pressed in a juicer to make fresh apple juice, and to that, she added whole fresh plums and a bunch of other whole, fresh fruits I can’t remember right now. It wasn’t a chunky/ thick smoothie because the fruit was all fresh instead of frozen, but it sure was tasty.

We ran back to the hostel to change into swimsuits, then wandered a bit more and got some crepes.

And then a ferry ride to Faro Beach! No beaches within walking distance, unfortunately, but the ferry was cheap, and it was a great place to nap.

So.. uh… You’ll never guess what we did when we got to the beach…

Sorry, not sorry. That salmon toast was to die for, even if I couldn’t properly finish it off. Plus, Somersby! My favorite cider! And it’s Danish! Eep! With a fresh orange juice on the side, of course.

We hung out at the shady restaurant for a bit too long, maybe, but we did have an excuse: we were not prepared for the beach. The thing is, nearly every beach I’ve ever gone to in Europe has the same setup – lots of lounge chairs and umbrellas, with men walking around and charging five euros to sit. Therefore, we brought zero towels. We did manage to bring an umbrella, but it was a tiny portable rain umbrella that would provide approximately Zero Shade. We did manage to visit the beach after lunch (? Dinner?), and it was very pretty.

Made me wish we had a proper setup! But we didn’t want to hang around getting sunburned, and we had a dinner to get to back in the hostel. Hahaha. We ate a lot that day.

On the walk from the ferry terminal to the hostel, we walked by what appeared to be a dress rehearsal for a dance showcase, so that was one hundred percent wonderful. We stayed and watched a few numbers, and the kids were adorable. Quite talented, too! My favorite dance was a semi-modern duet interpretation of Flight of the Bumblebee.

And then…. Dinner time! Woohoo! When booking our hostel for Faro, we made sure the hostel description explicitly mentioned that there would be a dinner offered. Last time I hosteled in Portugal, both hostels offered multi-course, home-cooked Portuguese dinners for around ten bucks, and it was one of the best parts of my stay. I knew this would be the same for Faro, and I wasn’t wrong.

We were ushered to ‘where people usually eat,’ which, quite honestly, was not the large, multi-table dining area I was used to in a hostel. We found ourselves on a small patio with a single picnic table set with eight places, and we were the first to arrive.

We sat down and chatted while the hostel employees finished up dinner in the kitchen, and one girl soon joined us. She was Scottish, and very sweet, and it turns out she worked in the hostel. Next, a Spanish girl joined us, very sarcastic and with an air that told me she could be a fashion icon someday. She also worked at the hostel.

After a couple other introductions, it became clear that Kristina and I were actually the only two dinner guests who were, in fact, guests! The girls (the Scot, the Spaniard, a Mexican Texan, a Torontonian, and a Brit) all worked at the hostel and dinner was part of their payment. The hostel owner gave them grocery money every night and the British girl usually ended up cooking just because she was a great cook. On the menu tonight: homemade lemon risotto and some crazy delicious fried eggplant thing. It was so good! Everybody was full to start with because the girls had all gone eating at the beach like we had, but that didn’t stop us from all getting seconds. Couldn’t help ourselves!

The best part was, of course, the homemade sangria. (: The girls explained that they only got to make sangria if guests joined them, so Kristina and I assured them that they would definitely be getting sangria tomorrow.

I woke up the next morning surrounded by men in their underwear, and one of them had his nose in my feet.

Ha! Actually not joking, though. Not sure how, but both nights in Portugal, Kristina and I ended up being the only girls in our eight-bed bunk room. Add this to the unbearable heat, and you get a lot of guys sleeping on top of the covers in their underwear. Not a single one wore a shirt. Not a single one wore any sort of bottoms. It was uh… a sight to see, to say the least. My bunk was also jutted up against another at the end, and for some reason that boy had decided he wanted to smell my feet all night. His nose was literally inches from my toes! A little alarming. This particular boy also happened to be a French Canadian Harry Styles look-alike, which was pretty entertaining.

We forced ourselves awake and out of the house around nine because we really really wanted to actually get some ish done before the heat set in. Our first and only stop was Old Town (Faro isn’t that big).

We passed by a little outdoor restaurant boasting crepes on the menu, and this happened:

Neapolitan-filled ice cream crepe. I almost licked the plate clean.

After this, we spent some time in the grass, and I accidentally laid down in some dog poop. 10/10 experience.

(You can’t see it, but it is hiding nice and squishily underneath my left knee, unknown to me at this time.)

And then we found a tower!

It wasn’t the tallest tower in the world. It may not have even been the tallest tower in the town. In fact, it really wasn’t much of a tower at all, come to think of it. More like a little lookout on top of a reasonably tall church. Still pretty, though.

Our ticket to the tower also got us into the church and museum. And uhh… there was also this:

That is a chapel. Made out of bones.

Real bones.

Like, real human bones.

I was pretty disturbed, and Kristina wasn’t having it for a second. Apparently there is an even larger bone chapel in downtown Faro (not sure where the obsession came from), but we were never able to make it there during opening hours. Kristina was not sad about it.

After this craziness, we made our way back to New Town…

And did some modeling…

We also found evidence of a drinking game the hostel girls had told us about the evening before called the Pi Challenge. We thought they meant Pie Challenge at first, something involving both pie and alcohol, but oh no. Basically, the number pi is spelled out along the length of this street downtown, and the challenge is so try to recall the digits of pi all the way to the end. Every time you get a number wrong, you drink. This is a long street, mind you. Many numbers. I guess people get pretty drunk!

After deciding the Pi Challenge was not nearly as interesting as my version of the Pie Challenge (it involves leisurely enjoying a slice of delicious home-baked pie), Kristina and I went to assemble our beach-going supplies. We borrowed a beach umbrella from the hostel (for free!) and purchased a giant elephant-print tapestry from a shop downtown, and then we were off! To Farol (Lighthouse) Island!

You can just make out the lighthouse through the fog if you squint hard enough. Here’s a better view:

The first thing we did upon arrival with likely come as no surprise to you: we ate.

Sorry, did I say eat? I guess I meant drink. Hahahaha. Here’s a picture of drink number two, with some actual food in the background:

Somersby so good. They put mint, apple slices, and a cinnamon stick in it. Never would have thought to do that! And here’s me forcing Kristina to eat her vegetables. (She was not happy about it.)

We didn’t spend quite as long at this restaurant. We were really only here for the drinks…. Tehehehe. We found a nice stretch of sand on the beach and set up our new tapestry and sunbrella, and Kristina promptly fell asleep.

I was wearing Kristina’s pants so my legs wouldn’t get sunburned if the umbrella shadow moved. I’m basically a vampire, by the way.

We lay there for quite a while, and I dozed a bit, too, but I knew I wanted to get in the water before we left. Kristina’s Lizzy Senses must have woken her up, because she stirred of her own accord to take some photos.

We then jumped into a full-on photoshoot, complete with acrobatic poses and lots of near-falling-over-in-the-water experiences.

I really should have taken my dress off before going in, but I thought I would just walk in a little ways. Then a big wave caught me off guard and I was basically soaked from the chest down. Felt so good, though!

We enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the cute little island homes on our way back to the ferry…

And then Kristina passed out again.

Bahahahahaha. Don’t be fooled. She is one hundred percent asleep in that photo. We were pretty tired. (:

For our last Portuguese shebang, we had another meal lined up with the hostel. When I had paid for our reservations that morning, the British girl who can cook (can’t remember her name, haha) asked for ten euros instead of seven. I was about to complain and point to the price written on the chalkboard in front of her, but then I realized she meant it was ten euros for both tickets! I didn’t argue.

On the menu tonight was ‘delicious homemade burgers!’ I was a bit bummed, hoping for some sort of home-cooked Portuguese concoction, but I figured at that price, only a fool would say no to a full meal with endless sangria.

A few more hostel guests were joining us this time around, so we moved the dinner location up to the rooftop terrace. The sunset was gorgeous, and the temperature was just starting to cool off for the night.

As Kristina and I settled in across from French Canadian Harry Styles and poured our first glass of sangria, a few more boys joined the table and we started in at burger building.

Okay. Now, do not take what I am about to say lightly. That burger was one of the best burgers I have ever tasted in my entire life.

In my. Entire. Life.

The British girl was at it again. She made patties from scratch with beef so soft and tender. She seasoned it with soy sauce, hot sauce, and tooooonnnsss of fresh herbs that were visible in the burgers. Then to top it all off, she made a homemade garlic mayonnaise aioli.

I died.

And then I came back to life so I could eat a second one.

I really cannot adequately describe how delicious those burgers were. I was slightly in pain after the second, but the sangria helped. Bahahaha. Just kidding. I mostly just ate the fruit.

Kristina and I took some much needed showers before retiring for the last time to our way-too-hot bunk room.

I awoke again to a room full of underweared, snoring men. Such a strange thing to wake to, really. And this time, Kristina had joined them in spanks and a sports bra. I was the only modest one in the whole hostel! Hahahaha. We savored our delicious Portuguese-hostel breakfast (four kinds of cereal, granola, fresh fruit, toast, juices, milk, teas and coffees and hot chocolate and this hot honey drink that I couldn’t bring myself to drink because of the word ‘hot’ in its name). So good.

And then we were off! To the airport and beyond.

One last stop.

 

Venlig hilsen/ tchau,

Lizzy-wa