The beginning. (Portugal Pt. I)
Aug. 1st, 2007 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sister_luckBooking your holiday rather late means that there might not be any flights left to the airport closest to your destination. That's what happened in our case and so we flew to Lisbon airport, a mere 250 km away from Lagos in the Algarve. (Incidentally, is it in or on the Algarve in English?)
It was worth it though, because we arrived in the early evening while it was still light and everything was bathed in sunshine. Lisbon's airport is very close to the city and while it's slightly scary it's also stunning to see the mouth of the River Tejo from above with the two bridges as well as the different parts of the city and the beaches and even Benfica's stadium. That experience was made even better because there was a Portuguese dad behind us who was taking his German wife and their son to his hometown to visit his family for the first time and he explained all the sights.
Sadly, this was all we saw of the city, but that is another story.
After getting our bags and suitcases we picked up our car - queueing at the Europcar counter was a somewhat lenghty affair and the Germans around us were getting impatient. Germans on holiday don't do waiting very well, especially if it seems like people are being inefficient.
Finding the motorway was a bit of a problem - first, we went into the opposite direction and there was a hairy moment at a roundabout where the boyfriend didn't see the traffic lights and of course, they were on red.... We survived as did the car.
Then we hit the road and went south listening to the Doors and the Rolling Stones while the light changed from evening sunshine to dusk to darkness. We found our hotel, unpacked and then walked into town, had a wander around and then drank a beer on the way back.
Then we holidayed - more about that in another post.
It was worth it though, because we arrived in the early evening while it was still light and everything was bathed in sunshine. Lisbon's airport is very close to the city and while it's slightly scary it's also stunning to see the mouth of the River Tejo from above with the two bridges as well as the different parts of the city and the beaches and even Benfica's stadium. That experience was made even better because there was a Portuguese dad behind us who was taking his German wife and their son to his hometown to visit his family for the first time and he explained all the sights.
Sadly, this was all we saw of the city, but that is another story.
After getting our bags and suitcases we picked up our car - queueing at the Europcar counter was a somewhat lenghty affair and the Germans around us were getting impatient. Germans on holiday don't do waiting very well, especially if it seems like people are being inefficient.
Finding the motorway was a bit of a problem - first, we went into the opposite direction and there was a hairy moment at a roundabout where the boyfriend didn't see the traffic lights and of course, they were on red.... We survived as did the car.
Then we hit the road and went south listening to the Doors and the Rolling Stones while the light changed from evening sunshine to dusk to darkness. We found our hotel, unpacked and then walked into town, had a wander around and then drank a beer on the way back.
Then we holidayed - more about that in another post.
