Sept 19 and 20 - Tomar, Fatima, Oporto



Fatima/L Herlevi

All roads lead to Fatima. I wasn't sure what I would do when I woke up this morning.  Finally found the right window for a bus out of Tomar, but there is no direct way to Porto, I have to go to Fatima, seems I am being chased there one way or another.  Wander around trying to get into the churches and the old Synagogue, but they remain closed, and I remember it's Monday. 

Side of Olival Church/L Herlevi

Find an internet place across the river, near the Olival church.  I have to sign up, but am able to contact the hostel in Porto that I am going to be late. Am unable to access this account (which is why this is post trip) or any of my other accounts, save one, because my passwords are "strong" and I can't figure out how to input them on these keyboards.  When I get up to pay, the people at the front tell me it's free. Cool.

Walking back to the bus depot in Fatima,  I get really lost (this is a theme).  I end up on the outskirts of town. I go into a shop and ask for directions, but my Portuguese is really rudimentary, I don't understand.  I walk further along and sit on a bench and cry, it's hot, I'm lost and I'm carrying all of my crap with me.  I give in and retrace my steps.  See a sign for a museum that looks familiar and retrace even more to the bus stop.  I sit there for a couple of hours while I wait for the next bus to Porto.  There's nothing to do, but I don't want to get lost again and miss the bus.

Convento de Carmen/L Herlevi

It's past dusk when I arrive in Porto. The bus lets us out in a dingy garage, it's possible that it was a different entrance to Sao Bento station, but my directions make no sense when I get out to the street.  Once again I wander thinking I will find it (?) as if by some magical sense of direction in a city I've never been in before. I do not, but I walk up to a hill that I think might be the main Catedral. (It is, but I don't figure that out tonight.) Luckily, I run into a young couple, also tourists, who speak English, they don't know where we are either, but they have a map, and point me to the train station, where my written directions start from.  The directions had said the main tower landmark...there are a LOT of towers in Porto, and a lot of hills.  I make my way in the right direction, but still can't find the hostel, now it is dark out.  I must be looking lost because a man in a car drives up, rolls down the window and asks if I am looking for the Poet's Hostel, which I am, and points it out to me...I was walking down the wrong alley.  Inexpicably, I am bunked up with 4 teenage boys, who are nice, but I have to wade through their underwear to get in and out of the room.