Yippee, time to pick up the bikes…

  Lisbon, Estremadura, Portugal
Monday, June 15, 2009

We called the airport around 9 am and kept getting no answer. Could it be that these people don't work until noon?  Nervousness was setting in again.  Then we called the hotel operator who gave us another number, that led to another number and after the typical five phone number run-around we finally got the cargo place where the bikes were.  They had arrived safe and sound.

We took a cab to the cargo terminal and again were amazed at how courteous these Portuguese are.  He got lost as there were two cargo terminals, old and new, but he took the time to get out and ask directions from a few people before getting us to the right spot.  Nice guy.

We got to the right office and hanger to pick up the paperwork from the shipper.  He had spent 14 years in Toronto and his daughter, who also worked at the shipping office, was born at Mount Sinai in Toronto.  Again, we got the very friendly and special service that we would come to experience almost everywhere we went.  We only had a 500 Euro bill, which they couldn’t make change for, so they didn’t bother to charge us the 40 Euros there.  They were very surprised that we only had 500s and suggested we go to a bank and change them quick as nobody carried bills that big.

There were numerous trips between buildings to get our paperwork straightened out.   Luckily, the shippers, transport office and customs were all within two buildings surrounding the hangar where our bikes were.  The bikes were very well strapped in, and although Connie’s fairing suffered some scratches on one side (sadly not the same side as her self inflicted scratches) they were mechanically in good shape and my bike had no scratches at all.

Our first ride was a challenge as the GPS kept telling us to turn left at intersections but the signs said no lefts, so we ended up taking numerous rights until we got turned around.  We finally made it back to the hotel to dump the gear, go to bank to get rid of those 500 Euro bills and grab a quick bite at a street side cafe.   Connie noticed that everyone loves their coffee and cigarettes.  Seemed like there are constantly people sitting down, having a coffee and a couple of cigarettes before getting on with their day, no matter what time of day it is.

We jumped back on the bikes and headed out to Belem to see some sights and eat some pastries (Paul R’s recommendation).  What a first exposure to riding in Portugal.  People are nuts and the roads are crap.  We got passed in a 50 while doing 120 by a moped all while being tailgated by a Smart car.  Then everyone would slam on the brakes to get down to 50 for the speed cameras.  We kept seeing the same sights over and over because we couldn’t get off the damn main road.  We just kept making right after right.  Finally we found a way to make it across the main road onto a road that paralleled the sea shore.  Damn roads were brutal, a combination of bad cobble stone and even worse pavement.

We saw some magnificent sights along the waterfront.  The Tower of Belem where the ships back in the 1500’s were launched as well as the monument to Columbus were amazing.  Thanks Paul!  We then had a drink and an ice cream and headed over to the Patisserie de Belem for some sweets.  Thanks again Paul!  I just hope I can get these leathers on tomorrow.

After that, the heavy rain clouds which had been circling us for a few hours started to close in, so we headed back to the hotel and then took the Metro downtown for supper.  The city very was very cool at night, with lot’s to see including the Castle overlooking Lisbon, the lift and many well lit monuments.  We walked around the shopping and restaurant district and had supper at a neat restaurant.  Dinner for two was enough to feed 4 and we left with bellies much too full.  Back to the room we went to pack for our departure tomorrow.