July 8 - Get a Bolt (same as an Uber) to the Lagos bus station and head east to Faro. Hang around in the Faro bus station long enough to catch a second bus to Olhão. The Algarve countryside does not change significantly from Lagos, a mixture of dry grasses and scrubby trees.
At a stop in Albufeira, about halfway, there is sudden abundance of huge box stores. European versions of places like Home Depot and Walmart, and a series of specialized stores for paint, bathroom fixtures, etc. One gets the feeling there is either already a building boom, or there is predicted to be one soon.
I immediately like Olhão. The walk through town to our apartment from the bus station is quiet, along cobblestone alleys. Tourism is big here, but not in the crowded way we saw in Lisbon or Lagos.
The apartment is very nice, the whole second floor of a building. The most space we’ve had since Luxembourg. Head down to the ferry pier, only a five-minute walk from the apartment. There are still some heading out to the islands, so we hastily buy tickets and go to Farol, a town on the Ihla de Culatra.
The ride is colder than I was expecting. The Algarve hasn’t been the oven I’ve been expecting so far. The line of people waiting to come back to Olhao from Farol is long and the sun is getting low, but it does show another ferry comes by later, so we disembark.
Walking through town, it is obvious that Farol isn’t a fully functioning town but more of a collection of vacation homes. This end of Ihla de Culatra is mostly a sandy spit, encapsulating the lagoon inside.
Walk across to the beach, where there are some people but certainly not large crowds. Maybe it is too late in the afternoon, or Olhão simply isn’t a prime destination for tourist hordes. Walk the breakwater to the end, where the lagoon water is rushing out into the ocean like a river.
Hang out on the beach then make our way back to the line gathering for the last ferry at 7 pm. Colorful sunset from the deck.