The Story Continues...

So I got us to where we were leaving Lisbon and went to get the car. This was the hiccup part of the trip really. Now, I drive- but to be fair, I have not driven in three years. Not an inch since moving to the UK, not even when I go home. So while I can drive I would suggest that my driving skills are a little rusty. SH drives, and even owns a car, but SH does not know how to drive anything other than an automatic. So somehow we decided that we would get an automatic and SH would do all the driving. In principle, this was not a bad plan.

In actuality however, it just came down to it that SH got very stressed driving on unknown roads in a foreign country. And so at this point, tension began building. We left Lisbon late in the day and headed off into the unknown.

Originally we had planned on stopping in the town of Tomar on the way to the hotel, but since we left Lisbon so late, there really wasn't time to stop. We plowed on to Lousa, lights dimming, roads winding, signposts non-existent. To me, this would have been a great adventure, but SH was clearly stressed by the experience. However, with only a three minute backtrack, we made it no problem, and arrived at the most amazing hotel. I mean, so amazing, I would go back, even though it's sort of in the middle of nowhere. We had a lovely dinner and went to bed.

The next day SH wanted to go back to Tomar which was an hours backtrack. I said that if it was going to be stressful, not to do it. But SH was adamant she wanted to go to Tomar so in the car we got and proceeded to get a bit lost, this time spending an extra hour on the roads, by which time SH was in a pretty foul mood. Luckily, Tomar was pretty and interesting and fun, except for the nasty sandwich SH got by mistake.

I need to explain the true horror of this sandwich and sadly, we didn't take a picture of it, so it is only burned in our respective memories. But SH ordered a 'steak sandwich with chips'. Now, that doesn't seem like a dangerous thing to order does it? But when she got it, the first indication something may be wrong, was that it came in a bowl. In the bowl was one piece of white bread, upon which some steak-like meat had been placed, on top of which some ham of some sort had been placed which was glued together with an unidentifiable cheese. Another slice of white bread was pressed on top, with a fried egg to finish the stack. Now, so far, not so bad perhaps, but I hear you asking yourself, why does this require a bowl? Well, this entire sandwich was then drowned in a bowl of quivering gelatinous reddish-brown colored thick 'gravy'. In fact, only the top slice of bread was remotely visible (and the egg of course). The rest was only discovered upon dissection of the soggy mess.

Anyway, Tomar was good and then we drove back to Lousa, the right way this time- so it was only half the time. Of course we got stuck in a traffic jam due to a fatal accident that happened up ahead of us. Finally getting back to the hotel, we hit the town for dinner, then called it a night and went to bed.

This was the only glitch in the trip. See, I snore. Everyone who knows me knows that, SH being no exception. And she brought earplugs just to compensate for it. So imagine my surprise when I was awoke for the first time in the night by a rather evil and nasty "Stop it K!". I was somewhat taken aback but was only half awake, so I rolled over and settled back into sleep. Then, I was woken again a second time, a third, a fourth, and then the ever popular fifth, "GOD DAMNIT!!!!". Now, I don't know about you, but I don't really enjoy being woken up by being yelled at. It made me rather tense and miserable and at around five, my sleep for the night ended as I was too keyed up. I don't care if you are having trouble sleeping, but don't take it out on me for something I can't control, and there are certainly nicer ways to wake someone up!

In the morning there was just stony silence that culminated in a full on argument at breakfast where SH insisted she was going to call RyanAir and United and get her flights switched so she could go back to the states. Well, two can play that game, I was like, 'Fine, if you're leaving, I will leave you here with the car and get on the train and continue my vacation on my own.'. After many harsh words and expletives and moving the argument from the breakfast room back to the regular room, I left her there to catch a couple hours sleep while I went to look at this castle just outside of the town. And also vent on the phone to tlsd, because I was so honked off, I had to talk to someone, and she seemed just the right person to do so with(thank goodness she had her phone handy!!).

By the time I got back to the room, SH was subdued, though still stony silent, and we got in the car to head to Conimbriga and then onto Porto. A little bit of a car adventure to begin with, she was actually much more pleasant to drive with when she was being stony silent as opposed to being tense and snappish. By the time we got to Conimbriga, things seemed mostly well and conversation was creeping back to flowing, and by the time we couldn't get the car started in the parking lot to leave, it all seemed back on pace. We did get the car started and made it to Porto with generally no problems aside from a really nasty pork sandwich I had along the way that almost made me vomit when I gagged on a crunchy cartilage piece. Mmmmmmmmmmm.
The calming and quiet presence of the hermitage and castle at Lousa.