HOME SWEET HOME/ FARO

[Kiya]

14TH June......Only a 5 minute stroll from the apartment and you are at the marina/bay, there is many yachts and boats but they never seem to go anywhere.

We had our favourite café over looking the bay with the marina behind us, a great place just to watch the world go by with a lovely big dish of mixed flavoured ice cream.

Over looking the bay you can see Faro airport to the right and watch the planes take off and come in to land..



Through the Perspex there is also a road for traffic one way and a railway, they didn't bother us in the slightest



If we wanted there is also boat trips that can take you all around the small islands or drop you off at many of the deserted beaches but No we didn't the way I was feeling I probably would have bee sea sick ( something I did not want.



Strolling around you can see many of these beautiful trees, David has been a keen gardener for many years but didn't know what these are...................anybody ?


To be cont....

[Horus]

They are Jacaranda trees Kiya

[Mad Dilys]

I'm a fool! I was thinking Faroe Islands then when I saw the Jacaranda trees I thought I've heard of micro climates, but surely Faroe is too far north to grow Jacaranda? Then I saw that you had written Faro airport the penny dropped.

[Kiya]

Thanks Horus...................MD had to laugh with you I don't think I'd be having ice cream in Faroe Islands

[Mad Dilys]

Ahem, no

[Kiya]

14 TH June.............There's not a lot by myself that I can tell you about this church except that it was beautiful, the work and detail in all wood carvings covered in gild was gorgeous , every turn you take was breath taking.



Because the leaflet we got at reception was all in Portugese I've taken part from the internet with more detail....

The Igreja da Carmo in Faro, with its Baroque façade and twin bell towers is one of the finest churches on the Algarve.

The Carmelite church was built throughout much of the 18th and 19th centuries, starting in 1719.

Disaster struck in 1755 when the great earthquake that hit Portugal badly damaged the church. However, a new facade was designed by mason Diogo Gonçalves including the now iconic bell towers.

Although the exterior of the church was not completed until 1878, the lavish interior was complete 150 years earlier.

The Igreja da Carmo has some of the best gilded woodwork to be seen this side of Lisbon and the work is attributed to master sculptor Manuel Martins.

The church was built during the reign of João V when money was no object. Funds flowed freely from the colonies and it is said the Igreja da Carmo was paid for with Brazilian gold, although it looks like a fair bit was saved for the interior.





you can see the trumpets at the foot of the pipes

the stained glass is just as beautiful

the blue and white tiles is amazing seen in many ways around Portugal, they must have been so clever when you see it up close how the detail matches from tile to tile.

[Horus]

Lovely pictures Kiya, that church certainly has some fine sculptures and detail a really beautiful building.

[Grandad]

Lovely set of pictures inside that church Kiya, so lavish in its decoration. That is what always strikes me when I visit Catholic churches, so elaborate and lavish compared to the relative austerity inside Anglican churches.

[Kiya]

14TH June............The only way to get to this chapel was through the above church.

I have to say its the most bizarre place I've ever seen.

Again I had to take imfo from the internet .......

The Capela dos Ossos (Bone Chapel) is situated in the rear courtyard of the Igreja da Carmo (Church above) and is entered via the main church.

The Capela dos Ossos in Faro is a macabre but fascinating little chapel located to the rear of the beautiful Igreja do Carmo church.

The chapel is lined with the bones of over 1,000 skeletons and these bones decorate the walls and ceilings in ghoulish geometric patterns.

The bones were exhumed in the 19th century from Faro’s overcrowded cemetery and belong to the monks who once served the city. These long dead monks stare down from every surface of the chapel at visitors – the Capela dos Ossos is truly one of the strangest and creepiest attractions of Faro.

around the walls

the arched roof



Outside in the courtyard.....

these graves belong to long gone monks.

and these numbers were attached to monks that were dug up, not all numbers survived the passage of time.

To be cont.......

[Ruby Slippers]

Fascinating account, Kiya! I've only ever flown into and out of Faro Airport, so this is all new to me!

[Horus]

Fascinating and bizarre at the same time, but I suppose that they had such reverence for the monks that they could not just dump them. I did notice that in some of the pictures where skulls were incorporated in the walls that there are some empty sockets where a few skulls must have fallen out over the years.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Absolutely gorgeous photos Kiya.......fascinating!

My type of church too. I love seeing all the different building structures and decorations. So lavish and so minutely detailed. Terrifically interesting.

I like your 3rd photos (couple posts up from this one) of the cross with the other cross. Loved that photo. Really great perspective on the two crosses.

The BONE church/building is also ...... ummm........ghoulishly fascinating. Couldn't help really LOOKING at it but at the same time "GEEZ - BONES & SKULLS? Wow the builder must have been desperate for building materials but then if you've got bones piled up? Super interesting.

[Kiya]

Thanks folks............................RS I don't know how you got on going through Faro airport, we thought it was a slow nightmare.

Yes Horus.......I think being stuck there so long its not surprising that some have become loose and dropped out.

LLL....that crosses caught my eye, I think it was the colours, the green being stained glass and the black stood at front of it.

Believe it or not I'm not long back from the Doc, I have now a urine infection and antibiotics to take, its no connection with the chest infection...............will continue to sort photos for you all if I can stay out the bathroom

[Mad Dilys]

Oh dear, I hope you get back to full good health very quickly!

[Horus]

Yes take it easy and get better, the piccies can wait and drink lots of Cranberry juice

[Ruby Slippers]

Kiya, our flight was originally 8.30am; then it was changed to 10am; we finally got away at 7.30pm! It was absolute chaos at Faro airport and then we had a fair drive to Albufeira. It was turned midnight before we reached our accomodation. Nothing to eat from the day before because no-one at Gatwick airport bothered to tell us what was going on! Nightmare - and we were only there for a week!

[LovelyLadyLux]

@Kiya - Wow a UTI isn't fun at all but I do believe I've read somewhere that antibiotics for one thing can bring on UTIs.

@RS - those kind of travel days would do me in. I truly hate delays and not knowing what is going on.

I find old churches fascinating. All the ornate scrolling gilded everything always seems to me to be over the top. I would have loved to have seen the plans and who decided to put what where. I rather wonder if way back when stuff was contracted out? Or if there was oversight? Or ? Just kinda of wonder how designed the master plan or if everything was just added to as the build went on.

[Kiya]

Horus......funny you mention Cranberry juice, I bought a bottle the other day, I haven't had for years but just took a fancy to it

RS.....you should have demanded bottled water & a sandwich that's the least they could have offered you all. Did you not try for refund ? I thought they had to if your flight is delayed 3 hrs or more.

Faro airport is a nightmare, somebody needs to take over & reorganise the place, it just felt that nobody knew what the other was doing.

At our apartment we saw quite close the planes coming in & out with just a minute or two between each other, so others besides us can imagine what its like & all that folks not knowing what's going on or where to go

LLL, though the churches & cathedrals are beautiful they are very much OTT, we were in others but no taking cameras allowed, that didn't bother me as they all looked the same more or less.

I'm taking it easy today & will be watching the tennis, my daughter & hubby are at centre court Wimbledon

More photos soon

[LovelyLadyLux]

Some of those churches really are OTT which does make me wonder who was in charge of the original plan. Was it actually PLANNED to be that ornate and detailed or did it just mushroom into that or ?

[Ruby Slippers]

When we went to Portugal, we went on a day trip up into the Monchique mountains and right along the coast to the western tip of Portugal. We saw church after church - and they ALL looked like Kiya's photos. After a while, it got quite boring - beautiful, but boring!