W e’re in no hurry today. Our checkout is at 11:00 and we have to be at the Lisbon Orienté bus station at 16:30 for our 16:45 bus to Porto Covo. Considering the airport is about an hour and a half from where we are and it’s a 10-minute metro ride to the station, we have to fit less than two hours of travel and a brunch in a 7 and a half hour window. We were confident we could manage it.
Our day began at 📍Do Largo for brunch. After our third meal there we can confirm that they are still horrible at coffee but excellent at food. We took our time and enjoyed our last meal in Évora. We’re unlikely to return unless we want to go back to 📍Tua Madre.
After brunch we made our way to the Lisbon airport to drop off the rental car. Getting to the BP gas station was easy enough even in what gets to be fairly heavy traffic as we pulled in. Getting to the car return from there can only be described as next level European trafic. From gas station to the return lot it’s essentially a series of three or four lanes roundabouts where you almost have to do a full U-turn each time, one after another, before driving through the very crowded car and taxi pickup lanes in front of Terminal 1 before having to cross three lanes in front of the departing traffic to slip into the rental return entrance. From there, it got easy, we only had to queue in the car for a while before making it to the return booth. My theory for making it such a convoluted drive is that the rental company asked the airport designers to make the drive-in as road rage inducing as possible to increase the opportunity to charge for car damage when you finally manage to return the car. That or reducing their customers’ will to debate any extra charge they would want to levy on them. Either way, it’s an experience we’ll get to repeat when we come back from exploring the south of the country.
From the airport we took the metro to 📍Lisbon Oriente (a grand total of three stations from the airport) and then the twenty-minute trek too the closest specialty coffee shop that looked like they cared about coffee and not just tag it in their name (that seems to be a recurring pattern in Lisbon. Something to investigate when we’re back in the city). We sat at 📍Sense of Coffee for an hour and a half enjoying delicious coffee and a light snack. I would not trek back there unless I was already in the area bu, it was well worth the twenty-minute walk this time around.
The bus station is huge but well organized. Finding our platform was easy enough. Our bus departed mostly on time (we departed about 5 minutes late) but we arrived almost 20 minutes late. With a less than half-full bus and no traffic to speak of we still arrived late. Makes me wonder how it goes when the bus is full and picks up and drops off people at every stop. The trip wasn’t uncomfortable, nor was it very comfortable. At 1,9 meters I barely fit in a bus seat without having my knee provide extra lumbar support to the person sat ahead of my seat. Your experience may vary.
Once we arrived in Porto Covo we went straight to our hostel (📍Mute Hostel) for check-in. Getting back to a hostel feels a little weird. It’s been a long while since we’ve given up the hostel life with shared bathroom and dorms. Our standards haven’t changed and that particular hostel offers private rooms with their own private bathroom. Nothing big but all of the essentials. Uppon arrival we were told the online check-in Karine had completed didn’t work and that the AC isn’t working either. Considering the AC is one of our key requirements for any place we stay, we were quite bummed out. The friendly receptionist telling a pair of Canadians that the nights are cold around here didn’t help. 22°C and humid is not a cold night. The desktop fan they provided to “keep us cool” is not going to make a huge difference.
Hopping to still manage a good night sleep, we unpacked, and headed out for dinner. 📍Lamelas is Michelin recommended and the delicious meal they served us really helped reconcile us with the guide. We’re not back at blindly following recommendations since the Day 10 debacle but the small plates full of deliciousness from Lamelas’ tasting menu was a step in the right direction.
Tomorrow we’re heading out for day one of four on the trail. It’ll be earlier mornings for us until we’re done with the trail. Good thing we were able to recharge since we left Pinhão.