Lazing in Algarve, Portugal

Last year, I spent a long weekend in the Algarve region of Portugal. It was a work offsite in a beautiful resort called the Pine Cliffs, right next to the city of Faro. We all spent most of the 4 days in the resort itself, enjoying all the different activities planned for our stay. I did not do much touristy stuff around and realised that chilling on the beach in a resort (when the sun gods were happy 😁) can also be fun!

The trip started out as a nightmare for a lot of people though. We were flying out on 23rd June from UK and two things happened that day. One was the Brexit vote (but that did not affect us much initially, as we were all expecting a remaIN win). And second was heavy rains because of which all airport trains stopped working, flights got cancelled and there was mayhem! There were colleagues who took 24 hours to reach Faro! I thankfully was just an hour late which worked out fine 😊. I was in the evening flight which landed at Faro at 10 pm and we got to the resort by midnight. My first view of Faro area was from the bus ride to the resort - it looked like an expanse of white houses all next to the beaches along green areas all around.

The hotel building in
Moorish design

The resort was a huge property spread across multiple acres, with its own beach and different types of accommodation (hotel suites, apartments, luxury residences, villas and so on). It took at least 15-20 mins to get from one end of the resort to the other. I was staying in the hotel, which though plain was very convenient in getting to all the places very quickly. The hotel building was constructed in a white Moorish design, dotted with lots of mosaics and tiles and inspired by the Moorish history of the area.

The Pine Cliffs

The resort was located on the beach right on top of white cliffs. To get to the beach, you had to walk to the cliffs and then take the lift down to the water. The weather was perfect for such a vacation, there was a lot of sun and heat all around. And we spent most of the time in and around the water 😊. It still felt a bit cold at first but was a lot better when you got in to swim. The sea was quite calm and there was a huge difference in water levels between high tide and low tide. During high tide, the water was right next to the sunbeds making it easier to swim.

The Pine Cliffs beach

We walked a bit on the beach and it continued forever, so we came back soon enough. We also did a bit of water sports and went out in the sea in a cookie boat. I must say it was one of the scariest experiences I have had when you feel you are going to be violently thrown into the water anytime now!

Most of the days, we had dinner in the resort’s garden on the cliffs and the views were amazing. The setting sun, the sound of waves and a view of the sea just below. I must say that the staff in the hotel were very very inefficient though in getting things done. But maybe that's one of the characteristics of beach areas - lazy, inefficient and taking their time for everything 😊.

The Silves castle

The last evening we had the final gala fiesta in a castle in the village of Silves. It was a 40 minute ride from the resort and an amazing location perched on top of a hill. The drive gave me a view of what to expect from the region - the area was quite green, dotted with houses in a light colour (mostly white). And a lot of them had orange flat roofs and very squarish (baroque?) architecture. Also there were loads of orange plantations in this region. The Silves castle had a lot of indoor space and we were all treated to cuisines and dances from across the world, ending the evening with huge fireworks. It was quite a fitting end to the long weekend.

Faro's walled city

I had heard from some of my colleagues that the cities and villages nearcy are quite picturesque. Some of them had taken boat rides around, some went bike riding in the towns, some went dolphin watching, jeep riding and so on, to see what Algarve had to offer. As I had spent most of the time in the resort, I decided to spend an afternoon in Faro.

Faro's old city

Faro is the capital of the Algarve region. Its a nice port town with a walled city centre of cobbled streets but not really very touristy. It has a relaxed vibe about it and it wasn’t as expensive as I had expected it to be. I took a walk through the old city, which has the typical Portuguese baroque architecture around.

The Faro cathedral

To visit, there was a small cathedral and a museum. And loads of orange trees! There were very few people around and everything had a very laid back feel to it. I walked around a bit and saw some of the areas around. But it was too hot, so I went to the Faro hotel and had a lazy lunch on the top floor, enjoying the view of the town below. And then saw a World Cup football match in the open in the Central Park 😉 right next to the hotel.

Watching football match in Faro

There are many islands nearby where you can take a ferry from Faro. Also the Faro beach is slightly away from the city and worth going to. All for a later time! I found Faro to be a bit disappointing though, as in more about a 'enjoy the relaxed ambience' kind of place rather than with things to do and see. People around were all tanned and relaxed. Though they didn’t seem too friendly to outsiders. Thankfully, most of them knew English.

And then it was time to leave, The airport was 5 mins from Faro, which is a luxury I rarely have 😁. It was a nice lazy weekend spent at the resort. And plans to be back to explore the countryside around which I didn’t get a chance to do this time.