We sailed from *Tavira* to *Faro*. The wind grew less in the afternoon and we had to use the motor to get to *Faro*. We anchored in the winding water arms of the marsh-like coast, let the dinghy down and hopped on board. It took us about a quarter of an hour to get to the small marina – first you follow the arm leading the harbor walls, then you go through a small tunnel under the railroad, before finally reaching the small harbor.
We went ashore, walked through the tourist areas, into the old town, took a look around... I was astonished; I had imagined *Faro* to be industrial, or crowded, or *banlieue* – more cheap ten story buildings forming an ugly suburb... But the old town is remained very traditional, and the surrounding quarters also look very nice. I guess the major drawback is that there is no good beach close-by.
Our money troubles continued, by the way: Whenever we inserted our Swiss EC cards into the *multibanco* machines, we were told about some “connection problem” and asked to take back the card. No money.
We ate dinner at the harbor restaurant, the restaurant of the *clube naval* of *Faro*. I paid with my credit card and Bernd gave me his share in cash, so we at least had a few Euros to buy ice-cream with. 😄
Dinner was about €15 per person, which was a bit expensive considering that we all had just one dish, an *açorda de gambas* – some traditional soup or more accuratly an old bread stew, with shrimps. It looked like dog-food or like the stuff I puked from the ship a few days ago, but it tasted ok... The funny thing was that I never remember eating or even seeing an *açorda* from my former times in Portugal. I guess my parents never ordered it back then.