There’s not enough hours in the day … we have added 1 … 25hrs today …

A nice ride through the Old Town before catching the ferry to Portugal and onward to Faro.  Just a small ferry and only a 15 min crossing the river.  They like their cobblestone streets.  It is a public holiday today, however there is no sign of it, a clothing market, the narrow streets have table and chairs set up for a good day’s trade.

We are on the national road (not freeway) a good shoulder to ride on.  It’s quite pretty with the orange trees laden with oranges, ready for picking.  Fruit stalls selling bags of oranges 3 for 5€, ‘that’s cheap John!’  ‘They would last us the whole trip’, he says, ‘not the way I’ve been drinking 1 ltr a day!!’

We stop in the lovely fishing village of Tavira … oh those cobblestones!  Met a lovely couple from Vancouver, Canada who are staying for 2 months here.

Desperate to go on the EuroVelo I see a sign, John is hesitant ‘remember yesterday that rocky road?’  We get on a lovely road heading to the coast … we stop to talk to Gabrielle, from Austria and Martin from Germany … funny guys on a pilgrimage of sorts.  Then the EV turns, John spots a rocky road … ummm … they haven’t mastered the EuroVelo yet, back on the national road … getting warm and lacking lustre.  We arrive in Faro to see the sights.

What a little gem … we pass the small marina, a few day trippers are coming back from the islands.  Their is no beach to think of just some mud flats, it is low tide.  Way out through the tributaries there are stretches of sandy beaches where the tourists go for their sunseeking these are the islands.

Back at the marina the restaurant and bars are getting trade with pre dinner drinks.  We see a stork with branches in it’s beak and follow it to a lamppost in the middle of the street, it’s building a nest.

We enter the Old Town, shiny cobblestone streets, a cathedral, little windy street and squares with restaurants.  One square hits the jackpot for us, Portuguese music playing, 3 restaurants, One with the music looks very vibrant as staff are busy with clientele, food looks well presented and the blackboard menu looks inviting.  Yes there is one table vacant with our name on it.  What a lovely experience, lovely friendly young staff, joking about while on duty, lovely food, very flavoursome, nice wine … this place ticks a lot of boxes for our first dinner in Portugal.