Tonight we are in Faro, on the Algarve coast of Portugal. Right down at the bottom, in about the middle. We thought of stopping along the way, but as we had decided to give Lisbon a pass there was no other strong candidates in the guidebooks, and the open road was beckoning. So after waking up in Viana do Castelo, and driving for the day, we are down for the night in Faro. I have to write this stuff down or I get so confused when I read this stuff later.
It was a long drive today, but a good, easy drive in superb weather. Today was warm and sunny, Hal was behaving himself, and the scenery was rolling by outside in a most marvelous way. Portugal, and France and Spain too for that matter, are extremely well served by fueling stations along the major motorways. They are well equipped with fuel, of course, but also shaded rest areas and washrooms and restaurants/snack bars, as well as most forms of groceries. So in the end, we just drove and did not have to go into any of the big cities, all the way from Santiago to Faro. A really great day, in quite light traffic and almost no heavy trucks.
The trucks are an issue, as they are generally going from 90 to 100 Kph. Some a bit faster, but generally not many. The speed limit for cars is either 120 or 130 Kph, as posted. So, if you are doing the speed limit as I am, no problem, right? You just move into the left lane and pass all the slow movers, then move to the right lane again. Well, no, that's not the way it is. See, these are super speedways as well as being highways, and there is a class of driver here who just sets his speed at 150 to 160 and camps in the left lane. To warn people, they leave their turn signals on 'left turn' and just floor it. When I go to pass a truck, or other slow traffic, I first check my mirrors for one of these fast movers before pulling out. If it is clear behind me, I put on my left turn signal and pull out, pass the thing, and pull back in. Because these fast movers come up SO FAST in your mirror that you really cant take any more time in the left lane than you absolutely need to make the pass. One caught me today and it wasn't fun. The truck I was passing had a smaller one in front of him, and I had to pass them both, and in the space of that pass, at 130 Kph, the small dot in my mirror became a large and angry black mass that filled my mirror about a foot off my bumper. He didn't just tailgate, he rode in the trunk with the luggage. I pulled in quickly, playing a game of silly bugger in traffic is a perfect case of two wrongs not making a right, but it was a clearly suicidal move on his part and showed how much he was driving with his ego. I'm generally so careful, so that was the only time I was caught today as I now know what to expect. The Europeans could pay for the road system many times over in a year if they used radar traps like in North America. And probably save a lot of lives too. Here, speed limits are barely even a hint let alone being an enforced law. It just takes some getting-used to, but we are adapting. Mark had warned us when he handed over the car, and I believed him, but you have to experience it before you really understand how different it is here.
Oveall, a great driving day. Found, with Hal's help, an Ibis hotel to stay in. It was a full day and nice to be here safe.
