Faro, Portugal
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| Location | ||||||
| - Country |  Portugal |
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| - Region | Algarve | |||||
| - Subregion | Algarve | |||||
| - District or A.R. | Faro | |||||
| Mayor | José Apolinário | |||||
| - Party | PS | |||||
| Area | 201.6 km² | |||||
| Population | ||||||
| - Total | 58,305 | |||||
| - Density | 289/km² | |||||
| No. of parishes | 6 | |||||
| Coordinates | 37º02'N 7º55'W | |||||
| Municipal holiday | September 7 |
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| Website: http://www.cm-faro.pt | ||||||
Faro (pronounced [ˈfaɾu]) is a city and municipality in southern Portugal. The city proper has 41,934[1] inhabitants and the entire municipality has 58,305. It is the seat of the district of Faro and capital of the Algarve region. The Algarve and Faro district cover the same territory.
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[edit] History
The Ria Formosa lagoon attracted human occupants from the Palaeolithic age until the end of pre-history. During that time a settlement grew up – Ossonoba – which was an important town during the period of Roman occupation and, according to historians, the forerunner of present-day Faro. From the 3rd century onwards and during the Visigothic period it was the site of an Episcopal see. With the advent of Moorish rule in the 8th century Ossonoba retained its status as the most important town in the southwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula. In the 9th century it became the capital of a shortlived princedom and was fortified with a ring of defensive walls. At this time the name Santa Maria began to be used instead of Ossonoba. Later on the town was known as Harun (from a local Muslim chieftain), whence its current name, Faro. One of its names in Arabic is أخشونبة. After the Moorish period, the Moors were defeated by the forces of the Portuguese King Afonso III during the 13th century. With the decline of the importance of the city of Silves, Faro took over the role of administration of the Algarve area.
The Earl of Essex sacked the town in 1596 and seized the library of the Bishop of Faro. These books were later donated to the University of Oxford, becoming part of the Bodleian Library.
During the 500 years of Moorish occupation there were some Jewish inhabitants in Faro who wrote copies of the Old Testament.
[edit] Facilities
The city has a public university (the University of the Algarve), an international airport (Faro airport), a seaport, a marina, a railroad station and complete interregional bus services.
Its 30,000-seater stadium called Estádio Algarve, shared by the neighboring cities of Faro and Loulé, was one of the sites of Euro 2004. It currently stands empty, but locals hope that a football team will finally give use to the Stadium. The actual relevance of Louletano Desportos Clube (a club from the city of Loulé) and Sporting Clube Farense (from Faro), are not enough to use such a big stadium; instead they use the smaller municipal stadiums. The stadium is also used to host concerts, festivals and other events.
[edit] Climate and tourism
Algarve - the region where Faro is located - has four well-defined seasons in terms of temperature and rainfall. However, the region is in general the warmest region of Mainland Portugal. The lowest temperature in winter never goes below 0°C, and the hottest days in summer seldom reach 35°C. The warm climate, the beaches and the sunny weather, makes Faro district a very popular summer resort. Roughly 5 million tourists per year, including domestic tourists from Portugal and from other European origins, like the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scandinavia, Netherlands and Germany, flow into the Algarve from May to September.
Faro airport is not too far away from the city itself. In recent years the numbers of visitors travelling through the airport has increased as more and more low-cost airlines fight to offer cheap flights to the Algarve. The transport facilities to and from Faro airport reach easily Faro's downtown, and include a wide availability of taxicabs and the city bus line which has scheduled departure times of regular bus service at the airport's bus stop.
| Climatic Average | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
| Temperature min/max (ºC) | 7/16 | 8/17 | 10/18 | 11/19 | 14/22 | 18/26 | 19/28 | 19/27 | 18/25 | 15/22 | 10/19 | 9/16 |
| Chance of rain | 23% | 15% | 20% | 21% | 17% | 7% | 2% | 2% | 17% | 35% | 27% | 35% |
| Typical Sky | Sunny | Partly Cloudy | Partly Cloudy | Sunny | Sunny | Sunny | Sunny | Sunny | Sunny | Partly Cloudy | Sunny | Partly Cloudy |
| Wind | Light | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Light | Gentle | Light | Light | Light | Light | Light | Gentle |
[edit] Nature
Faro is the home of the Ria Formosa lagoon, a nature reserve of over 170 square kilometres and a stopping place for hundreds of different birds during the spring and autumn migratory periods. The beach is almost seven kilometres from the city, and is a long sandy spit reached by crossing a bridge.
[edit] Events
The motorcycling concentration of Faro is a famous festival, renowned in Europe for being one of the biggest.
The city holiday is on 7 September.
The students festival (Semana Académica da Universidade do Algarve), organized every year by students of the University of the Algarve, is also a great event in Faro.
[edit] Parishes
- Conceição
- Estoi
- Montenegro
- Santa Bárbara de Nexe
- São Pedro
- Sé
[edit] Gallery
 aerial view |
 Faro's marina |
 Statue of King Afonso III |
 Governo Civil of Faro |
 The old mercy/church and hospital |
 City hall |
 Street in Faro |
[edit] Media
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- Problems seeing the videos? See media help.
[edit] Town twinning
- Tangier,
Morocco (since 1954) - Hayward,
United States - Bolama,
Guinea-Bissau - Huelva,
Spain - Málaga, Spain
[edit] References
- ^ UMA POPULAÇÃO QUE SE URBANIZA, Uma avaliação recente - Cidades, 2004 Nuno Pires Soares, Instituto Geográfico Português (Geographic Institute of Portugal)
[edit] External links
- Municipality official website
- University of Algarve (Faro)
- Faro Airport
- Algarve-Portal: Faro
- Motorcycling Concentration Faro 2005 (1)
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