Trip to Portugal Day 1: Backroads to Obidos

 

Day 2 comes in two parts.

Frankfurt has an airport.

Part 1.  Still in transit. We land in Frankfurt around 10:10am local time, disembark, and spend an hour walking our way through passport controls, terminals, and security checks. The most exciting part of this stage is the total search I was subjected to by a security agent who pretty much shoved his hand down the front of my pants and then down the back.  Looks like Germany has a very different understanding of personal space.  

The plane was about 30 minutes late to leave, which gave us a chance to grab a coffee and a pretzel, because when in Germany - even if "Germany" = "Frankfurt Airport", you get a pretzel.

The Pretzel. It was decent.

Boarding the flight involved being bused to a very different part of the airport, which gave me a chance to take a picture of the terminal from the outside.

Frankfurt Airport Terminal A from outside.

Eventually we got to a place where our plane stood, and boarded it.

Our ride to Portugal

This took place in the middle of California night, so we tried with some moderate success to doze off on the ride. Still I was able to catch some nice scenery - the Alps, the Mediterranean Coastline, and a really nice approach to Lisbon.

 

The Aqueduct, as seen from the plane descending on the Humberto Delgado airport.

With this, we arrived to Lisbon, where Part 2 starts.

Part 2: Day 1 proper.   Getting off the plane was easy, no more passport control, since we are inside the EU. Spent some time waiting for luggage. Discovered that the Tile app and Tile devices we put on our bags don't work quite one would want them to work - you can find out where the Tile tag is only if another Tile user is within bluetooth reach of the tag.  At a starting point, my colleagues teaching computer security are right around now crying. Second, the one time you really need this feature is upon arrival to a new airport  in order to determine that the luggage arrived with you. Except that there are not going to be any Tile users on the landing field (except for the airplane passengers, but it looks like the luggage is stored in a way that does not allow for bluetooth signals from the main cabin to be transmitted to it. Eh, well. The bags still arrived.  

After taking a bathroom break we went outside to wait for the shuttle bus to the car rental place.

The shuttle came right around the time I started wondering. Took us to the rental place. At that point, things started to get - if not sour, then at least - dark comedy.

So, our car rental company is OKMobile. The rental itself is made through a broker.  Here are some things.

• One week before our trip, I get an email saying "in order to speed up your reservation, please complete these forms". The forms ask for driver's license and passport information. I enter the info, receive confirmation that I am good to go
• I also receive an email that we ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE International Driver's Permits.  I call their office and ask "I am a resident of the US, I have a US driver's license, do I need an IDP", and I get an unequivocal "YES, YOU DO". So we go and pay $60 for two IDPs with photos. Better safe then sorry.
• Upon arrival to the rental place, of the three people there, we get the Incompetent Newbie.  
• This appears to be the first time he saw a US driver's license.  
• He asked us for licenses and "IDs", and I had to ask him three times "what other type of Id would you like" before we got to "Passport, please". 
• We NEVER had to show our IDPs. 
• He spent 30 minutes re-entering our passport and license data THAT I ALREADY PROVIDED to their system.
• To cap all of it, he took us to our car - a rather unexpectedly large Renault Kadjar (we asked for an automatic transmission, apparently these are the only automatics they have). We spend 10 minutes going over the scratches on the car. The car is parked in a way that makes it hard to pull it out, so we ask him to pull out the car. He gets in the car, and hits another car standing nearby.

The car he drove got some surface scratches, but the other car got a dent.  Took him another 25 minutes to change paperwork and give us another car.  All of this mildly annoying because the entire time spent at the rental place that was empty when we arrived was about an hour and forty five minutes, when it should have been no more than 30.  But also, dark comedy gold.  Most of it is just the real lack of experience, and personality traits that are not conductive of working customer service jobs, but I sincerely hope that the guy does not get fired or docked a lot of pay for denting a car on the lot.

So, we get our car (this is it below, pictured in its resting place for tonight), and start the drive to our first stopover, Obidos.  Except, after verifying that the car indeed has the Via Verde (toll road) tag that allows us to travel the toll roads and not worry about tolls, I find out that my google maps is set up California-style to "avoid tolls" setting. This becomes apparent only about 20 minutes into the drive when we leave the major highway behind and start taking backroadiest of the backroads.  

 

The good news: it's a nice scenic drive - much more fun that driving on a divided highways with tree cover on both sides. We get to drive through countless small villages, take cobble road detours, go up and down several hills in a somewhat see-saw fashion, and see a lot of the back country that definitely is not tourist territory.  We also pass by a Lidl and take immediate advantage of it.  Wasn't even sure where we were, but found it on the map post factum, it is the store in Arruda dos Vinhos - one of the small towns/large villages we passed through.

Eventually, as the sun drops below the horizon, we make it to A8, which apparently is free on its approach to Obidos, and take it for the last leg of  today's trip. We drive up a narrow driveway leading to our Airbnb to meet our landlady, who's been texting us since about 3pm (it is not 8:30). I roll the car up and through a vary narrow turn to reach the upper parking spot, where we rest the car as you see it above. The parking spot is adjacent to the back door to our place which leads to a nice patio, and our bedroom. There is a spiral staircase leading downstairs to the living room and kitchen.  

We thank our landlady, who left us some cheese crackers and a bottle of wine in the fridge, and unpack. After a quick shower that each of us desperately needs, we throw together a late night meal of bread, sausage, cheese, seafood and olives, and wash it with some wine.  We are officially done for the day, which has proven to be somewhat uneventful, but very long.

Today's wine. 

1.  Papa Figos Douro Branco 2021

Grabbed this one for Olga out of the fridge at Lidl. For 3 Euros, this is a great refreshing white. I expected something bone dry and instead got some sweetness to complement the bright acidity. Olga, who typically does not care for sweetness in her wines, interestingly enough quite liked it as well.

We'll give it a score of A-

2.  Paco Do Bispo Moscatel De Setubal DOC 2019

Also bought at Lidl for something like 3.99, primarily because (a) last time I brought a bottle of Moscatel and waited for a while to try it, now I want to have a bottle available for the entire trip, and (b) for the name, which includes allusions to both major AVAs in San Luis Obispo county (Paco = Paso, Bispo = Obispo).

Exactly what I expected - smooth, sweet, with little acidity, but easy to drink. Totally worth it for those who like dessert wines.  B.

Steps. 6589 according to Google Fit (watch reset before I was able to see, but had a consistent number last I remember). Mostly traversing through airports.

Tomorrow.  Walking tour of Obidos, and Obidos castle.