TRAVEL - Learning how to relax in Portugal

By essortment.com

Faro is the capital of the Algarve Region of Portugal and, with its busy airport, is the gateway to southern Portugal. From Faro tourists travel to the many resorts and attractions along Portugal's southern coast. Usually the above description is all the visitor knows about this city of 30,000 on the very southern tip of the country. But Faro is well worth the visit for the tourist to relax and enjoy both the attractions of the city itself as well as to take advantage of the ambitious plans the city leaders have for making the city a cultural capital of the region as well as an administrative center.

Most of the buildings of Faro date from the 18th and 19th centuries. The history of the city is much older going back to the days of the Phoenicians and Romans and the Moors, but much of the city was destroyed during the earthquake of 1755 that destroyed extensive areas of the country.

The Old City or Cidade Velha, however, is the place to start your explorations. You can enter this part of town through the Arco de Vila. The Old City itself is right along the old port and the arch, with its Moorish façade, was build in the 18th century and has a bell tower and holds a statue of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of Faro.

Before you enter the Old City, stop at the Tourist Information booth to see what comes next on your excursion. Enter through the Arco de Vila and you'll find the galleries, antique shops and restaurants that are part of the narrow streets of the partly walled ancient town.

You should also take some time to visit the Cathedral on the Largo da Se. It was the first Christian church built in Faro and was constructed on the ruins of a Mosque that had been there previously. The original church was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake but a tower and part of a wall still remain.

Also in the Old City is the Municipal Museum that is housed in a former convent. In addition to showing Roman objects found throughout the area, the Museum is noteworthy for its Roman floor mosaic.

It's not only in the Old City where you can find places of interest. Especially the city's churches offer the visitor the opportunity to stroll through buildings that are as much museums of art and culture as places of worship. This church tour will eventually take you to one of the more extraordinary sites to be seen in any church anywhere. This is the Chapel of Bones in the Igreja do Carmo. The church itself with its twin towers was built in 1719 and its chapel, built a century later, is decorated with human bones and skulls of, they say, over 1200 monks taken from a nearby cemetery by other monks who were determined to show the fleeting nature of our life on this planet.

A livelier exhibit is the bird sanctuary on the Ria Formosa lagoon. This sanctuary is right outside of Faro and is especially interesting during the spring and autumn migratory seasons when hundreds of birds come to make it a spectacular attraction for the bird watchers among us.

Faro has the advantage of being a city where many tourists pass through but few stay. This gives breathing room to the rest of us to enjoy a stay in the town that is quite comfortable for visitors without being overcrowded.

The city fathers are trying very hard to change that through their plans for Faro Capital of Culture, an ambitious attempt to stage a quality cultural event in the hope of keeping people there for a while. The plan ran into financial difficulties in April 2005 but those putting it together promise to keep working on the funding to bring additional culture and tourists to their city - already a nice place to visit.