A Weekend in the Algarve.
I embarked on my first out-of-country trip on November 3rd with two of my roommates, Fiona and Izzy. After about 2 hours of travel, our RyanAir flight landed safely in Faro, Portugal.
Why Faro, you might ask? As you will learn, I typically choose my destinations based on the affordability of travel. These tickets were 40 euro, so I booked with no further questions.
Luckily for me, Faro is a beautiful city. It was a bit odd, leaving the hustle and bustle of Madrid and entering a city that is a complete ghost town in the winter months. It was almost eerie, the lack of people wandering about. But mainly is was just a nice break from this city that never sleeps.
Our hostel was in this lovely old building with the brightest hues of orange and yellow; it felt like the sun was giving me a hug. The coolest feature was that the bunk beds are 3 stories. And yes, I took the top bunk. It was awesome. Confronting my fear of heights one bunk at a time.
After stowing our belongings, we hit the old town of Faro. We found some really cool ceramics shops, but what took the cake was the tinned fish store. There were hundreds – thousands – of boxes of fish lining the walls of this store. Sardines, tuna, octopus, squid, cod, the list goes on. And the variety of marinades and brines seemed endless too, from tomato sauce to lemon to sweet chili pepper. What a treat! The smoked cod in Portugal is amazing too. My stomach is rumbling just thinking about it.
When you think of a drink that is specific to Portugal, port is probably the first that comes to mind. The local drink that took me by surprise, however, was vino verde. Yes, green wine. People love it. I’m not sure how I feel. Maybe that’s because we purchased the cheapest bottle from the corner market and didn’t let it chill.
That first night, we realized that Faro is in fact NOT like Madrid, and we actually had a really difficult time finding a restaurant that was open at 11:00PM. We settled on a Mexican restaurant near our hostel which turned out to be the best decision we made on that trip, for reasons that I will explain later.
The next morning, we took a two hour train ride along the coast to Lagos and spent the day exploring its beauty. Starting at the harbor, we followed a path that took us along the beach, through caves, up way too many stone steps, and along staggering cliffs. This was one of the most beautiful coastlines I have ever seen. And the shell searching brought me back to my childhood! We all left that day with at least 5 shells.
I dabbled in Portuguese pastries that weekend, and I have to say that the pastel de nata took the cake! This is a joke because it is quite literally a little cake pastry made with egg custard and puff pastry.
Upon return to Faro, we relaxed a bit at the hostel. I got a call from my dad, who asked if I was sitting down and if I was with friends that could be there for me. Then my heart sank. I already had a feeling of what had happened. But I didn’t want to believe it.
Then, my dad said “I was on a walk with the dogs, when…” At this point, I blacked out the rest of the story. I had heard enough. Stanley, my dog, had passed. I hung up the phone, and stood there sobbing on the roof of a random hostel in the middle of a foreign country.
How could this happen? He was a picture of perfect health. He was supposed to have 7 years left of life, maybe even more. We still considered him a puppy. I cried and cried, hoping no one would come find me in that state but also desperately wanting comfort.
It has been very difficult to process this news, while I’m away from home. Most of the time, I refuse to acknowledge that it’s real. He’ll be there when I return. But then sometimes, it really hits me that every time I think of him, it will be in the form of a memory. And those memories will slip away. And he won’t jump in my arms or sit on my lap when I go home.
That dog just put a smile on everyone’s face. How is it that he’s just gone? It’s not fair, but it’s true. The next time I go home, instead of hugging my loving and familiar Stanley, I will be comforting Rover and going puppy shopping with my parents. It’s not just the grief of losing a dog; it’s like losing a piece of my childhood. That’s life I guess!
I was incredibly lucky to have Fiona and Izzy there to console me that night. We decided that checking out the nightlife of Faro would be the best distraction for me. And explore the nightlife we did.
We started at a bar that played the most amazing covers of American classics. We had espresso martinis on the roof and then danced the night away. The waiter from the Mexican restaurant joined us at his bar, and this man was awesome. A Portuguese rockstar, he knew all of the lyrics to every song played.
He even invited us back to the restaurant, where the four of us talked about life and sang our favorite songs over piña coladas. These experiences are what life is all about. The guitar was busted out, the Halloween costumes were donned, and a ball was had.
This is where I stopped writing this story, and my 5 month blog hiatus began. So from now on, my travel stories will be in the form of more distant reflections.
It’s interesting reading this back, because since writing this, I returned home for winter break, and yes, it was difficult to be there without Stanley. I experienced a couple days with the new puppy. He’s adorable. Time just keeps going and the Earth just keeps turning. It’s one of the difficult parts of being abroad, that people don’t talk about enough. Maybe I’ll write a piece on that.
But that’s all for now! The rest of Faro included a hangover and a flight home, so I won’t bore you with the details.
Talk soon,
Molly
