I missed an amazing thunderstorm last night. Sally reported to me that there was torrential rain and at least 20 lightning flashes along with the accompanying thunder. I slept through it all. Bummer. I love a great thunderstorm.
This was a sleep in day. Our goal is to get the town we left yesterday, Sagres, via bus. We are in no hurry, so we slept in, cooked breakfast, slowly packed and checked out of the hostel about 11:00am. Our bus doesn’t leave until 12:30pm, so we were planning a slow walk through tour of the downtown part of Lagos, including a stop at the India Grocery store we were at yesterday: they have actual Pepsi. With Pepsi in hand we began a slow walk back through town. I was lamenting the Toledo bond loss to Sally as we walk down the cobblestone street when a man interrupted us, speaking perfect American English. We soon learned that he (Joe) is an expat from Steilacoom, living the past two years in Lagos. He walked with us the next 40 minutes, telling us about living in Lagos, the Tour de Portugal bike tour coming through town today and the teacher’s strike that was staging a protest and March in town.
As we walked through the main public square we could hear chanting and singing back by loud music and found the teachers marching, blowing whistles and carrying signs protesting their meager wages. Sally joined in at end of the line for a few steps to show solidarity with their plight. I filmed it. Joe walked to the bus station chatting with us the whole way. After he left for home Sally and I found a park bench down the way a block or two and had a Pepsi. I tried to write a statement to put in the comments on Facebook, but everything I wrote came out angry and divisive. I didn’t post anything. Sally checked out a few shops, then we went back the station and caught our bus.
Yesterday when we rode the bus to Lagos we were on the milk run and stopped in every little town. This time we were on a straighter shot thru and only made a few stops. We rode the bus to the end of the line in Sagres. This meant we had to walk back through the entire town to get to our apartment for the night. This was great, as we got an overview of the town. One of the first businesses we passed was a Donar Kabab restaurant. We had been looking for one that was open since we arrived in Portugal, but all have been closed due to the off season. We stopped in for a mid afternoon dinner. Delicious!!
We continued up the street. The weather was very breezy and overcast. We made our way to the end of town, turned right and entered the office of Tonel Apartments. The desk clerk got us registered and took us to our room.
We chilled for about an hour. We tried to buy our bus tickets from Lagos to Lisbon on line, but the site requires a number that only citizens of Portugal have, so we concluded we had to go to a bus station or kiosk to purchase them.
We walk about a mile to the large chain store InterMarche. They have a manned customer service station and was able to sell us tickets. One catch, on line, if we could have bought them they were as low as €7.99 a ticket. At the store, they were €18.99 each. We were happy to get them.
Back at the apartment we watched the news for the first time in weeks, relaxed and had butternut squash for dinner. I suppose I could have put together my pack for tomorrow’s hike, but I felt lazy and knew I could do it in the morning.
Entry hall of our hostel
Our room
The kitchen
Sally outside the hostel door
Protesting teachers in downtown Lagos
Sagres harbor
Gotta Love a Doner Kabab
In late October migrating birds fill the skies here. The artwork on this wall illustrates some of the species.
Our apartment in Sagres
The inside
No comments:
Post a Comment