Wednesday September 24, 2014

An interesting day today.  We were a little slow to get moving but managed to get to the train station with 10 minutes to spare for the train that was going to Entroncamento – the hub for trains to Lisbon.

I went in to the ticket office to ask if we could get a train to Spain – the answer NO.  Can I get a train to Spain from Lisbon? – NO.  Can I get a train to Castelo Branco? – (this is the closest town to the Portuguese border) \”YES,  get on the train now to Entroncamento, pay on the train\”.  We rushed to get our bikes on the train that was leaving in 2 minutes.  We were told that it is difficult to get bikes on Portuguese trains.  Bikes are allowed on regional trains and there is a special area for the bikes. I think what they meant is that it is difficult to lift your loaded touring bikes onto trains in Portugal.

When we arrived in Entroncamento, we discovered that we had a five hour wait for the next regional train to Castelo Branco and we would be arriving in Castelo Branco at 8:00 pm.

As we came into the station at Entroncamento, Ralf spotted what looked like a train museum.  Ralf went to investigate the train museum.  It was being worked on and should open to the public in December.  Ralf had a wander around anyway as the gate was open.

I had noticed a tourist information office and went to see if they could find us accommodation in Castelo Branco  He gave me the name of a hostel, but couldn’t find the phone number, so we could not make a reservation.

When we arrived in Castelo I asked a taxi driver for directions – we followed them as best we could, but after a couple of turns I had to go into a bar and ask again.  The young people in the bar were really helpful and directed us to the coffee shop across the road. The owner of the coffee shop also owned a hostel, which was only 100 metres down the road.  We stayed in a lovely hostel, which was more like a B&B, except we could use the kitchen to cook our dinner.

Tomorrow we are leaving Portugal.