It’s been a long time since we have flown from Norwich and usually it has been an early morning flight, so it was quite an easy chilled day with our first ever Ryanair flight from Norwich not departing until 6.10pm. We had time for last minute shopping, the gym and a quick hot tub (which was interrupted by the window cleaner) before I dropped Karen at the airport at 3.15pm.
I then drove home and waited for Graham & Ian to arrive with their cars before Iain then kindly dropped us all at the airport where all 10 of us gathered for the first time.
It was great having minimal wait at security where we spoke to Ellie’s friend and then made our way to the ‘Executive Lounge’. They were a bit dubious about letting a group of 10 in at once, so we offered to split into 2 groups of 5 if that helped before they relented.
We ordered 10 G&T’s twice and helped ourselves to some snacks and the time passed quickly. We ignored the first call for our flight which meant when we did leave, we walked straight onto the plane. Karen & I were very pleased to find ourselves in an exit row. The flight passed quickly helped by a music dingbats quiz I had printed for everyone, and I tutted as usual when Karen paid for a cup of tea.
Arriving at Faro we split into two groups. Karen went with the advance party in the taxi whilst I collected her luggage and travelled with Graham, Jo & Claire in the hire car.
Vila Flamingo our home for the week was 15 minutes’ drive away but tucked away down some country lanes past some quite vicious looking dogs.
The outside area of the Villa was fantastic. The inside though was weirdly laid out and obviously 2 villas knocked together. There were 2 kitchens and 3 lounges although we not planning to spend much if any time in them. There were 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms of which 2 were ensuite.
In the pre-holiday draw, we had drawn bedroom 2 which didn’t have an ensuite but was upstairs and seemed to be arranged so as to share a bathroom with another room.
We all agreed that that seemed unnecessary and so we decided to move downstairs to a much smaller room which was next to its own bathroom. Karen was much happier, and the room was just fine for us.
We all reconvened initially in the kitchen and moved outside to the patio where there much excited chatter about the week ahead.
The next morning the ‘supermarket party’ left at 7.50am to fetch provisions for the day ahead. By 9am we were all setting up for breakfast outside on the party. Everyone was in a relaxed holiday mood.
The first swimmers hit the pool whilst Graham & I tried out the pétanque pitch – I lost.
Some of the ladies went for a short walk before lunch to suss out the nearest restaurant for tonight’s dinner and came back with a glowing report.
Karen and I got in the saltwater pool. It was quite cold and being a whimp took me ages to get in. Karen stayed at the shallow end and walked 50 widths as part of her exercise regime
For lunch it was al fresco with fresh bread, charcutier and lovely cheese.
Early afternoon we ordered a couple of Ubers, and all headed to the marina in Olhao. It was lovely and not what we had expected at all. There were some fine-looking cafes, bars and shops along a new and quite up market promenade.
We all posed for some tourist photos as we wandered along. Then we headed the short distance into the old town which again was very surprising in how quaint and unassuming it was. There were some beautiful architectural features.
In one of the squares, we stopped for a drink where I had a strange sangria which got stronger the more, I drank of it.
Then we headed back to the marina and ordered Ubers back to the Villa. Karen went in the larger first one whilst I waited for the second. It turned up fine but the driver blindly followed the route on his sat nav which didn’t have up to date roadworks and dead ends in it. We turned around 4 times, went past the same Lidl 3 times and offroad for 1km. We took over the navigation and eventually we some relief got back to the villa.
After chilling for a while we all got ourselves sorted for dinner and reconvened on the patio for G&T o’clock which then turned into Prosecco o’clock for some of the ladies.
I then did a quiz for everyone about my favourite subject – Karen, which went down very well with lots of laughter.
It was a merry band of us that walked the 500m to Gunther’s restaurant where we had a great table outside. 2 litres of Red & Wine were ordered as we chose from the menu that had something for everyone. I had Ribs whilst Karen for a reason I didn’t understand went for a Chicken Burger. I had real food envy when the dish of the day came out thought which was fresh ravioli with salmon and prawn. The food was a very good quality.
During the meal and after another 2 litres of wine were ordered and we got on the subject of Vila Flamingo which somehow led to the song Pretty Flamingo which led to Manfred Mann. Everyone was amazed that I hadn’t mentioned during the earlier quiz that Paul Jones the erstwhile lead singer had gone to the same school as Karen.
The bill for the meal was very reasonable although they didn’t take credit card citing some difficulty with the fees which apparently in common over here. Sounds more like a tax fiddle to me, but we had been warned, and all had enough cash on us.
Back on the patio at Vila Flamingo, the soundtrack was Manfred Manns greatest hits included the now reworked Pretty (Vila) Flamingo. Its just as well we are quite isolated as the singing was quite loud. More wine may have been consumed as well as some cuppas. I do recall doing the drum solo to ‘In the air tonight’ and being word perfect all the way through ‘The Gambler’ before we eventually all retired for the night.
It had been a good day.
