Around The World – Sagres, Portugal
My goal on this leg of the trip is to travel to a small fishing village at the south-western tip of Portugal to find a woman I’ve never seen before.
I woke up in Lisbon at the unholy hour of 6:30 AM to get ready, pack and head out to the train station. The couple in the next room were up and making an early start to the day too, if you know what I mean. Rolled my bag, downhill thankfully for the last time, to the metro station then to the Oriente train station. Very nice train, has a power plug and … Wifi! This is great because my works-anywhere-SIM-card stopped working. Ugh.
I see a security alert from Citibank on my account. It must have been triggered by me buying a ferry ticket from Morocco to Italy last night. Maybe they think I’m a refugee. I tried to call Citibank with my MagicJack app but the train’s network connection wasn’t stable enough. Will have to try again when I get to Sagres.
I changed trains in Tunes. Strangely quiet and warm sunshine at the station, I guess I was hoping for some music from the station loudspeakers to support its namesake. This train is *old* and covered with years of dirt on the outside. I did find a seat with a table but of course no power, the coach was probably made before electricity was invented. It’s only an hour to Lagos where I then need to find the bus to Sagres. We’re stopping at a little town every 5 minutes.
In Lagos I walk through the marina area to the close-by bus station. The bus to Sagres leaves in about 15 minutes, perfect. It’s about an hour to go 20 miles due to all of the stops in the little towns on the way. We roll into Sagres and I’m on the outlook for the post office, as directed by my Airbnb host. The directions were a little hazy as they don’t appear to have street numbers here. We pulled into the bus stop and I found the Airbnb about 100m down the road, sweet! Unfortunately I’m struck by the Sunday curse, the pet food shop that’s holding my key is closed from 1PM to 3PM. Guess what time it is? I walk across to an open restaurant and ask the waiter to call the Airbnb lady whose number is posted on the door. She comes right out and shows me upstairs to my room. It’s big and beautiful with a soft bed and a big bathroom with shower stall. Ah, luxury.
After a rest I go back to the restaurant and order broiled shrimp in garlic butter, salad and fries. The shells were difficult to get off. Now anybody who knows me knows I don’t like to get my hands dirty while eating, hence the forks for corn on the cob. For shrimp, I peel them with a knife and fork like a surgeon. I have developed a highly efficient process. It takes a while but it gets the job done.
I walk down to the fishing port and am amazed at the clear, clear water. We’re right on the Atlantic ocean at the southern tip of Portgual and I can see fish swimming probably 10 meters down to the bottom. Cheeky fish, swimming around in a fishing port! I spotted a fishing ship pull in, maybe 30m long, and start offloading so I walked over. They had already sorted each ocean-thing into shallow plastic bins and covered with shaved ice. I saw over a dozen kinds of fish, octopus, squid and large conch-looking shells. I met a British man who retired to Lagos about 30 years ago, he said there’s a fish auction here tomorrow at 3 PM so I’ll be back. That sounds like something I’m not likely to see again.
I decided to do a walking loop of the main triangle-shaped streets of the town in search of the mystery lady. OK, here’s the story. My wife Allie lived in this town for about a year in 1988 and stayed at a pension (guesthouse) run by a woman called Vittoria. I would like to find her and ask her if she remembers Allie and tell her about her passing. Allie really grew close to Vittoria in that time and if I can find her, it will be bittersweet but I feel like I need to provide some closure. That’s all I know. Vittoria in Sagres. It’s a bit thin on facts but it’s a small town, the kind of place where everybody knows everybody. So I’ll give it my best shot.
Walking along the coast I spotted a large wall enclosing a fort, unsurprisingly called Fortaleza de Sagres. For 3 euros I went inside and saw what little is left of the original structures. They recently uncovered the large circular area shown in the pictures with radiating lines of small rocks, this was apparently used to teach navigation to new sailors by Henry The Navigator himself.
Continuing around town, I stopped in at an artist shop and asked the older lady if she knew of a Vittoria who had a pension back in 1988. The artist pointed back up the way I had come, turn left at the hot bread store… I’ll go out tomorrow morning and see if I can find her.
At the end of my loop I found an open minimarket called Spar, these are all over Europe and I was very thankful to have it on a Sunday night. Bought some snacks and fruit.
Woke up the next morning and emailed Allie’s sister Terry to see if she remembers Vittoria’s last name or the location of the guesthouse. Terry must have found it in an address book as she provided Vittoria’s full name and the street name, which is right about the same area the artist told me about.
At 3 PM I walked down to the fish auction. It’s more sedate than the auctions you’re used to seeing. I get the idea that prices are generally pre-agreed and the bidder just holds up a hand when they want to claim a particular bin. A drank a nice cold beer while I watched the bins of fishes go by.
I then walked over to Vittoria’s street and with the help of a couple of neighbours, I found Vittoria’s house. I rang the bell and her husband Antonio answered the door. I quickly discover Antonio speaks no English or Spanish and seems pretty much blind. I have no Internet connection to use Google Translate, so we stumble around a bit until he rings Vittoria on his phone. She comes home 5 minutes later and with hand signals I get hooked up to their Wifi. I use Google Translate to explain who I am and ask if she remembers Allie and she does, after all these years! I explain Allie’s passing and she walked over and gave me a big hug. Such a sweet lady. I told her this is one of the most important stops on my trip, just to meet her and Antonio. I took a couple of pictures, I don’t think Antonio knows what I’m doing in the second picture, I figure he’s not much of a selfie guy.
I try to have dinner at an Italian restaurant but despite the Open sign (in Portugese), they’re closed… I find a small restaurant and have two mozzarella and pesto wraps, they were that good, or perhaps that small, or perhaps I was that hungry.
Mission accomplished, I head home to the Airbnb and prepare for my journey to Seville tomorrow.
