We took a boat trip from Carvoeiro to see the caves. Beautiful,
colourful beach and village but felt extremely self-conscious getting on
to the boat while all the bronzed (local?) sunbathers watched us in our
straw hats and T shirts. "Ooh, look at the WHITE people!" Jennifer
said.
Went to the market at Albufeira, more Barras than Barcelona, all cheap
and nasty with some fruit and panpipes on the side. Jessica bought a
dancing, spinning toy car (a hit with Reuben), Mark was offered a fake
Rolex and then hash. We blame the fedora and the shades. Donuts were a
hit though.
Had a day at Zoomarine water park. Dolphin show was great, what a way
to travel underwater, with a dolphin or 2 thrusting you forwards with
your foot on its nose. The drummer was popular, even though people
seemed to really struggle to pick up on the call and response… Maybe
we're too clever about these things? Lots of environmental messages eg
in the "4D" film that seemed to fit in with the animals but not with the
bottled water and fast food. There was also a manatee, friendly rays, a
sandtiger shark, a big wheel and a diving show.
Vilamoura marina wasn't as fancy as it could have been, what with the
tacky shops and Sex shop sign as you walk in. Some of the boats were
ridiculously styled, maybe they would look at home in Miami Vice but not
in Portugal, and some of the names were just rubbish. Nice vintage
Porsche, and a few Bentleys. Not nearly enough proper yachts.
Our last day in Faro was bizarre. We were ushered into a dodgy parking
space by an equally dodgy-looking geezer, who then asked for 2 euros an
hour. A quick look around and it was obvious we were in a free car park
but wedged between the proper spaces and bus parking. So we moved.
There was a motorcycle convention in Faro, so incongrous groups of
bikers were found all over the place. We wandered up some lovely old
streets to the Ingreja do Carmo (the Carmelite church), all Zorro and
Baroque, full of gold (from Brazil, probably – the Baroque period was
pretty much funded by S American silver and gold). At the back via the
garden was the chapel of bones, apparently built out of bones because
the bishop of the time considered it more economical than brick. I
suspect it is more to do with plague and associated death cults.
Span out the rest of the day and the heat at the Forum Algarve shopping
centre. Not the air conditioned indoor mall that I suspected, instead a
Jumbo windowless hypermarket with more tasteful (but v expensive)
fashion and jewellery shops outside.