Portugal-Amsterdam 2022 - #1 - Arrival at Sines

 So here we are again. It was almost like before Covid times. There are still mask mandates here in Portugal. We still had to get the test and fill out some forms. But otherwise we are off and traveling again. We will be spending 5 weeks on this trip. Our flights from Albuquerque to Lisbon had short connections and no problems. We are flying United Airlines this trip. They have the poorest food service in Business Class on the planes or in the lounge of any airline I fly. 

Upon arrival, luggage arrives and we get our rental car. To save money and to lessen the likelihood of difficulty with narrow European roads, we've opted for a smaller car and one with a manual transmission. Our agent suggested a small upgrade that would give us a much more fuel efficient diesel and a bit more room for luggage. She claimed the amount we'd save on fuel would more than make up for the increase in rental cost. Based on the first two days of driving, it is obvious that the fuel economy will be good. We'll see how the savings look at trips end. 

There are certain rituals THAT MUST BE ADHERED TO in our travels.

Ritual One - The Wait Until the Phone GPS Finally Connects. Evidently moving a few thousand miles completely disorients your phones connection to the GPS satellite. We are used to now exiting the rental car parking garage, pulling over to the side and waiting anywhere from ten to twenty minutes until the phone and GPS finally figure where we are.

Ritual Two - The Invisible Hotel Entrance - This can happen at anytime in the trip but especially when you have first come in from overseas and are dead tired. In this case our GPS brings us to the supposed location. We can see a tall building with the hotel's name on wall. But for the life of us we cannot find the entrance. We go around searching three times. We are taken to a road that seems to dead end into construction. We go back. We look at the GPS again. It insists this is the right street. Finally getting out of the car and walking down the street, we go around the corner to see the hotel entrance...on a street completely torn apart and impassable. We have to lug our luggage down the street and into the lobby. 

By this time we are asleep on our feet. We want to get some food to take to the room which has a microwave. GPS says there is supermarket close by. We walk to it. There is no supermarket. Every restaurant we pass is closed. It is not the season. Nothing will open until 7pm. We finally eat then collapse. 

The next day we do a bit of a walk in the old town which we are very close to. There's not a whole lot there. But we start taking pictures. Then it is off to Penchao, our destination for the next week

Photos

A nice sea view from the hotel room

And nice view of the torn up road in front

The first of many a Medieval Town

Portugal is known for its use of decorative tiles for architectural emphasis. You will see a lot of these.

Balconies and Laundry, other reoccurring themes

Castles? Of Course

Sines was known as a town where Vasco da Gama sailed from.

Vasco contemplates his voyage

Wife and Vasco contemplate photo ops

Panorama of the Harbor

 Scenes from around the town