Not So Far-o

One of the resources that our home owner left for us was a folder of maps for nearby towns.  These show the layouts of the city and also identify points of interest.  We used one of these the other day to explore the town of Faro — a town of about 65,000 about 10k west of Olhao along the Atlantic coast.  Both towns share the Ria Formosa natural area (A coastal dune barrier that runs parallel to the continent and defends a shallow lagoon and marsh system closer to the mainland.).  Faro is the more significant transportation hub with more train and bus connections than Olhao.  Faro also has an international airport.

To do our walkabout of Faro, we caught a train from Olhao and were in Faro in about 15 minutes with one stop in between.  Our walk around Faro took us into the Old Town where we visited the Cathedral and climbed the Bell Tower for a good view of the town and coast.  We also got to see the gilded interior and our first bone chapel.  (Click on photos to see captions.)

Exterior of Cathedral and Bell Tower

View of town from the top of the Tower

One of the Naves in the Cathedral

There are bones in a bone chapel!

There were a large number of churches along the walk, but we also got to see portions of old Roman walls, museums, and a Jewish cemetary.

Some tourists viewed the sites by train.

We also enjoyed walking along the waterfront including going up to the top of a waterfront hotel to see their pool and check out the views.

View of harbor from rooftop bar (not open) at Eva Hotel

Pool on top of Eva Hotel

Eva Hotel and boats

Art along the promenade