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Enroute to Lisbon, Portugal |
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Day 17 of our tour. The distance from Gibraltar to Lisbon is about 425 miles--too far for a single day's trip. But, with an overnight stay in Badajoz, Spain, near the Portuguese border, the distance was split between two leisurely days of travel,
We had lunch in Seville, by now feeling very much "at home" in this wonderful Spanish city. Our luncheon stop was a lesson about the old adage that "Timing is everything." Only slightly more than a week or so earlier, we had spent a couple of nights in Seville. At that time there were relatively few tourists. The crowds were sparse. On this, our second time in Seville, the city was crowded with visitors. Throngs were everywhere, and there was scarcely a space to park our large tour bus! We doubt that opening of the bull-fighting season was the only reason. For persons who want to avoid crowds, early September seems to be the time to visit. By mid-September, the tourist volume seems to be substantially increased! After lunch we drove through countryside that had figured prominently in the prolonged War for Spanish Independence (1808-1814). This was terrain on which the Duke of Wellington had successfully engaged French forces in a struggle that eventually challenged the military supremacy of Napoleonic armies. We stopped for a relaxing coffee break at the Village of Zafra where there was an impressive paradora. This time we got to enjoy the hospitality and ambiance of a Spanish Paradora during daylight hours!
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That night, we stayed in Badajoz at the Hotel Zurbaran. We checked in early enough that Dot and I could take a leisurely late afternoon walk about the town. We didn't get lost (because we could SEE our hotel in the distance)--but we had a devil of a time getting back to it.
The hotel was on a bluff overlooking a park. The park was on a "sunken" level much lower than the hotel. Somehow we got into the park from a direction quite distant from the hotel, but we couldn't find a way UP to our lodgings. The hotel was right above us, but there appeared no way to get to it. Frustrating! We had to laugh at ourselves for being such klutzes.
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The next day, we completed our journey to Lisbon with a stop en route at a wonderful aqueduct near the city of Elvas, Portugal. The aqueduct had been constructed about 400 years ago. If memory serves correctly, we were told that it had actually been in use until about twenty years ago. It was an engineering marvel.
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Because both Spain and Portugal are members of the European Common Market, the border crossing involves none of the bureaucratic nonsense that ordinarily accompanies international travel. There's no immigration checkpoints, passport controls, customs inspections, or other tedious procedures. Our bus simply roared down the highway past the sign that announced the Portuguese border. It was no more difficult that traveling between Illinois and Wisconsin in the United States. That's how international travel should be!
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