THE LOUNGE

Driving to Lisbon on my birthday week
By Hill Roberts

Part 1:

It wasn’t planned at all. One day, while having breakfast, I mentioned to my husband about how I quite enjoyed driving in England and Scotland because of the motorways. I must admit to some immodesty when I say that I am actually a very good driver, whether it’s city driving or  motorway driving. My husband has stopped driving for a good ten years now after making a decision not to renew his driving license in the UK. Anyway, when I mentioned to him that I fancied driving to Lisbon instead of flying, he said nothing and showed no emotion, that being his typical British response.

The truth of the matter is, a week before that Lisbon decision, I was already checking the Internet for cheap hotels in Geneva. To my horror, even in the autumn, hotels were fully booked and very expensive! Sure, cheap flights abound and this is where Easyjet comes in. I then checked and there were flights selling for less than £30 per person. But when I began checking the flight dates to some cheaper hotels, the sad thing was that the cheap flight dates and hotel bookings didn’t coincide! Let’s say, a hotel was available for three days but the cheap flights allowed for five days before departure, or vice versa; hence, my dilemma. When I mentioned this to my husband, he seemed rather pleased! Why? We were in the UK for over a month and he was still recuperating from his holidays. Here I was making another journey, which to him was unacceptable. Still, I persevered.

Anyway, back to my Lisbon plans. Portugal is a country bordering Spain. I know Portugal well since back in the 80s; we’d go there by car, and Algarve would be the place to spend a nice holiday. In fact, going to Portugal was cheap in those days, aside from the fact that one can buy vintage wines from there cheaply. In one of our travels there, the car broke down and had to be towed all the way to Lisbon. I must admit to some trepidation when my husband and I got in that towing truck from the Algarve to Lisbon. The trek was dangerous for two reasons. In those days, Portugal wasn’t a member of the European Union, so their road network was very poor and decrepit. The lorry driver was nice but didn’t speak a word of English, so we had to make do with sign language for six hours! Still, when we got to Lisbon, we were pleasantly surprised at how vibrant the city was. 

Fast forward to 19th October this year…The drive to Portugal was seamless. There was no ferry to cross to get to the other side of the river. A bridge had been constructed to link Spain and Portugal soon after these two countries joined the EU—a very well built bridge planned for long-term use. It was a great feeling to be crossing into another country without borders, without customs, without the presence of police.

But, as one would expect, driving has its disadvantages, too, especially when your navigator, i.e., your passenger, leaves it too late to tell the driver which way to turn! Anyway, we got to Faro—the first step to Algarve (this is the equivalent of Spain’s Costa del Sol, a cluster of resort towns, where millions of European tourists flock each year). I missed my turning to main Faro and drove the backstreets and suburbs before reaching Faro proper, an ancient fishing town which is now prosperous. We looked for a hotel and found a familiar name. When I asked the reception if it was the same hotel on the old edifice, she said yes, but they had to demolish the old building since it was already crumbling. This was the same hotel we stayed 28 years ago and I had fond memories of it because of its ambience. One could smell ancient history! Anyway, we booked for two nights and quite enjoyed the Old Town, a sedentary, crumbling, cobbled area where one can enjoy sipping a nice hot cup of tea or coffee.

(To be continued)

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