06 | South Portugal
December 2022
SOUTH PORTUGAL
A spontaneous 3 day trip
Something that I’ve done for a while now and have always enjoyed is going on short last minute trips. I’ll see that I’ve got a few days off work coming up in a week or 2 and take a browse through Skyscanner. I’ll search for the cheapest return flights I can find from Gatwick Airport and just send it. Sometimes It won’t always work out but the majority of the time I’ll find somewhere to go and a cheap comfortable place to lay my head. I’ll take nothing more than a small backpack filled with a few items of clothing, some toilettes, my camera and then see where the journey takes me. And in late November 2022 I did exactly that. I had 3 days free coming up so I browsed for a cheap get away and Faro popped up. I think the flights were something like £30 each way. I’d never been to the south of Portugal before so I thought why not? A week later I was on my way.
Coming into Faro Airport on a clear sunny day is a beautiful sight. You glide right down by the seafront from Albufeira to Faro and just before touching down I saw a marshland with what appeared to be a hiking trail going through it. After a quick search on google maps I found the trail which was called Ludo Trail and it started just behind the Airport so I walked on through. The weather was gorgeous, hot too for that time of year which made a nice change from the cold and rain in the UK at the time. I walked and shot a few photos on the trail for a good hour or so before reaching a golf course and decided it was time to head to Faro, check in to the little hotel i’d booked and then head back out to explore to see what Faro had to offer. My cameras of choice on this trip were the Canon AE-1 and my little Olympus 700XB with only 3 boxes of film. 1 Kodak Portra 400 and 2 boxes of Kodak colour plus 200.
Faro is lined with cobbled streets, old buildings, churches and a sea view with a port. I explored the narrow streets of the old town until the weather took a turn and the clouds opened up. Unfortunately the rain pored throughout that evening, into the night, and it didn’t stop until the following afternoon. A slow morning drinking coffee and a trip to the cinema later, the weather changed its tune and the rain stopped. So I decided to take a train from Faro to Albufeira and explore a new area of the south. I wanted to see what Albuferia was like and shoot a few sunset photos if the sun decided to pop out, and it sure did. Albuferia was very quiet that evening, I don’t think I saw more that 50 people in the whole time I was there. When walking up to the seafront I saw this outdoor escalator, covered in stickers. It looked out of place and but so unique. Of course I had to go up it. The setting sun turned the clouds pink and I shot a photo on my little Olympus 700XB. That shot is one of my favourite photos from the whole trip, I named it The stairway to the heavens.
It was the third and last day of my trip to the south of Portugal and the sun was shinning. I had an evening flight back to England so I had the whole day to explore till I had to leave. I decided to go west from Faro this time to the little costal town called Saint Lucia. Saint Lucia is a gorgeous little place, It’s very quiet and peaceful, with a small strip of restaurants by the port and close to the city Tavira. I didn’t really do much, just sort of wondered about, shot a few photos, got a bite to eat at one of the local restaurants and then walked to Tariva to catch the train back to Faro. I was going to just head to the hotel and collect my things when I got off the train, but when I arrived back back at Faro the sun had one more card to play and put on a show at sunset. I took a detour to the port and sat on a floating dock and watched the sun tuck itself behind the horizon. I shot the remainder of photos I had left on the roll of film in my AE-1, then power walked back to the hotel to collect my bag and headed to airport.
Even though these trips are short, you can do and see at lot in that time, for relevantly little expense too. I had no idea what to expect from this trip. I wasn’t sure what I’d do there, if the weather would be alright or if I would enjoy it. But that’s what I find fun about trips like this, the unknown, the exploration and what ever happens, happens.
If you like this photo journal please do let me know. Your feedback helps, and it inspires me to shoot and write more. If there are any images you specifically like and would like printed, shoot me an email at johnwilloughby.uk@gmail.com and I can provide more details.