train ride to the Algarve
Bruce's uncle, Phil and his wife Ros kindly invited us to stay with them at their villa in the Algarve for a few days. The original plan was to visit them when we reached Lagos, Portimao or Faro but we didn't appreciate the exorbitant cost of high-season marina fees in the Algarve! With significantly cheaper marina fees in Lisbon it made sense to leave the boat there and catch the train - at €18 each it's excellent value for money.
Our lifestyle typically means we don't need to rush anywhere (buses, flights and tides usually being the only exception) but we were very conscious that we didn't know where the station was or indeed how long it would take us to walk there so we did a dry run the previous afternoon.
After boarding the train, the journey was pretty entertaining... not only was the scenery new to us but we had a quiet chuckle just people watching.
We weaved our way through Lisbon, across the bridge spanning the river Tagus and then rapidly southwards through small villages and towns passing many Olive, Cork and Carob trees in the process. The landscape continually changing from flat to hilly, rocky and dry and flat again.
Meanwhile inside the carriage the lady in front of us was trying desperately hard not to laugh aloud as she took photos of the man sat opposite her. He was listening to music but struggling to stay awake... his head slowly nodding from left to right and downwards until he woke himself up and so this continued for the next 2 hours. No doubt the worst photo of this guy has now ended up on facebook and gone viral!
Phil had mentioned that the trains are very prompt here and don't hang around at the platforms for long so not wanting to miss our stop we decided just a few minutes beforehand to move to the front of the carriage and wait by the dividing doors. Unfortunately though this meant that we didn't hear the conductor announce the next stop. We got off anyway being pretty confident but still wanted to see some written confirmation on the station platform but couldn't find any. Thankfully Bruce noticed the conductor and was able to confirm that we were in fact at Messines-Alte.
The station is small... very small indeed and there wasn't much going on. We instantly knew that Phil had arrived when we saw the huge dust cloud trailing his car as he approached us waving through the window! Late... just as we expected... Lol.
With the usual greetings done it wasn't long before our bags were thrown in the boot and we were making our way up the beautiful hills to their villa.
Our lifestyle typically means we don't need to rush anywhere (buses, flights and tides usually being the only exception) but we were very conscious that we didn't know where the station was or indeed how long it would take us to walk there so we did a dry run the previous afternoon.
After boarding the train, the journey was pretty entertaining... not only was the scenery new to us but we had a quiet chuckle just people watching.
We weaved our way through Lisbon, across the bridge spanning the river Tagus and then rapidly southwards through small villages and towns passing many Olive, Cork and Carob trees in the process. The landscape continually changing from flat to hilly, rocky and dry and flat again.
Meanwhile inside the carriage the lady in front of us was trying desperately hard not to laugh aloud as she took photos of the man sat opposite her. He was listening to music but struggling to stay awake... his head slowly nodding from left to right and downwards until he woke himself up and so this continued for the next 2 hours. No doubt the worst photo of this guy has now ended up on facebook and gone viral!
Phil had mentioned that the trains are very prompt here and don't hang around at the platforms for long so not wanting to miss our stop we decided just a few minutes beforehand to move to the front of the carriage and wait by the dividing doors. Unfortunately though this meant that we didn't hear the conductor announce the next stop. We got off anyway being pretty confident but still wanted to see some written confirmation on the station platform but couldn't find any. Thankfully Bruce noticed the conductor and was able to confirm that we were in fact at Messines-Alte.
The station is small... very small indeed and there wasn't much going on. We instantly knew that Phil had arrived when we saw the huge dust cloud trailing his car as he approached us waving through the window! Late... just as we expected... Lol.
With the usual greetings done it wasn't long before our bags were thrown in the boot and we were making our way up the beautiful hills to their villa.
Comments