有一年的復活節假期,我和朋友到葡萄牙南部旅遊。葡萄牙南部是歐洲有名的度假勝地,那裡風景秀麗,氣候宜人,有很多海灘,度假村和高球場,加上消費廉宜,所以很受英國等地的旅客歡迎。我們從倫敦飛往南部 Algarve 地區首府 Faro,在 Faro 機場租了一輛小房車。
葡萄牙南部公共交通不太方便,我們租了車便可以很自由自在地到處遊覽。飯店是在一個叫 Albufeira 的小鎮附近, 從機場開始一直都是用著自己帶去的汽車衛星導航儀去引路, 起初都沒有什麼問題。我們首天便從 Albufeira開車往西面走,到一個叫 Portimão 的沿海小城市, 在那裡吃海鮮,參觀博物館,到海灘走走,好不寫意。
由於當日玩得太累,次天我們決定只是到附近的 Albufeira 鎮裡面走走。Albufeira 有著很多葡萄牙典型的白色小屋, 那裡遊人很多,小屋都變成小商店和餐廳。過了漫長的冬天以後,四月份的倫敦還是天灰灰,所以當我們到了一個擁有一望無際藍天的地方, 就選擇了一間露天的餐廳, 邊欣賞當地美食, 邊感受一下久違的陽光。吃了漫長的午飯後,我們到海灘拍拍照和到小商店逛逛, 然後便取車回飯店。
一如過往,把導航儀設定好便開車。不久,我們駛到一個有四,五個出口的大迴旋處, 導航儀指示我用第二個出口。那時心裡想著,昨天在同一個迴旋處不是往第三個出口走的嗎?不過也應該信任導航儀吧。當時有叫坐在旁邊的朋友看清楚我是不是正確地跟著導航儀駕駛,她看了也說沒錯。那麼我們就跟著導航儀的指示,往第二個出口走。駛了一段路,越來越覺得不對勁, 因為路程應該不用二十分鐘, 但開了十來分鐘還沒有到飯店附近的小路。 駛過一段高架路後,我們到達了一條寬闊的公路, 在那裡看到一個很大的路牌,那一刻我們的心都沉掉,因為路牌上寫著 Lisbon 250km (里斯本 250公里)!! 那個該死的導航儀,竟想把我們帶到首都里斯本去!我們都給嚇壞了, 在公路上既不能停下來,亦不能掉頭走。正盤算著怎麼辦的時候,我們駛到一個收費亭。剛好收費亭裡有個會說英語的職員, 他很熱心地教我們回去 Albufeira 的方法。驚魂甫定,我們認為走舊的山路回去可靠些,把導航儀再設定以後便出發。
走呀走,過了一會,在山路上經過一個小鎮。可能那裡的政府把資源都用來建公路,舊山路都是日久失修,在駛過小鎮的一條橋時不慎駛過路上的一個大破洞,過了兩三分鐘後覺得輪胎好像有點不對勁, 便把車子停在一旁看過究竟。下車一看,右前方的輪胎真的破了一個洞,果然一波未平,一波又起。幸好那時候有一個老婆婆剛走過,她看到輪胎的狀況, 便跟我們說話。我們一點葡語都不懂,但意識到她在告訴我們她會找人來幫忙。過了一會兒,她帶著一個中年男子回來。原來他是附近一家修車場的老闆, 會說一點英語,他幫我們拿破了的輪胎到他的修車場看看能不能修補。又過了一會兒,他回來告訴我們, 輪胎破得厲害, 不能修補了,然後他幫忙把後備輪胎裝上。真是出路遇貴人,後備輪胎裝上後我們便繼續開車回飯店。
次天我們把車子開往 Albufeira 的租車公司的分店, 向職員把情形告知, 他們帶我們到當地賣輪胎的公司去找正確的輪胎來更換, 可是在復活節假期那些公司都關了門。結果在餘下的旅程,我們只能繼續用著後備輪胎。由於後備輪胎的最高時速限於每小時80公里, 而葡萄牙一般公路的時速為每小時110公里,往後幾天向 Loulé 等地進發時我們的車子就好像烏龜一樣慢慢地爬, 都不曉得給多少司機罵我們開得太慢!
葡萄牙南部公共交通不太方便,我們租了車便可以很自由自在地到處遊覽。飯店是在一個叫 Albufeira 的小鎮附近, 從機場開始一直都是用著自己帶去的汽車衛星導航儀去引路, 起初都沒有什麼問題。我們首天便從 Albufeira開車往西面走,到一個叫 Portimão 的沿海小城市, 在那裡吃海鮮,參觀博物館,到海灘走走,好不寫意。
由於當日玩得太累,次天我們決定只是到附近的 Albufeira 鎮裡面走走。Albufeira 有著很多葡萄牙典型的白色小屋, 那裡遊人很多,小屋都變成小商店和餐廳。過了漫長的冬天以後,四月份的倫敦還是天灰灰,所以當我們到了一個擁有一望無際藍天的地方, 就選擇了一間露天的餐廳, 邊欣賞當地美食, 邊感受一下久違的陽光。吃了漫長的午飯後,我們到海灘拍拍照和到小商店逛逛, 然後便取車回飯店。
一如過往,把導航儀設定好便開車。不久,我們駛到一個有四,五個出口的大迴旋處, 導航儀指示我用第二個出口。那時心裡想著,昨天在同一個迴旋處不是往第三個出口走的嗎?不過也應該信任導航儀吧。當時有叫坐在旁邊的朋友看清楚我是不是正確地跟著導航儀駕駛,她看了也說沒錯。那麼我們就跟著導航儀的指示,往第二個出口走。駛了一段路,越來越覺得不對勁, 因為路程應該不用二十分鐘, 但開了十來分鐘還沒有到飯店附近的小路。 駛過一段高架路後,我們到達了一條寬闊的公路, 在那裡看到一個很大的路牌,那一刻我們的心都沉掉,因為路牌上寫著 Lisbon 250km (里斯本 250公里)!! 那個該死的導航儀,竟想把我們帶到首都里斯本去!我們都給嚇壞了, 在公路上既不能停下來,亦不能掉頭走。正盤算著怎麼辦的時候,我們駛到一個收費亭。剛好收費亭裡有個會說英語的職員, 他很熱心地教我們回去 Albufeira 的方法。驚魂甫定,我們認為走舊的山路回去可靠些,把導航儀再設定以後便出發。
走呀走,過了一會,在山路上經過一個小鎮。可能那裡的政府把資源都用來建公路,舊山路都是日久失修,在駛過小鎮的一條橋時不慎駛過路上的一個大破洞,過了兩三分鐘後覺得輪胎好像有點不對勁, 便把車子停在一旁看過究竟。下車一看,右前方的輪胎真的破了一個洞,果然一波未平,一波又起。幸好那時候有一個老婆婆剛走過,她看到輪胎的狀況, 便跟我們說話。我們一點葡語都不懂,但意識到她在告訴我們她會找人來幫忙。過了一會兒,她帶著一個中年男子回來。原來他是附近一家修車場的老闆, 會說一點英語,他幫我們拿破了的輪胎到他的修車場看看能不能修補。又過了一會兒,他回來告訴我們, 輪胎破得厲害, 不能修補了,然後他幫忙把後備輪胎裝上。真是出路遇貴人,後備輪胎裝上後我們便繼續開車回飯店。
次天我們把車子開往 Albufeira 的租車公司的分店, 向職員把情形告知, 他們帶我們到當地賣輪胎的公司去找正確的輪胎來更換, 可是在復活節假期那些公司都關了門。結果在餘下的旅程,我們只能繼續用著後備輪胎。由於後備輪胎的最高時速限於每小時80公里, 而葡萄牙一般公路的時速為每小時110公里,往後幾天向 Loulé 等地進發時我們的車子就好像烏龜一樣慢慢地爬, 都不曉得給多少司機罵我們開得太慢!
A few years back, my friend and I visited the Algarve in Portugal over Easter break. It is a popular spot for British and other Europeans as there is a seemingly endless coastline with many pristine beaches and the sun shines most of the year.
Public transport is not great in the south of Portugal, so as soon as we touched down in Faro airport, we rented a small sedan for our trip. I installed my own sat nav and things were all fine, so we were off to our hotel near Albufeira, just under an hour drive away. After checking into the hotel, we drove further west to a small city called Portimão where we enjoyed some local seafood and walked along the promenade.
We were rather tired on the first day as we had to wake up very early that morning for the 7am flight, so we decided to take it easy on the second day and would just hop into town in Albufeira. It’s a typical little town along the coast in that part of the country, and as there are many hotels and resorts nearby, it’s become a tourist town with lots of restaurants and shops selling souvenirs. As we had been so starved of sunshine for many winter months in London, although yet it was not warm enough to swim yet, we still took the opportunity to soak up some sun by having a long lazy lunch in an alfresco restaurant overlooking the beach. After lunch we walked along the beach and visited some of the shops before we decided to head back to hotel.
Not long after we left the car park, we reached a rather large roundabout with four or five exits. My sav nat indicated that I should take the second exit but I thought we took the third exit on the previous day. I quickly asked my friend to double check the sat nav and she said I was right to take the second as the sat nav suggested. After taking that exit I just felt something was not right, but we carried on. We passed some flyovers, then ended up being on a highway. Our hearts sank when we saw the big road sign “Lisbon 250km”! How on earth did the sat nav decide that we were going to Lisbon, not our hotel near Albufeira? We panicked but there was nothing we could do except keep driving, and hoping there would be an exit somewhere.
Soon after, there was a tollgate, and fortunately the man who works there told us there was an exit soon after the tollgates and we could take the opposite way back to Albufeira. Fearing the sat nav would play up once more, we decided that we would take the old roads rather than the shiny new highway. Off we went after we reset the sat nav route.
The old roads certainly took longer than the highway as it meanders up and down several villages. The road had definitely seen better days, and while we were crossing a bridge in a village, we drove onto a particularly nasty pothole. Immediately I knew I had done some damage to the tyre, I just did not know how badly so. After several minutes I could feel one tyre was going flat, so I stopped on the side of the road. Upon inspection, it was quite clear that the front right tyre was punctured when passing that nasty pothole. When we fretted what to do (as neither of us could change a tyre to save our lives), an old lady walked by and saw the situation. She said something to us, although we spoke not a word of Portuguese, we figured that she probably tried to tell us she would get someone to help us. So we just quietly waited, and she returned in about five minutes with a middle-aged man. Turned out the man is the owner of a car repair garage just across the road! The man removed the punctured tyre and took it to his garage to see whether it could be repaired. After another 15 minutes he returned saying the tear was too severe, so he helped us changed to the spare tyre. After thanking him we made our way back to the hotel as we really needed some rest after all this drama! The supposed 20 minutes trip from Albufeira to the hotel turned out to be well over two hours.
The next day we visited the car rental company’s nearest office in Albufeira and explained our situation. The staff there were kind enough to drive us to tyre shops to see if we could get it replaced, as it was definitely a cheaper solution than having to pay a penalty when we returned the car. However, as it was Easter holidays all the tyre shops were closed. So for the rest of the trip we had to drive around with the spare tyre, which has a maximum speed limit of 80km/h. It was so embarrassing driving on the highway as most has a speed limit of 110km/h (although most drivers were doing about 130km/h), we could only crawl at a snail speed compared to everyone else. We definitely got a few “you Asians can’t drive” look!
Public transport is not great in the south of Portugal, so as soon as we touched down in Faro airport, we rented a small sedan for our trip. I installed my own sat nav and things were all fine, so we were off to our hotel near Albufeira, just under an hour drive away. After checking into the hotel, we drove further west to a small city called Portimão where we enjoyed some local seafood and walked along the promenade.
We were rather tired on the first day as we had to wake up very early that morning for the 7am flight, so we decided to take it easy on the second day and would just hop into town in Albufeira. It’s a typical little town along the coast in that part of the country, and as there are many hotels and resorts nearby, it’s become a tourist town with lots of restaurants and shops selling souvenirs. As we had been so starved of sunshine for many winter months in London, although yet it was not warm enough to swim yet, we still took the opportunity to soak up some sun by having a long lazy lunch in an alfresco restaurant overlooking the beach. After lunch we walked along the beach and visited some of the shops before we decided to head back to hotel.
Not long after we left the car park, we reached a rather large roundabout with four or five exits. My sav nat indicated that I should take the second exit but I thought we took the third exit on the previous day. I quickly asked my friend to double check the sat nav and she said I was right to take the second as the sat nav suggested. After taking that exit I just felt something was not right, but we carried on. We passed some flyovers, then ended up being on a highway. Our hearts sank when we saw the big road sign “Lisbon 250km”! How on earth did the sat nav decide that we were going to Lisbon, not our hotel near Albufeira? We panicked but there was nothing we could do except keep driving, and hoping there would be an exit somewhere.
Soon after, there was a tollgate, and fortunately the man who works there told us there was an exit soon after the tollgates and we could take the opposite way back to Albufeira. Fearing the sat nav would play up once more, we decided that we would take the old roads rather than the shiny new highway. Off we went after we reset the sat nav route.
The old roads certainly took longer than the highway as it meanders up and down several villages. The road had definitely seen better days, and while we were crossing a bridge in a village, we drove onto a particularly nasty pothole. Immediately I knew I had done some damage to the tyre, I just did not know how badly so. After several minutes I could feel one tyre was going flat, so I stopped on the side of the road. Upon inspection, it was quite clear that the front right tyre was punctured when passing that nasty pothole. When we fretted what to do (as neither of us could change a tyre to save our lives), an old lady walked by and saw the situation. She said something to us, although we spoke not a word of Portuguese, we figured that she probably tried to tell us she would get someone to help us. So we just quietly waited, and she returned in about five minutes with a middle-aged man. Turned out the man is the owner of a car repair garage just across the road! The man removed the punctured tyre and took it to his garage to see whether it could be repaired. After another 15 minutes he returned saying the tear was too severe, so he helped us changed to the spare tyre. After thanking him we made our way back to the hotel as we really needed some rest after all this drama! The supposed 20 minutes trip from Albufeira to the hotel turned out to be well over two hours.
The next day we visited the car rental company’s nearest office in Albufeira and explained our situation. The staff there were kind enough to drive us to tyre shops to see if we could get it replaced, as it was definitely a cheaper solution than having to pay a penalty when we returned the car. However, as it was Easter holidays all the tyre shops were closed. So for the rest of the trip we had to drive around with the spare tyre, which has a maximum speed limit of 80km/h. It was so embarrassing driving on the highway as most has a speed limit of 110km/h (although most drivers were doing about 130km/h), we could only crawl at a snail speed compared to everyone else. We definitely got a few “you Asians can’t drive” look!