7:20pm - back for a break after a long day. Dreamed of bus scenarios all night long I am pretty sure, so I woke up early and decided I might as well try to catch the 7:40 bus instead of the 8:40. The good thing is that the station was quieter so it was easier to ask and figure it out. This time I got on the correct bus and everything was smooth. Got breakfast in Nazare and wandered around. It is a touristy little old fishing village. People are still drying fish and seafood on the beach and it smells disgusting. Took the funicular up to the upper part of town Sitio, which is especially cute. there are a bunch of old ladies selling nuts and dried fruit from stalls and they are dressed in traditional dress. They try to sell you stuff. That is where the town's main church is as well. And the views, they are incredible. I got a chocolate-filled donut and enjoyed it for a while. Wandered arund more and found the north side of the beach, which has the biggest surfing waves in the whole world. Really pretty with wildflowers and whatnot. It actually worked out. for the best that the bus mishap happened yesterday because today was a much better weather day to be by the beach than yesterday!
Took the funicular back down and wandered back through town. got a plate of roasted chicken at a little cafe with lots of locals. Most of the nice restaurants focused on fish so I figured why not get something cheap. it was about 5 euros for the plate. I laughed when I asked for roasted potatoes instead of fries and she essentially told me no, those were for the fish. Too funny.
Caught the 1:50 bus to Caldas da Rainha, which has a pretty ceramics museum and a nice little old town but not much else. So instead of waiting until after 6pm to get a bus, I took the 4:15pm train back to Leiria. It arrived around 5 and the train station is cute, but outside town. And there were no taxis. So I waited and waited and finally figured out the little city bus, which dropped right in the center. Then I tried to ask about my bus for tomorrow. There is only one direct bus to Evora and I have booked a ticket already. I asked in the tourist office and they were friendly enough but knew nothing, except to warn me it is some random holiday tomorrow. The lady at the bus station seemed annoyed but said yes, it will depart at 10:30 from one of the three lines/parking spots for that bus company and that I need to listen to the announcement. That would be great if the announcements were even remotely intelligible. Luckily it is a different bus company than I have been taking the past few days so hopefully I will be able to figure it out! Would it really be that difficult to post on the departures screen which lane a certain bus is going to be leaving from? Apparently.
10:00pm - back after a quick dinner at Monte Carlo. I had chicken and realized it was basically the same thing as I had for lunch, but better. I had a rose wine, that was actually sparkling and delicious and cost all of 80 cents for the "large" glass. In fact the whole meal, including bread, olives, water, the obligatory rice and fries, AND a dish of chocolate mousse (which was disappointing but we won't go there) was 7.70. So cheap and delicious. Then just came back here and started packing up. Cannot even believe I am headed to my last real stop. Where does the time go!?
Today's totals: 27,158 steps, 10.8 miles, 34 floors.
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