Faro is the capital of the Algarve region, its southernmost and its biggest city, although second in population to Loulé. Faro's international airport is also the entry point for virtually everyone flying to the Algarve.
The photo above is of the Igreja do Carmo, Faro's most famous church, built in the late 19th Century. It features traditional Baroque architecture and its magnificent interior is laden with gold leaf. But the biggest tourist attraction is the small Capela dos Ossos (bone chapel) tucked away around the back of the church. All the walls and ceiling of the chapel are covered in the bones and skulls of monks whose remains were exhumed in 1816 to build the chapel. There are other chapels like this in Portugal. Creepy.
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Faro, originally known as Santa Maria de Faaron or Santa Maria de Faraam, has a long history of fishing and salt production, and those industries are still very much alive today. It was given its Foral (a royal charter that granted municipality status and established regulations) by Afonso III, depicted in the azulejos (tile) monuments (shown below). Hence his prominent statue.
The other statue shown is of Francisco Gomez do Avelar, Bishop of the Algarve. He is credited with playing a leading role in the reconstruction of Faro after the 1755 earthquake and tsunami destroyed virtually all of the towns on the Algarve's southern coast. As evidence of this, the sign on the outside wall of the Arco da Vila (Town Arch), states that Francisco commissioned the rebuilding of the original town gate. I.e. The church paid, not the government! [An interesting side note is that prior to that devastating event, Lagos was the region's capital, but it was completely wiped out. Faro, while sustaining some damage, was protected by the Ria Formosa and became the administrative seat the following year.]
As you view the pictures of the Arco da Vila, you will notice a stork on its nest atop the building. Stork nests are common in Portugal and it is illegal to move or destroy them. As storks mate for life, that means this one will likely be around for a while.
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Considering its status as the Algarve's capital, Faro is relatively small with a full-time resident population of about 70,000. It is very walkable, and the old town which is close to the marina, is charming, with lots of shops and restaurants. Like all Portuguese towns, there's no shortage of graffiti or street art, and narrow, twisty streets that require 100% concentration when driving!
Over a weekend in July 2023, the city resurrected the Açoteia (rooftop terrace) Festival which had been paused for the pandemic. Thirty-five outdoor rooftop venues -- houses, churches, shopping malls, office buildings, etc.) hosted music and visual artists. Jennifer and I went with Ana, our Portuguese language teacher and friend, and thoroughly enjoyed the casual, intimate performances. The two artists shown below are Tatanka (who is a national celebrity, performing solo and with the band, Black Mamba, which represented Portugal in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest) and Marcos, Ana's second cousin.
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The Ria Formosa
This area of tidal wetlands stretches about 60km from Faro to the east and provides a sanctuary for many species of crustaceans and birds, including flamingos. Its over 40,000 acres include five barrier islands and two lagoons. We hiked the Ludo trail (named after a nearby village), much of which is an elevated boardwalk above a section of the wetlands and salt flats (salinas), that winds through the area with offshoot paths that lead to adjacent beaches -- Praia de Faro and Praia da Quinta do Largo. We walked the trail in July 2022 and a week later some of the Ria Formosa near Faro burned in one of several wildfires caused by abnormally high temperatures and winds.
The Ria Formosa is famous for the fiddler crabs that can be found in the thousands. The male has one enlarged claw that it waves (resembling the playing of a violin) to attract females and to fight off male competition like a one-armed boxer. The meat of the claw is a popular delicacy with the locals who you will see stooped over, harvesting the claws by breaking them off. They grow back, but during the regenerative period, the male's chances of attracting a female are close to zero and he has no chance against other males with claws intact. For this reason, some say the harvesting of claws threatens the fiddler crab population in the area. In homage to this nifty crustacean is a sculpture on a traffic roundabout outside the park.
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As mentioned above, Faro's salt industry has been thriving for centuries. The Ria Formosa is ideally suited to harvesting salt. While most of the world's salt production is highly mechanized, here salt is harvested the old-fashioned way -- manually. In June 2023, we toured a salt producer, Salinas do Grelha, that has been owned and operated by the Grelha family for over a century. It was fascinating to learn about the painstaking and labor-intensive harvesting process. We were assured that the naturally-produced organic salt and flor de sal are free of any impurities but are rich in minerals missing from mass-produced salt. As a treat after the tour, we floated in the "Dead Sea," a saltwater lake on the property. It was utterly relaxing, requiring zero effort to float. The water was so briny that it was difficult to stand up in it.
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