May 7 Drive North

 Today is Saturday - Alexis and Rob and family will head for Lisbon for a day and then depart for Amsterdam tonight.  Michael and I head north toward Porto with a stop close to Aveiro for a few nights,  We have booked an Airbnb in a mountain town that has great views and a hot tub which we are looking forward to.  We say goodbye to A&R and the granddaughters knowing we will see them in Amsterdam quite shortly.

We are on toll roads for a good part of the way.  But then we leave the highway and head up into the mountains.  We zig-zag along a river going ever higher.  Finally we reach the town and head up even steeper roads to get to our Airbnb.  Suddenly our GPs says - you have reached your destination.  We can see no obvious entrance anywhere.  We go further up - we have gone too far.  Michael performs a 4 point turn - the only way to turn around on these tiny roads and we head back down.  Yup - our GPS informs us - you have arrived.  The only possible pathway is up this steep overgrown track up a hill with no guard rails and steep drop-offs - with sharp turns up the hill.  That can't be it!!!  

Michael calls the manager of the property.  Yup - that is indeed the entrance to the property!  What the Crap!  I wish I would have taken a picture of that entrance - but the whole experience was so precarious.  Michael tells the manager - "We are canceling.  We are in our 70"s and have passed the time when we want to go up death defying roads just to get a great view - and the view from this property is not that great!"  He didn't even have to ask me!  

So now what do we do?  We have just lost around $500 usd.  And we have no place to sleep tonight.  We make another 4 point turn to go back the other way and find a spot that is sort off of the road.  Cars keep flying by us - obviously we are wimps!  We research hotels near us - nothing.  Then - Airbnb's near us. Lots of places near us in the mountains - not doing that!!  

Finally Michael finds a place near a beach.  It is an apartment for $62.50 a night!  Wow that is cheap.  It is two bedroom with an ocean view - What!!  But it is available and has an elevator!  This is going to be a really bad place.  But it is late will they accept in time.  They do - but they need a couple of hours to clean.  So it will be a late check in.  OK its a deal.  

We find the building.  We go look at the apartment - we can't believe how nice it is.  There is no heat or cooling.  But - hey, our last place had heating and cooking, neither of which were working.  This is fantastic.  We have collected a lot of stuff by this point.  3 bags of food, 2 bags full of laundry + our suitcases.  We shelp everything into the lobby -up around 7-8 steps to where the elevator is.  I stay with the stuff in the lobby.  Michael takes a load up in the elevator.  He holds the elevator door open long so he can get everything off = and sets off an alarm.  He has broken the elevator!

He sets off an alarm - it is high pitched and really annoying.  He comes down the stair and carries all the heavy stuff up the stairs - the alarm is still keening.  We finally get everything into the apartment.  Michael calls Nelson the manager - he does not respond.  But finally the alarm stops.  

Michael is really exhausted.  I have been terrorized - but I was not driving.  We are both so glad to be settled.  The sunset view over the ocean is great.  Have we found another great place we could come back to?  Who knows!!