OK so I peeled off my L plates in Australia for automatic vehicles just over two months ago and now I find myself driving on the right side of the road in a rented manual not in my name in a very narrow (we're talking like South European standard narrow) street in a country town in Portugal. I take out the windscreen wiper of a parked car, the entire rubbish content festering in the curb and narrowly miss the two old ladies in cute little aprins sitting at the end of the curb selling lottery and scratchy tickets. My travel buddy screams '' LEFT! LEFT!'' , I say '' ops'' quite calmly cos I do that a lot at home. The plastic shield on the front right wheel is nicely scratched like the ticket I could have bought from the little old ladies, and looks slightly munted like my Form Two metal work assignment. That's all... like, the tire is still on. I'm fucked. Or my credit card is.
How I got myself into the situation at the first place
So I went halves with this Mad American Alcoholic who wears Aviators who is very Delightful (MAAAD) staying at the same hostel in Porto on this rental car so we could go check out the vineyards, cute little towns and beautiful bush and wildlife and so forth in Douro Valley, along the Douro River, which stretched about 200km from the sea from the merchant town of Porto all the way to the Spanish boarder eastwards. We set off very happily into the unknown in the chirpy little car we rented.
So lets distract myself a bit
Porto is of course famous for its port and the Douro Valley region is the worlds premiere port growing region because of the landscape, climate, and special soil. The shist is a rock which exists uniquely in Douro Valley. It absorbs heat from sunlight during the day and gives out heat during the night, so it keeps the vines warm at night and keeps the grapes happy with producing sugar. Port is basically wine which isn't fully fermented, ie a lot of the sugar hasn't converted to alcohol yet, so its really sweet, and natural alcohol is added to stop the fermenting process.
Douro Valley is one gorgeously amazing spot. The valley cradling the river is lush, fertile and gets plenty of sun. There are hundreds of pretty little old towns all along the river and the view is magnificent, there are heaps of castles and ruins along the way. Having grown grapes for centuries, the terraces looked almost as if they are naturally that way. Traditionally the Portuguese transport the port in barrels in small boats down the river and into Porto for trading.
It was bloody annoying finding Pinhao, a small town where the vineyards another person at the hostel suggested we go check out, mainly cos the sign posts were confusing and irregular, and the speed signs kept on changing every 10 meters, so we had no idea whether we were speeding or not...
We were kept entertained by lots of interesting locals that carries axes on their shoulders and bundles of hay on their heads. There were also lots of tiny shrines devoted to Virgin Mary along these old roads, which the locals believe to protect travelers, so many ppl
leave flowers and rosaries etc on the small statues or shrines to ask for blessing etc.Yep, the port was fantastic, the portuguese chicken lathered in chili oi against the sunset at the beach was even better.
How I got myself out of the situation
All I'll say is that the woman serving us at the car rental place on the return appears to be really really hung over. We just walked out. HEH!! More port for me and the MAAAD!
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