A trip across the border
27 November 2008 | Ayamonte
One of the other nice things about Ayamonte is being able to pop over to Portugal for an hour or two for a change of scene or to shop on a Sunday as most shops in Spain shut.
The ferry runs every half an hour and into the evening in the main tourist season but sailings are reduced over winter. We found an excellent café called "Café Latte" in Vila Real run by a Dutch girl and her Portuguese partner, a friendly atmosphere and good value. It was opposite the small supermarket in town and just past the main square. The only drawback was the wind could play havoc with the umbrellas at times as it funnelled down the street.
We took my uncle over on the ferry when he visited in case he needed any new towels! When we returned to catch the ferry back there were 6 Policemen checking everyone's passports, it was then that we realised that we had forgotten ours. The guns strapped to their legs and our lack of ability to speak any useful Portuguese did nothing to calm our nerves. Steve said leaving the queue and going off would cause suspicion so we got thinking. We noticed that one of them spoke English well as he was telling off another tourists for having nom passport so Steve made a beeline for him and showed him his UK driving license and Marina card, explaining we had crossed over on a whim and just forgotten our ID. He passed the driving license to one of the police with a gun who kept rotating it and looking puzzled. Finally he told us off and let us on the ferry. Jack was quite sick as he had no ID what so ever, having left it all in hid room. We won't forget again!
Above Jack and Steve on ferry with the road bridge into Spain behind