I woke at eight in the morning. I actually could’ve slept more but I have a timetable today. It’s amazing how comfortable I am sleeping here. I needed to get my tea, get dressed and get down to the bus station. I brought along my backpack and my poles just in case. I waited about 15 minutes for the 10:15 am bus . The bus leaves right on time here, not like in Spain where they’re a little more relaxed; you don’t really know what time, it’s a roundabout whatever your ticket says. With a 10 minute stop in Porto Covo- that’s the town with all of the solar panels as you come into it. I must find out about that.
It was an uneventful bus trip. Nice to look at the land on the way to Lisbon when I’m wide awake; last time when I came down I hadn’t slept all night on the plane so, this was a little bit more informative. I’m looking forward to dropping into these towns with the car, stopping and seeing what’s going on. I got into the Sete Rios bus station in Lisbon, this time more comfortable with where I was and had a coffee and a small quiche.
Then I went looking for the taxi cabs. There was a long lineup of taxis. I went to the one nearest to where I came out and she (the driver) said no! You have to go to the front of the line. I guess they take a ride somewhere and then they come back and they line up really orderly and there’s a woman( see her in the blue jacket at the left of the image!) that stands there and pointed at the taxi one takes .
It was a short 10 minute ride over to the car rental place, only €7.40 cost to get there and the driver waited to make sure that I was at the right spot. A couple came in with their car to return it and they were Canadians from Sarnia way. We had a nice chat because the car rental place was closed-the staff were on lunchtime and the husband of this couple offered to buy me a coffee. We sat outside. It was really pleasant. Then I went in and filled out all the forms, got my car, took pictures as I inspected it, all the way around. My little bit of panic started. I’ve been driving an automatic car since 2014. Before that it was all standard. I was a little nervous in the middle of a city and it’s a new car, so you use your foot on the clutch and you just press the button to start! That’s what I did and it started- to stop the car you press the button once again.
So I began my journey home. I only had one stall after filling the tank. Leaving Lisbon I went across the Vasco da Gama bridge. That was an experience. I wish I could’ve photographed it for you. It’s the longest bridge in Lisbon and in Europe. Apparently it’s so long that on cloudy days you can’t see the other side of it. It was opened in 1988, and as you know your high school history, Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese discoverer who arrived in India in 1498 by the Atlantic ocean. The bridge is really long- it’s 12 km. I know I kept thinking, oh I don’t want to stall my car here. What if the bridge cracks while I’m on it? You know the way you think when you’re not sure what’s going on.
It took me about three hours to get home . By then it was dark and I did get a little lost because I used the Route map on my phone and some of the directions came up faster or the roads came faster than I expected. It was really dark when I got in, but my gut instinct was not to listen to the damn lady lecturing me in my phone for the last few minutes. I took the road in the direction I thought it should be, and it was bang on right to where the Fisherman’s wharf is and I knew to turn left and go down a couple of kilometres and turn into the driveway- so here I am.
I had a pizza in the freezer and I just threw that in the oven so that’s my dinner is today. Certainly not gourmet but that’s OK; tomorrow’s another day. I am driving farther south tomorrow.
