Some days I wonder whether it would be better to stay in bed.
The plan today was once I got up and had my tea, I would start trying to top up my phone plan which was going to be ended tomorrow. Finally after a half an hour of trying, I got somebody on the phone who could speak English and she tried to put it all together, but in the end, even though she tapped me up in the minutes, she said I’m going to have to go into a shopping mall, to a Vodafone centre to finalize the deal! She couldn’t do payment on the phone.
I decided I would do a trip to Sines. It’s about an hour north but, again you’re travelling along the coast, so that was good. I put the address of the Vodafone shop there, in my directions for driving, but when I arrived at the location for the Vodafone shop, it was not there! I parked the car and asked questions of people on the street. The shop was only about 500 metres away but by the time I got there, the staff were out to lunch for the Portuguese two hour break.
It seems like everything is thrown up in my way, but I’m trying to make the most of it. I found a little café and had a sandwich because I hadn’t eaten yet today. And the cafe is right behind the castle so now I’m going to visit the castle and I’ll wander around.
I couldn’t find the front door of the castle. I don’t know whether there’s a password or you have to have a key? There were lots of doors, but none of them open. At least the weather wasn’t too bad. It is cloudy and there’s a little chill in the air but out of the wind it is quite a pleasant 14 degrees.
The views from the castle are fabulous.
From the tourist description:
The city is an old fishing town. Sines has been gradually transformed by tourism and industry. Nowadays, it is a major port and oil-tanker terminal of great importance to the Portuguese economy.
Overlooking the bay are the ruins of a mediaeval castle, which was restored in the sixteenth century. Vasco da Gama (1468-1524) is said to have been born here, being the son of the governor general of Sines. One of the castle towers houses a small museum collection dedicated to this famous navigator.
Sines also has a very interesting Archaeological Museum, which contains all the archaeological remains found in the region that testify to its occupation in more remote times.
After wandering around I went up to the Vodaphone shop at 3pm.
It took less than 3 minutes to complete and top up my minutes! Thinking of all the time I wasted on the phone and on their website trying to translate what they should be doing for tourists. Done.
I checked my phone for directions back to my parked car. I did notice in the last couple of days that the google map had marked the location of the parked car. Easy, eh? Just 750 metres away from me, so I started walking, following the prescribed route. It took me back to the first place I had stopped, not where I had parked. I must have followed the route incorrectly. I walked around blocks of streets and no car. Finally two fellows pulled over in a van and parked on the main road and I called to them and tried to explain my problem. They understood a little English. They looked at the map on my phone and we walked until the phone indicated that the car was here. I shook my head.
“No, this is not where I parked. I did stop here, and asked about the Vodaphone shop. I parallel parked on a street facing west on the left side of the road by some shops that were slightly below street level.
“Did you drive here?”,one of the men asked.
They were frustrated, asking me about each and every VW we passed. Finally one of them went off to get the police to help. OMG!
I really didn’t recognize any of these streets that the Google maps was indicating. I was feeling quite stupid. At home I usually photograph my location, especially in underground parking. I knew I was not that far away from the car. The men walked me over to the police station and I met two Republican National Guard officers who were going to help. One took my phone and the car keys to check the license plate number. We went out searching again following the google map location. As we left the rest of the police staff came outside laughing. I am sure this was an entertaining episode for them.
After several minutes of walking, they made a decision to go back and get the police car and drive around. I told them the street I arrived on and how I went around circles and down streets looking for the Vodaphone site (which by the way wasn’t correct on the Google map). I was imagining calling the rental company and telling them I’ve lost the second car they gave me.
I recognized the gas station just past one of the circles and knew we were nearby. Four blocks south of where my map had indicated my parked car, we found it not anywhere close to where Google maps had marked it. What a relief.
This will be added to my ridiculous tales of what can happen travelling. Another lesson learned today!
Precious.