Rest day declared in Faro, Portugal.

Wednesday 20/3/13

We're sitting in Faro waiting for an email with some documents so I can get the BMW fuel gauge issue sorted. The plus side is it's gives us a chance to have a bit of a rest.

I took Suzanne out for lunch at the shopping centre I visited yesterday where I noticed a shop specialising in soup. I've never been much of a soup fan, but this trip has changed that. We had a filling bowl of great soup, then did a little shopping.

We restocked our food supply so we could eat at the club instead of going out and we had a look for a kettle. Strangely enough there isn't a kettle in the club's kitchen upstairs. We thought we could easily fix that. We couldn't find a kettle in the huge supermarket / department store we were in. As we were leaving we found a shop next door that sold electrical goods but we were already loaded up and couldn't carry any more. We'll make a return trip another day. 

After our afternoon siesta we went down to the bar and caught up with a few people. Mid week is a bit quiet, but on Friday and Saturday nights the place is full of people.

I think a nice, quiet rest did us good. This non stop fun time is hard going sometimes.

The BMW gets some TLC and Suzanne holds a face painting workshop. 

Yes, we're still in Faro, Portugal.

Tuesday 19/3/13

Bah! It's raining, and I have to drop the bike off at nine o'clock for it's service. Suzanne washed my riding gear yesterday and it's still wet so I'll just have to wear her gear. The jacket is OK because it's the same as mine, but the pants are a funny fit because they are cut to fit a girly figure, not a strapping he man like me. 

The short version is Suzanne said I looked gay.

I rolled the bike into the shop spot on nine and it was whisked away into the service department. I settled into the customer lounge only to find there is no WiFi available. Drat!

I read (when I say read, I mean looked at the pictures because I can't read Portuguese) all the magazines on the table, then walked around for a while, scratched myself, then looked at the magazines again. Ho hum!

By twelve o'clock I was going a little stir crazy and decided to go for a walk to the shopping centre down the road. I told the service managed I'd be back in about an hour and he replied "Ah, Mr Simon, give us a little longer please". No problem. When it comes to my bike I'd rather a thorough job than a rushed job any time.

In the shopping centre I found an American hamburger chain shop (that's twice this month) and ordered some "food" so I could access their WiFi. That took up about twenty minutes, so I went for a stroll around the shops. It wasn't very exciting. The best place was the pet shop, and it only had rabbits.

At about two I went back to the dealership and sat down again. Then I remembered that a friend had loaded a huge range of books onto my phone, so I sat down and started dreading Craig Ferguson's "American by choice." It's a really good read. If by some remote chance Craig ever reads this; Well done mate. You have my respect for getting on your feet and on with your life.

The bike service was completed but now it was time to try and sort out the fuel gauge issue. It's a common (very common) problem so it shouldn't take long...

Problem found. As I suspected, the sender is kaput! The dealer didn't have one in stock and I don't have a problem with that. You can't expect a dealer to keep every part for every motorcycle ever built. So one will be ordered from Germany for me. Hopefully the problem will be sorted in the next few days.

I rode out the door at six pm. So after eight hours working on the bike (they do have to eat lunch you know) what do you think my bill came to? Just over two hundred euros. BARGAIN!

Obrigado Caetano BMW. What a great bunch of guys.


Later in the evening Suzanne held her impromptu face painting workshop. Suzanne has a VERY limited kit with her, and only a few brushes, so it was a little awkward to get everyone to practice but I think it went over pretty well, judging by the smiles I saw.

The girls were keen.

Farense was in on the act, of course.
He even got painted.

One of the little girls was pretty keen to be painted, but usually kids this young won't sit still long enough for an artist to paint them. I watched Suzanne paint this face in about thirty seconds. I was amazed, and she was a very happy little girl.

Instant face painting - thirty seconds.

Then she got one of Suzanne's books and studied it for ages. She didn't put it down. Here's my prediction - This little girl will be a face painter in the future, mark my words.

"I love my new book."

"Hmm, I think I could paint that"

It was really nice to see this little girl so into her book and made a very pleasant finish to the day.

Great food, fantastic people, a friendly dog, and face paint in Faro, Portugal.

Does it get any better?

Monday 18/3/13

I've told you a little about Moto Clube Faro in the blog, now I'd like to show you a little more of their club rooms.

Here's a quick look around our luxurious abode:

Not bad for a motorcycle club eh?

The building is three stories with a open roof area that would be fantastic for summer barbecues. Most of the doors are covered with motorcycle related images. Really cool ones.

The door to our room.

The stairwell entrance.
I still miss Bazza's race commentary.

I love the kitchen door.

There are a lot of doors here, but I won't post photos of them all because you'd go to sleep. There is one more I will post in a later blog after I get the right photo.

Great kitchen.

We had a small issue in the kitchen. The cupboard under the cook top was jam packed with towels. This overheated the cook top and caused all sorts of flashing lights and beeping alarms to go off. It was easily fixed by moving a few towels though.

Boy's toys dream - twelve garages.

This morning I was doing a little bit of bike cleaning (it still had Moroccan mud all over it) and put an electrical part on the low wall next to me. In a flash Farense was onto it. He picked it up and ran off with it. He thought it was a real laugh, me chasing him around the building, then inside, through the kitchen and around the tables. He obviously doesn't understand English because he was ignoring all my commands like no, stop, drop, etc. When I finally caught him, he no longer had the part. He'd dropped it...somewhere. Luckily Catarina, one of the awesome club staff, found it in the kitchen and gave it back to me. I won't be making that mistake again.

It was time to ride into town and visit the BMW dealer. I wanted to book the bike in for a service and have a small problem with the fuel gauge fixed. I stripped off all the luggage and off we went. The bike felt really odd without all the weight on it, and it took a while to get used to it. It really is a lot of fun without all the gear on it.

We rolled into Caetano BMW, the Faro BMW dealer, to book our service. I was going to get the bike serviced in Lisbon, but as this dealer showed support for the club by having a presentation here last Saturday I thought I'd return the support. Would you believe it? The only bike mechanic they have started holidays today, for two weeks. No problem, we'll get it done in Lisbon. As we were putting on our helmets to leave the Service Manager came over to us and said "Mr Simon, is no problem. Our mechanic will come to work tomorrow to service your moto."  What? Wow, that's what I call service. We'll see you tomorrow.

With that sorted we had a lunch date to keep. We rode over to the Dom Bernardo Hotel and caught up with Frank and Lisa. They took us to a little Portuguese restaurant for lunch. This place was amazing. You wouldn't even know it's a restaurant if you walked past it on the street, but inside it was packed with locals. This is a small, family run restaurant that only opens for lunch, and I think they are doing very well thank you.

We had a huge meal of Portuguese barbecued chicken, pork, ribs, chips, rice and salads. The deal is that you order and once you start eating they just keep topping up the platter on your table until you say 'enough." It's the same deal with the wine. When your carafe is empty, they bring you another one. It's like an all you can eat deal, but the food is, as Ned Flanders would say, scrumdiddlyumptious.

Entertainment was provided by Lisa telling us about her family back in the US (Yes, she's a yank, but a nice one). It was a laugh a minute and I learned a lot. (Private Joke: Suzanne, I'm off to buy a litre bottle of Visine. Thanks Lisa.).

During lunch we met a couple of Frank and Lisa's friends who have moved here from England. Lo and behold when we went to pay the bill, their English friends had already paid it. We keep meeting such nice people.

On the way out (we were the last to leave, again) we met the owners. Another great bunch of people.

 After the customers leave, the family sits down to lunch.
They thought it was going to be a nice quiet lunch. Ha!

I think Mama got a surprise when I picked her up and gave her a kiss. She was smiling, Suzanne just took the photo at the wrong time. Honest.

After a coffee back at the hotel Suzanne and I returned to the club and were greeted by, guess who?

Farense wanted to play when we got back.

Suzanne and I played with Farense for a while, then had a little siesta. This siesta caper is a really good idea.

Around dinner time we wandered down stairs to the bar for a drink before heading back up to our kitchen to make our evening meal. Of course we couldn't get into the bar without first playing with you know who.

One of Farense's tug of war toys. They don't last too long around here, so we'll have to buy him a few spares.

We were sitting at the table with our drinks when the guys from the bar came over with some plates and a big bowl of food for us. The bowl was so big that we only got through about half of the food, and I'm not bad on the tooth when it comes to food this nice. Thank you. I seen to be saying that a lot recently. Actually I seem to be saying obrigado a lot recently.

There was a little girl's second birthday party happening at the same time. How cool is that? You can have your kid's birthday party at the bike club. Catered, plenty of room, great company, and best of all when it's a two year old's birthday, no cleaning up.

Suzanne decided to get her face paint out and paint the kids. We have to say thank you for everyone's generosity here somehow. As usual, there was an instant queue to be painted. First the kids, then the women.

The kid's getting painted.

As usual a crowd quickly gathered.

The next thing I hear is the guy next to me say "These girls would like to do a workshop with your wife." Suzanne agreed, so tomorrow night there will be a face painting workshop held upstairs in the club rooms. I had to think about this to get it in perspective. We're in Portugal, travelling on a motorcycle, staying in a bike club, and Suzanne is teaching face painting. Is it just me, or is that a bit unusual? I'm betting it's the first time it's happened here, but I could just as easily be wrong. Nothing would surprise me here.

We felt good because we'd finally been able to give back a little something for the hospitality and generosity shown to us by the club and it's members. Next thing, Catarina hands us a black plastic bag with T Shirts, stickers. badges, and things in it to say thank you for the painting.

Catarina, one of Farense's favourites.

I stole this photo from her Facebook page.

No, that's not how it's supposed to work. We were trying to repay the hospitality shown to us. I am truly humbled by the generosity here. Obrigado.

Like I said before, the Portuguese are very generous people. I can easily understand how someone could stay here for six months. We came to Faro for an overnight stop, and have been here for eleven nights so far. It's such a nice, easy place to be.

A surprise visitor in Faro, Portugal.

Sunday 17/3/13

That damn altitude sickness got me again this morning. I just don't understand why I feel so bad in the mornings, but come good as the day goes on.

Suzanne and I walked down to the local supermarket in the rain to do a little shopping for some food supplies. We needed a good bacon and egg breakfast. Suzanne cooked up a storm and it went down a treat. Then we just hung around the club house for the day relaxing.

We both decided that we'd be anti social, stay upstairs and have an early night. The last few days have taken their toll. We're not eighteen any more.

Then we received a visitor. Meet Farense.

A dog with three hundred plus owners.

Farense was a puppy that was dumped at the petrol station next door to the club house and the club has adopted him. He's now about ten months old. It's probably the best thing that could ever happen to a dog. He has over three hundred owners who all play with him when they visit the club (he does have a few favourites) and they look after him very well. He enjoys a great life. 

Tonight he decided to come up to our room and play. He jumped straight up on the bed and proceeded to play bite the foot, a favourite dog game. 

Playing bite the foot.

 He loves people...

It was very funny, but he does bite a bit hard sometimes. He hung around for a while, scrounged unsuccessfully for some food, then left as quickly as he'd arrived. He's a very independent dog and knows his own mind.

Tomorrow we'll look at getting the bike serviced ASAP then moving on. It would be very easy to stay here. It's a great place, and the people are wonderful, but we really want to see more of Portugal...

...and I've had some good tips for great riding roads heading north.

We move out of the hotel and into the Moto Clube Faro clubrooms.

Saturday 16/3/13

Thanks to Frank and Lisa's hospitality last night we both woke up (or, more correctly, were woken up by a barking dog) suffering from altitude sickness again. I don't understand how this keeps happening, especially as we are now down at sea level. We ensured we drank plenty of fluids last night, but it doesn't seem to help. We managed to get back to sleep and were given a wake up call from reception at two pm. Thanks for arranging that Lisa.

We casually got ready and packed up our gear to make the move to the Moto Clube Faro clubhouse. On our way there we stopped at the marina for lunch.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch by the marina.

When we arrived at the club house we were shown to our room. It's a cool little room with two singles and a shared bathroom. There are two other rooms with three double bunk beds in each. We also have a neighbour, but haven't seen him yet.

The local BMW dealer had a display of bikes at the club so it gave me a chance to have a good look at the new R1200GS. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's an exceptional bike, but a few of the changes BM have made have taken a few ticks off my check list for a bike for our type of trip.The radiators would need some very serious bar work to protect them in case of falls. My falls in Morocco would have damaged them. The switch gear is another area that didn't thrill me. It's fantastic that BM have finally moved to a "normal" indicator switch, but some of the switches look a bit fragile to me. Lastly, the pillion seat is too high. Putting weight up high on the back of the bike is an issue. The higher it is, the worse it is. The new seat would put Suzanne about five inches higher than where she is now. It's a great bike with lots of good features, but I wouldn't trade mine for a new one. I might revise my view when the new Adventure comes out.

I'm not sure the cruise control and indicator switches

will suit real adventure tourers.

One of the reasons I chose our BM was because it's air cooled. Those radiators will need some protection.

In the bar I met a few new people and had a couple of drinks. I was introduced to the President of the club, Jose Amaro, who asked me how long we would be staying. I asked if it was OK for us to stay for two, or maybe three nights. He laughed and said we could stay as long as we liked. They had one guy who stayed for six months. I don't think we'll be doing that.

The club is a great place with real atmosphere. It's like nothing I've experienced at home. The music is great and the club house is full of families, kids, and dogs. Everyone is having a good time.

Just a few of the Faro club members.

Eric, Marco, Gaspar, and Jose the President.
You can tell by the smiles they are a fun bunch.

Back in the bar the band was fired up and the drinks were flowing. I met a lot more people, including Marinho, who introduced me to Medronho. Medronho is a subtle little local brew that is somewhere around 40% alcohol. 


For details see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medronho

I'm pretty sure by the time I pulled the pin at around three am I was speaking fluent Portuguese.

I'm loving Portugal, or more correctly, I'm loving the Portuguese people. They are very friendly and generous and I'm sure we'll leave here with some life long friends. 

People's kindness keeps ruining our plans.

How lucky are we?

Friday 15/3/13

Today's plan is to make a quick stop at the Faro Motorcycle Club, the largest motorcycle club in Portugal. Motorcycle clubs here are very different to back home. They aren't racing clubs, but a social club for motorcyclists. The biggest difference is that they wear colours (patches on the back of their jackets) but aren't outlaw motorcycle gangs like they are at home. It's weird to see a bunch of guys wearing colours wave to you as you ride past. Once we've been to the club we'll move on to start checking out the sights that our friend Hugo from Pinguinos told us about.

Well, that WAS the plan. We packed up and were in the process of checking out when the owner of the Best Western Hotel, Lisa, started talking to Suzanne. She had seen our bike and was keen to have a chat. Next thing I know, we're booked in for another night, going out for dinner with Lisa and her husband Frank, then going over the the Faro Moto Club for drinks afterwards. OK, I can work with that, we'll stay.

We checked our list of places to see and headed off via the back roads to Olhao which is quite near Faro and was very nice. Suzanne and I both said it reminded us of Mandurah, (just south of Perth) but without the high crime rate. 

Then we followed more winding back roads to Portimao which took about an hour and a half. 

The foreshore at Olhao.

Home designs were subtly different.

Some were quite large.

The riding was great. Nice flowing roads with lots of bends, no traffic, no wind, and lots of sunshine. Just how I like it.

Perfect.

We rode through quite a few little villages and came across this...

Front yard decorations anyone?

After lunch we jumped on the motorway and took the quick way back back to Faro.

In the evening Frank and Lisa picked us up and took us to their favourite chicken restaurant. It turns out that this old family restaurant in what Nando's is based on. The food was great, and the company was a lot of fun with the laughter (and the wine) flowing thick and fast.

Our partners in crime, Frank and Lisa. This was early in the night as there are only two empty bottles on the table.

We were told that this restaurant makes the best chicken in Portugal. All I can say is it was very, very tasty, so I can't disagree. Thanks a heap guys.

Then it was time to visit the Moto Clube Faro. Wow. These guys have recently built new clubrooms and they are awesome. I'll post photos of the outside when we come back tomorrow in daylight.

The main building is spread over three levels. It has a large bar area, and equally large outdoor area that is undercover. There are twelve (Yes, twelve) garages out the back, and three accommodation rooms upstairs with a large kitchen and bathroom. Upstairs can sleep fourteen easily.

But right now it was party time. We met so many people and enjoyed a few drinks. Lisa and Frank are bad business people. They teed up a room for us upstairs at no charge, so tomorrow we move out of their hotel and into the clubhouse. That's not how you run a hotel! We really appreciate it though. Thanks guys.

The clubrooms are amazing. Really well thought out and designed, and full of memorabilia. Let's have a look around:

Clubs swap items for display.

Riders from all over the world visit.

Not to sure about this one.

Suzuki GSX powered drag bike, in the library.

Club logo on the drag bike.

The bar area. The later it got, the more crowded it was.

More wall decoration.

I love this sign.

So that's where he's hiding.

One of the doors to the bedrooms upstairs.

More club memorabilia,

Ummmmm, I don't know.

There had to be one dog photo.

The club actually has it's own dog. He was dumped at the petrol station next door as a pup and the club adopted him. He runs the place and has a wonderful life with hundreds of friends. I'll get a photo of him later on.

It was a long and very full day. We finished off at about two thirty (I think) and headed back to the hotel. Thank you so much Frank and Lisa. We had an awesome night. I know we'll catch up again before we leave.

Tomorrow we move into our new accommodation at Moto Clube Faro. Look out, this could get messy!

Faro, Portugal. Home of the Chapel of Bones.

Thursday 14/3/13

OK, it was walkies time. We set off on our economy sightseeing walk and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air. First stop was an interesting little church that I'd read about. The Carmelite Church was literally just around the corner.

Sometimes I think some things are just

a little bit over the top.

Is the person who gave this to the church

an organ donor?

Sometimes you see things that make you do a double take.
(Thanks for pointing that out Suzanne.)

Tied up and whipped.
I have nothing to say.

Then we got to the interesting part. The Chapel of bones. When this chapel was built it displaced a cemetery that held the remains of previous monks from the church. Someone thought it would be a good idea to use the bones and skulls of the monks to build a chapel. Yes, it's true.

Yup! 1,245 skulls. No, I didn't count them.

I've probably posted a few to many photos, but it was intriguing. I'll let the photos talk for themselves.

is my head really that big?

The local cat was in residence.
I guess having a dog here would be a bad idea.

With the Chapel of Bones out of the way we walked towards the harbour. I didn't know this, but Portugal, like the UK, used to have a very strong motorcycle industry before the Japanese onslaught. Unfortunately it is no longer. We saw a few shabby examples of the bikes on our walk.

This Macal needs a little TLC.

A cool little fifty cc Famel powered by a Zundapp motor.

These are becoming desirable now and good condition bikes are fetching around two thousand euros. That doesn't sound like much, but with the cost of living being so low here, it's bloody expensive.

We had a quick lunch and continued wandering toward the harbour.

Rest and recovery for the long walk back.

It was a long stroll back to the hotel via a supermarket to pick up some supplies for dinner in our room. We had a quick drink at the bar and Suzanne thrashed me (again) at Scrabble. It was interesting playing Scrabble with a Portuguese letter mix. Yes, it's different to the English version. The letters are different with some not included, and the points value was different as well. It didn't help me beat Suzanne though.

Portuguese Scrabble letter mix.

It was a good first day in Portugal. Tomorrow morning we'll be back on the bike and heading north to see what else we can discover.