On The Write Path

🇵🇹 Not a Lighthouse (Faro, Portugal)

StephBee - House Targaryen and I might be here, now. This is the 7th entry for

FORUM

The Bard's Hall Contest  (13+) APRIL: Flash Fiction: MAY Villanelle #981150 by StephBee - House Targaryen

.

🇵🇹 Not a Lighthouse (Faro, Portugal)

Evelyn and I caught the train from Lagos. We were joined by a young college student from Tunes. Nice experience. The train is old and slow, but it gets there! Once in Faro, Evelyn and I ate and then parted ways, meeting up a couple times later over three days. The center of Faro is 'cozy'.

Faro = lighthouse, but these days the city is a major transportation center with the only airport in Algarve and a railroad going west to Lagos and east to Spain.

It must have had a charming old center once-upon-a-time; but, much is being torn down for renovation or who-knows-what. If concrete condo high-rises, seen everywhere to satisfy the needs of ex-pats, take over it will lose what little charm it has left.

I wasn't too charmed myself.

I stayed in two hostels: first Faroway and then Tilia. Both were fine, but I really wanted to stay at the Madalena, which seldom has an empty bed due to the charming owner Adrian and banana pancakes for breakfast. I did drop in for a tour.

So... where's the story...

"One can depend upon the kindness of strangers."

At Tilia I slept in the common area as I couldn't stop coughing and my head was stuffed. No fever. Doubt it was covid, but coughing isn't acceptable while traveling, even though no one complained... as least not directly to me.

The night person Raquel saw me on the couch and put a blanket over me. I appreciated this.

A bit of coughing at the Faroway as well. I unplugged a room deodorizer because it was nauseating and making it hard for me to breathe.

Great chat with a 77 year-young world traveler from Wales. And the group of Italians was a hoot. João was a gracious host. Watching the swallows swoop from the roof terrace and planes passing barely overhead are two interesting memories.



Unfortunately, I was ill most of the five days I was there. Fortunately, I wasn't on a top bed at Tilia and Faroway only had twin beds... better to be close to the floor.

Neither place had breakfast; so, sick or not, I had to find food. There was a mini-mart close-by with a machine that squeezed fresh oranges. I even brought one of the 100 ml containers home. Oranges.

I stopped in one small diner for locals and bought a bifana (pork sandwich). I told the cook that it was wonderfully juicy. Give praise where and when it's deserved. Kindness counts.

Evelyn invited me out to a restaurant within the old castle walls the night before she left for Sevilla. She had roble (sea bass) and I had a plate of cod and shrimp (a traditional winter holiday meal).

Gateway into the old fortress in Faro, marvel at the brickwork.



Evelyn was a dear. She looked after me in both Lagos and Faro.

Sad to say... I didn't enjoy Faro. One makes the best of it. Maybe banana pancakes next time as its airport is a convenient gateway to the Algarve.

~500 words