Even though I travel a lot for business, this was my first non work trip without my kids or husband since my daughter was born, so I was quite nervous.
As we had finished boarding and were waiting to start taxiing, I suddenly saw that I had had a missed call from my kids kindergarten which never happens. I called them back only to be told me son had thrown up so needed to be picked up. My nanny had picked him up, but I had a panic attack as that had never happened. To make matters worse, the air steward was sitting right behind me and sternly told me to switch off my phone. So I had to. I spent the over 3 hour duration of the flight praying for the best and immediately we landed, first thing I did was call home. Thank God he was okay and hadn't thrown up again.
Everyone else flew in from London and I arrived at the airport about 4 hours ahead of them. After a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows from Costa, I decided to go out and explore Faro. I found the local bus, purchase a ticket to the city centre, which was about 5km away for 2.22 euros, dragged my luggage and off I went!!!
I really loved the architecture in Portugal. The old houses have tiling on the outside walls and they just look really nice.
As I walked down the street taking pictures, I walked into a street full of old houses, many of which were boarded up.
1878 Hostel is located right in the middle of that street of old houses.
The hostel door was open and as I peered through the doorway to look at the interesting architecture, a young man came out of the office and asked if I wanted a tour of the hostel. Of course I said yes and after dragging my luggage to safety, I followed him inside.
The house is over 200 years old and was renovated and turned into a hostel a year ago.
It's definitely something to keep in mind if you are looking for cheap accommodation in faro. It looked well planned and quite delightful. I took many pictures and will let you judge for your selves.
After I said my goodbyes, I walked to the delightful harbor.
There was lots of information on renting boats, boat trips and nature trips.
I picked up loads of info material and then I headed back to the airport, with a few minutes to spare.
The other ladies arrived soon afterwards. After we had done the introductions, we found our shuttle driver, loaded our luggage and drove off to Albufeira about 30km from Faro, where our villa was located.