Are We There Yet?

I’d already been awake eight hours when I touched down in Faro, at 10am, and the few hours’ sleep I’d stolen the night before were already wearing off. That might explain the cloud of confusion that hung over me as I stepped blinkingly into the sun outside the terminal building. I’d had enough presence of mind to order a coffee and croissant from a concession stand in the foyer but the bus terminal had me beaten.

It was just one stop but none of the passing buses seemed to serve it. Standing there and watching Jet2 passengers being corralled onto a fleet of queued coaches, I waited and I waited for a local bus for non-package holidaymakers that never materialised. I checked the ticket machine to no avail, not knowing the Portuguese for “city centre” and not wanting to end up even further from town than I was now. After half an hour or so, the rest of my flight had reclaimed their bags and a crowd started forming around me. My spirits lifted as a bus finally honed into view. “Faro?” the driver asked a few moments later. “Faro,” I answered. And just like that, I was on my way.

It was only a short ride into town, which I suffered impatiently as I awaited my first taste of Portugal proper—but as the minutes passed we never seemed to be getting closer to any kind of population centre. First we stopped at a train station, but it was so small and desolate I presumed it must be a secondary one—for commuters already settling into their offices. But then we pulled into an equally unpromising bus station, the bus emptied and I was left to follow my fellow passengers out onto the empty streets of Faro. Already flagging, my enthusiasm started to wane, too.

Unable to find any signage and stubbornly refusing to accept roaming charges so early in a trip, I continued the bus’ trajectory away from the airport and hoped for the best. I knew there was nothing in the direction it had come from, but no matter how far I walked I never seemed to arrive anywhere. No matter which way I turned, it was impossible to tell if I was heading towards or further away from the centre. When I finally came across a map, it became clear that there just wasn’t that much to find. I was already here, in the city’s Old Town.

I stopped at the cathedral, Igreja de Santa Maria, climbing the tower and exploring the courtyard with a scattering of other tourists. I went to the municipal museum and admired the exhibits, mostly archeological, and watched a pair of storks nesting on one of its highest reaches. I even circled back to the train station and sat long enough to watch a train pull up at the platform. Then I checked my phone and saw I still had two hours until my FlixBus to Seville. I decided to go and scout out the stop in anticipation—no longer concerned that the layover might not be long enough.

With no option but to roam, I checked the email confirmation for an address and searched it on Google Maps. It was a twelve minute walk, opposite a hospital and just before a roundabout, so I set off for a quick reconnaissance. I must have walked that street four times before I found it, checking GPS every time I arrived back at the station or the out-of-town shopping centre to try and work out where I’d gone wrong. In my defence, it didn’t look much like a hospital—at least not one you’d want to be treated in—but a previously unnoticed 13C on the wall and a temporary bus sign gave it away.

With nothing else to do, I returned to the shopping centre in search of some lunch and somewhere to charge my phone. I promise I tried to find somewhere Portuguese to eat, but not in the mood for a Burger King and reluctant to retrace the same street again for one of the abandoned cafes I’d overlooked earlier, I settled for a Starbucks so I could use the WiFi. I also had a look at the supermarket, but as I didn’t fancy taking a full pig’s head on the coach I picked up a four-pack of pastele de nata instead.

And that was that, I think. I boarded the bus at the hospital and within moments we’d left Faro and its various satellite resorts behind. Had I missed something? Am I being unfair? Was there more to see? Well, I hope so. Because I’ve got a full day in town at the other end of the trip.