| 24-May-2008 | 

We took a quick side trip at Conimbriga to check out some Roman ruins, then it was on to Lisbon. Despite four days in the city at the start of the week, we managed to make numerous wrong turns down poorly marked streets in attempt to locate tonight’s accommodation.

Finally, we found our destination, left the keys with the hotel to park our car in their underground car park (accessible via a car elevator!) and called it a day. A quick walk to the familiar El Corte Inglés to pick up some food and wine, and we’re tucked away in our room packing for our return home. Not much extra coming home with us . . . as usual; well, except for about 900 pictures.

Vila do Conde on the Atlantic coast, about 25km north of Porto. Storms have been coming in off the ocean for three days giving us the awful weather we’ve been experiencing.

Roman ruins at Conimbriga – the best-preserved Roman ruins on the Iberian peninsula. The site dates back to the Celtic times but the Romans settled the site in the 1st century AD on the trade route between modern day Lisbon and Braga. A very cool site with well preserved aqueduct structure and a lot of decorative, inlaid tile work. Definitely worth the random visit.

The A1 motorway south between Porto and Lisbon at about noon on a Saturday. The 19.20€ ($31 from Porto to Lisbon, about 315km) ) in tolls might have something to do with the lack of traffic on the motorway. The upside: the 120km/hr speed limit seems to be more of a “guideline” than an actual rule.

BTW, getting the car OUT of the car elevator the following morning was an adventure. The valets were busy even though we’d made an appointment the night before to have our car brought up, so Jeff and I had to navigate a tiny car, in a packed underground parking lot, around 90 degree turns into a car elevator. Bad business. Shockingly, no cars were harmed. Nerves however, not so fortunate.