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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Travel
Paul Tierney

A miracle of design: Faro, the Palm Springs of Portugal

An early-1970s beach house near Faro by Manuel Gomes da Costa
An early-1970s beach house near Faro by Manuel Gomes da Costa. Photograph: Paul Tierney

In the glare of the morning sun, the streets of downtown Faro are a textural hot mess. A faded art deco shopfront sits cheek by crumbling jowl with its neighbour’s rusting balustrades and handmade fondant tiles. A bank swerves around the corner like an ice-cream sandwich hit by pistachio light. Everywhere there are buildings you might generously describe as less art and more nouveau. These are layers of the near past – and I’m smitten.

Travel Faro 7 Oct
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