Communidad de Andalusia: Huelva
Portugal has an extensive train system. Spain has an extensive train system. It turns out the two rarely connect, so the bus was the best option for the return to Spain.
Huelva, Faro’s “sister city”, sits close to the Spanish coast just over the border from Portugal, and about a 90-minute bus ride from Faro.
It has wide pedestrian streets lined with shops and restaurants in the central district.
It honors its seafaring history. Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos de la Frontera, a village less than 10 miles from Huelva. Also, while waiting to hear Queen Isabella’s response in 1491-92, he stayed in the Monasteria de Santa Maria de la Rabida, three miles from the central city.
It once had a thriving English settlement – The Barrio Reina Victoria,
which is across from an El Corte Ingles department store.
Was important in WWII – check out “Operation Mincemeat” – https://www.history.com/news/what-was-operation-mincemeat – soon to be a motion picture starring Colin Firth (for the trailer – check Youtube).
It has many festivals
and the oldest football club in continuous membership in Spain (the Recreativo de Huelva was established in 1889).
They have this huge, beautiful park on the edge of the central part of the city called “Parque Alfonso Sanchez) now covered in graffiti and seemingly forgotten, complete with a small homeless encampment on top. (It gives you the feeling that it should be on one of those TV shows about lost and forgotten places).
It is not a tourist city. What museums and attractions that would interest most tourists are closed on Sundays and Mondays. We arrived at 3PM Sunday and left 7PM Monday.
The people are friendly, there are nice restaurants near the river with good, inexpensive food with large portions. It has a small, easily accessible train station. It’s worth stopping in if you’re traveling through the region – just not on a Sunday or Monday.
We head into the interior. Next stop Merida!
Oh dear, bad timing there!