Last Day in Faro

We did our usual routine on our last day in Faro, Portugal: early rising, breakfasting, and wandering out among the sites. The weather was better though Lucy was still suffering from her cold. Jacob and I headed out to the municipal market, a famous shopping area in town.

On the way I saw a vehicle that reminded me of my old job with the American Red Cross.

I miss you, Red Cross!

Random cool-looking house we saw--nice corner balcony!

We eventually made it to the market and did some shopping, mostly buying food for lunch. Jacob's favorite part was the escalators and elevators, which we took full advantage of.

The municipal market from the outside

The municipal market from the inside

On our way back to the hotel, we saw some interesting wall decor and an even more interesting bank.

Some saint watching over us, who was no match for...

Banco Espirito Santo? Does the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity really have a bank?

We returned to the hotel and Lucy was well enough to go out. We walked down to the old city to see the cathedral. First, mommy went by herself. I played with Lucy and Jacob on the playground just outside the main gate. Then I went with Jacob since they had a bell tower to climb. We took a lot of pictures, so I'll make that a separate post.

After enjoying the cathedral, we slowly wound our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport. Just north of the old city we heard music playing. Around a corner was a trio of musicians. Jacob enjoyed watching them and giving money. Lucy enjoyed me carrying her.

Paying the piper, as it were.

Lucy objected when I tried to dance with her.

We finally made it back to the hotel, ordered a cab and got our bags. The cab only took a few minutes to reach us. The airport was a short ride from there.

Not wanting to repeat the departure mistake that cost us our peanut butter, we packed the jar in our checked bag. We also packed the bottle of white port, carefully wrapping it and padding it with the laundry. We put our tourist books from the library and some other things in the checked bag as well. At the counter, we discovered our bag was three kilos over the 15 kilo limit, so we either had to pay or repack things. We stepped to the side and moved some things from bag to bag. The port and peanut butter had to stay in the checked bag but there was less padding holding them in. Our bag was now light enough and the airline took it without charging us.

We went over to some tables and had lunch before going through security. Who knows if they would have seized Jacob's peanut butter sandwich? The flight wouldn't leave for two hours, so we had plenty of time to kill. The meal was uneventful. So was security.

On the other side of security, we found a free stroller which meant no more carrying the sick and sad Lucy around. Jacob volunteered to push Lucy in the stroller. At first we were a little nervous about this, but they both had a grand time racing around the airport. Not only did this use up time but it also tired out Jacob so he could nap on the flight.

Lucy couldn't escape her crazy driver!

Lucy did not think it was a crisis free zone!

Our plane was called and we got in line to board. We went through the final gate check and were lined up on the walkway to the plane. That's when Jacob announced he had to poop. Mommy got out of line with Jacob and headed back to find a bathroom. The lady took their boarding passes and let them go. Jacob then went. They made it back before we started boarding, but just barely.

I can't remember much of the plane ride home. Lucy wanted to sit with me more on this flight and Jacob kept asking for my new phone which had some fun games on it. We returned to a snow covered Leeds airport. Getting our bag was no problem since we were the last ones to make it back to the terminal (again we had to walk from the plane through blustery weather). We arrived home and noticed the checked bag was wet. Opening it up, we saw broken glass all over the bag and the distinctive smell of port. The bottle broke somewhere in transit and had finally soaked through all the clothes and through the suitcase! Cleaning up was rough because of all the little shards of glass. Usually I do laundry the day after we get back, but that night we washed everything. It was a tragic end to a fun little trip to Portugal.

On the upside, we can tell which bag is ours by smell and not in a bad way!