So I’m sitting in the bus at a stop somewhere between Lisbon and Portimao. It’s hot, really hot, and it feels good. The landscape in rural Portugal seems so much like Napa, California that if I had just woken up I think that’s where I would have guessed I’d been. The bus ride has been good so far mostly because it hasn’t been crowded, the bus seems new, and I think this is the first day trip that I’ve taken. It’s nice to be able to watch the countryside scroll past, if only to give me reference to the “real” country.
I tried to get a ticket from Portimao to Seville when I was in Lisbon, but no go. It’s kind of messed up how they do ticketing here. You can’t get a ticket out of the country from most bus services, and the domestic ticket services don’t sell tickets to other countries. That means that I have to be somewhere where the international companies go to/from and Portimao isn’t one of them. I’ll try again when I get into the city though because I heard I needed to try a specific company. Bus is getting ready to leave, so that’s it for now.
It’s about 8 right now and I’ve been in Portimao since about 230. The city is small, it’s quiet, and very relaxing. The bus dropped me off right on the marina, so the moored boats’ bobbing on blue water was a very nice first look at the city. Since then I’ve walked pretty much all around the older parts and although nice, it’s definitely not pretty. That’s not a bad thing either. I found my hostel; well today I kind of cheated. Instead of figuring out how things work, I took a taxi. I didn’t have a lot of time here so wasting an hour or two could have squandered what little time I had to explore. I also managed to get my bus ticket to Seville tomorrow as well. I had two choices, 8am or 3pm. That means that I either arrive at 2pm or 9pm. I decided on the earlier time. Unfortunately that only left the afternoon, (and possibly some more tonight) in Portimao to see what I can, but what can you do?
I met the guys staying in the same room as me and they both seem like nice guys. One of the guys is from Germany and the other is studying in Prague. They asked if I wanted to go have a beer, or maybe go out to some clubs tonight, but I know I’m not up for it. I have to admit though, it does sound like fun.
It ended up being that only one of the guys I mentioned went out, the other one and me and one other guy from the hostel stayed up to about 1 just talking. I haven’t done that in a long time and I really enjoyed myself. I haven’t been staying in dorms much on this trip and it is one of the things that I’ve missed.
