Where am I?

After a long trip by air and road from Lagos to Lisbon, Paris, Johannesburg, Mbabane, and Maputo, I have just arrived in George in the Western Cape in South Africa.

I will be back in the saddle at the end of next week and will be posting a full report on this great trip.

Porto to Oviedo

This will not be easy! There are no direct trains or buses.

You best bet appears to be the bus service four times per day between Porto and La Coruna which take about five hours.

Then from La Coruna to Oviedo you get another bus (four or five per day) with the same company to Oviedo again taking about 5 hours.

Cost will be about +-€ 50 each way

You can find the web site here:

www.alsa.es

For the return to Lisbon you would have to either come back by the same route via Porto or route via MIRANDA DE EBRO.

There is a train from Oviedo that leaves at 19:34 and connects with the daily train from Paris to Lisbon leaving MIRANDA DE EBRO at 00:40 and arriving in Lisbon at 11.03.

For more information see www.renfe.es

TAP Air Portugal More Problems

F.C. Porto, one of the top three football clubs in Portugal, yesterday announced that they are going to stop using TAP/Air Portugal after the team's flight from Schiphol to Porto was redirected in mid-air to Lisbon without any by your leave! When one of the team management began to remonstrate with the crew, his name was taken and reported to the Police on landing.

Article (in Portuguese) here:

http://sportugal.pt/noticia.php?categoriaID=8¬iciaID=27216

The team then had to get a coach onwards to Porto. This has been all over the Portuguese News Channels and again regretably, reflects the ongoing problems, TAP has with customer relations and treating clients reasonably.

Travel from Porto to San Sebastian

You have two options:

Train:

Train from Porto to Coimbra Departing 16:52 and arriving Coimbra 17:56.

Connect with the nightly Sud-Express Lisbon to Paris train.

This leaves Coimbra at :18:26 and arrives San Sebastian the next morning at 06:34

The bus company Internorte operates a coach service from Porto to Germany that passes through San Sebastian.

website: http://www.internorte.pt

Their downloadable timetable shows a departure daily at 20:30 from Porto Praça da Galiza arriving San Sebastian at 06:30 the next morning.

Unfortunately prices are not displayed on the respective web sites but I suspect that the coach will be the cheapest.

If you are heading in the area of San Sebastian, you should try to detour or day trip via Bilbao and visit the Guggenheim Museum.

Do I need an electrical converter for a PC lap top in Portugal.

Voltage this side of the pond is 220/240V.

Check the bottom of the transformer for your laptop. For the past 5 years or so most have been manufactured and supplied with dual voltage 110V/240V transformers. If it showns this on the transformer you should be OK to use it in Portugal.

No come back on me though, if something happens...! If you are not confident get a friendly nerd to check for you.)

You will need a dual round pin european plug adapter to allow you to plug in Portuguese sockets.

See this article for more:

http://goeurope.about.com/cs/electricity/l/bl_electricity.htm

Algarve Portugal to Morocco

Unfortunately, the only way from the Algarve to Morocco is via Seville and Algeciras/Tarifa.

There are no direct flights.

There is no rail link from the Algarve into Spain.

The road routes run east from the Algarve frontier to Huelva and then to Seville. There reason is that there is a large national park protecting the Dona Ana Area and Guadalquivir river estuary that lies between Huelva and Cadiz. There are no routes through this park and so one has no alternative but to pass through Seville.

However, there are good bus services from the Algarve to Seville and from Seville to Algeciras/Tarifa.

On the return there are services that run from Seville to Lisbon.

Check out this post on my blog which may help:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/search?q=Tarifa

Faro to Lisbon

Travel from Faro to Lisbon

From Faro Airport one would need to get a taxi or bus to the station which is 150m from the Bus station.

Note that the buses only operate about very 90 minutes.


There are three ways to travel between Faro Downtown and Lisbon:

Air

TAP, the national airline is the only operator on the route. There are several flights per day from Faro Airport to Lisbon where there are connecting flights to Porto.

This is usually the most expensive option and not much quicker than train unless you get the very early morning service.

There are often also delays on the route.

Rail

You can download the Algarve- Lisbon timetables in pdf format on my blog at:

Go to:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/

Scroll down on the right until you come to:

Algarve & Portugal - Travel Transport Links

Click on:

Portuguese Railways - Summer 2007 - Lisbon - Algarve Faro/Lagos Timetable

This will allow you to download a timetable in pdf format which shows the services from Faro to Lisbon.

Transit time will be +- 3 hours from Faro Railway Station to Lisboa Entrecampos for downtown Lisbon. .

Bus

For Bus:

Have a look at http://www.renex.pt for services to Lisbon Gare Oriente. Timetables are downloadable on my blog under:

Algarve & Portugal

>> RENEX Bus Service - Lisbon to Algarve timetable

There are 6 services a day with a transit time of 4 hours to Lisbon Gare Oriente.

Buses leave Faro from in front of the bus station and tickets can be bought at the RENEX office opposite the bus station.

There are also 6 bus buses daily operated by EVA Transportes from Faro Bus Station to Lisbon Sete Rios Bus Ststions.

Departures at: 06:15, 08:30, 11:00, 13:00, 16:30, 19:00

Transit time 3hrs 15min.

The bus will probably be the cheapest, but the train will not be much more.


For more info also see:

http://www.algarvebus.info
http://www.solpraiaferias.com/index.php?content=cheg_en

Algarve - Albufeira - Fatima

Fatima lies about 350km North of Albufeira. If you have a car you can do a long day trip as follows:

-Exit Albufeira on the EN 125 direction Guia.
-Turn right onto the IC1
-After 1km turn right onto the A22 motorway in the direction of Faro and Espanha.
-After 6km head onto the E01 / A2 / IP1 motorway toll road in the direction of Lisbon
-After 2 hours follow the signs for the A13 Santarém
-On arriving in the Santarem Area, head onto E01 / E80 / A1 / IP1 Motorway.
-Continue until you see the off-ramp for Fatima.
-Exit for Fatima.

By train, the trip is not easy!

You would need to get a train from Albufeira Station, actually situated at Ferreiras, 8km from Albufeira to Lisbon Gare Oriente.

You would then need to get a train from Lisbon Gare Oriente to Caxarias (About 1 hours 15 minutes.) and then a bus from there to Fatima at: 7.00, 8.45, 10.45, 13.45, 15.05, 17.05 e 19.10

For trains from the Algarve to Lisbon you can download the timetable in pdf format via my blog here:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com

Scroll down on the right until you come to the panel entitled:

>> Algarve & Portugal - Travel Transport Links

select: Portuguese Railways - Summer 2007 - Lisbon - Algarve Faro/Lagos Timetable

For the timetable Lisbon to Caxarias

select: Porto - Lisbon - Porto Train Timetable

Note that although there is a station marked Fatima it is not close to the Sanctuary. (Caxarias is the station to use.)

Rede Expressos, a national coach company, operate services from Albufeira Bus station to Lisbon Sete Rios Coach Station. From there, there are services to Fatima.

Unfortunately their online timetables are not easily viewed as the website is old. You can see their timetable here:

http://www.rede-expressos.pt

There are several departures daily, depending on time of year and season with a transit time of about 5 - 7 hours hours with a change in Lisbon.

It is best to check at Albufeira Bus Station prior to travelling.

Lagos to Cadiz

The only way to get from Lagos to Cadiz is to take the bus to Seville and then another one to Cadiz.

There are currently four buses a day between Lagos and Seville Plaza das Armas.

See this page for more details:

http://thomasallen.home.sapo.pt/travel/001.htm

Transports Generals Gomes operate buses every couple of hours from Seville Plaza das Armas to Cadiz with a transit time of 1:45 minutes.

Website here:

http://www.tgcomes.es/

If you get one of the departures from Lagos to Seville at 0530, 0730, 1230 you should be easily able to connect with a bus to Cadiz.

Bakery and Birthday Cakes - Lagos

Can't help you in Alvor, but if you come over to Lagos, go and see Winni at the German Bakery near the Cultural Centre -

Padaria do Wini
German bakery for typical 'deutsche kuchen und torten'.
Rua S. Gonçalo, 10, Lagos | tel: (282) 76 01 46

Very Nice!