Trip to Portugal

“Buy the ticket take the ride” – Hunter S. Thompson

First observation, a bottle of wine to force a good night’s sleep does wonders for jet lag. Second observation, Google translator is truly a godsend. Wonderful for asking precise questions and getting precise answers and theSpaniards seem to appreciate me not torturing their language.  My first impression of rural Spain is “Wow, if I didn’t know better I would think I was in West Texas” flat broad plains, short trees gently rolling topography. 

 As I warned you Ansel Adams I am not but the lights were on in the train car and the glare was horrible. Then the area started to look like E TN/ SE KY/ SW VA
I got off the train at Guillarei and had a short cab ride (9 Euros) to Portugal. This route is not in any of the guides or forums that I researched. I found it using the RENFE (Spanish national railway) web site when looking at trains from Madrid. It cut 7 hours of the recommended route.
Anyway things were fine the cab driver didn’t speak any English but talked all the way through the town of Tui, Spain pointing out various sites. I picked up about a third of what he said but nodded my head appreciatively just the same. Saying “si” or “entiendo” (I understand) whenever I felt it seemed to be appropriate. Lol

Then, for some reason which I’ve still yet to fathom, Portugal was mad at Spain today and had border checkpoints set up (I just found out the Pope is in Fatima this weekend, makes sense now). It was weird the Spanish are celebrating something today with music and fireworks and the Portuguese were manning checkpoints and has traffic all balled up as shown below:

 In the distance the traffic is jammed on the bridge. For some reason initially they were not going to let me in, even with my passport, but two soldiers later, and a discussion of her trip to Washington DC, I was finally allowed to enter the country. The I got to my hotel Casa do Poco and was rewarded with this view:
 In the photo above, the stone structure in center of the shot is the cathedral of Santa Maria, my first stop tomorrow.
Valenca is a fortress town with some interesting architectur and a couple of churches dating back to the 15th century with one church which tolls the time on the half hour. Enjoy

 A final note before the trek starts in earnest tomorrow, my friend passed on yesterday. If you think of it mention him and his family in any prayers or contemplations that one might have with a higher power, this was not something anyone was expecting. Thanks