First Evening in Faro

Back at the hotel after visiting the museum, the children were just waking up. I had spotted a playground and the tourist information center by the Arco da Vila. Once everyone was ready to go, we went to the new playground by the old city. Jacob and Lucy loved the playground and the sunshine that came with it.

Jacob the engineer

Lucy tries to lift the slide for some inexplicable reason

Die hard tunnel crawler

After half an hour or so, we walked over to the tourist information center to get advice on what to see. One of the ladies spoke English which was immensely helpful. We found out about the different Mass times. The Cathedral had a youth (I think it was some sort of scouts group) Mass at 6 p.m. We hemmed and hawed about attending that Mass and eventually chose against it since dinner and bed time would be really tricky to work out. We also asked about robots (because Jacob loves them so) and the lady recommended the local science museum though she wasn't sure if they had robots. She also recommended some child-friendly (and English-friendly) restaurants in the area.

We walked through the streets of the old city, discovering a Pauline Media store. Like so many other places, it was closed.

Street view toward Arco da Vila

Random coat of arms

Random wall with cross in it!

We still enjoyed seeing the different architecture and trees full of oranges. Finally, we headed off to the science museum.

Since it was so much fun, I will save the science museum for its own post. After we left the science museum, we wandered around quite a bit looking for a place to eat. The first restaurant the tour office recommended was closed (even though it was only 6 p.m.); we had trouble finding the second one. Eventually, we gave up and started to wander toward the hotel in hopes of finding a place to eat along the way.

We did find a spot that was open, didn't look too expensive, and seemed welcoming to children. Jacob had rice and Lucy had sausage. I ordered a prawn and bacon kabob. It was quite amazing when it came to the table.

Hanging kabob!

It was delicious even if the prawns were still able to stare at me with lifeless, pitiful eyes. At one point, I took one of the prawns and pretended he was kissing Lucy on the cheek. She laughed and laughed and then said to get it away from her. Getting the bill at the end of the meal was a little slow. To keep the children entertained, Jacob took me to the potty which he had tried out at the beginning of the meal with mommy. We had to go through a bead curtain which was fun for all. The potty was unremarkable except for having a quiet hand dryer that met Jacob's approval.

We figured out our bearing and were able to make it back to the hotel. Our room didn't have a bathtub, so the kids had towel baths before bedtime. We were all tired from the long and circuitous walk home. A good long sleep took us to Sunday morning, when we went to church in Portugal. More on that after the blog about the science museum!