Page 77 - WDT MAGAZINE PORTUGAL

Next up was the charming walled town of Obidos, one note on the locked door telling us to go to their sister
of the most popular tourist destinations near Lisbon. hotel, god knows where, and pick up building and
For good reason, it”s great fun to explore the ancient room keys.
village with its imposing medieval castle and walls, We drove at a snail's pace practically nudging
narrow cobbled streets and traditional painted shoppers out of the way in each of the elusive hotel.
houses. The houses on the main streets are now The narrow road narrowed even more, at one point
mostly souvenir shops and restaurants. We ended up squeezed by a giant eucalyptus on one side and an
thoroughly enjoying the town, but our misadventure illegally parked car on the other. I held my breath and
in Obidos offers an important lesson in trip planning - drove past and miraculously pulled up to the entrance
one we learned the hard way. of the hotel. That was the good news. The bad? The
Getting to our lodging was a traveler’s nightmare. road did not continue, it was a dead end. I would have
I was sweating nervous bullets as we made our third to go back through the same small gap - in reverse.
circle around the imposing castle walls of Obidos in Did I mention the car was a stick shift? I wanted to
search of our hotel. The cobblestoned narrow road cry.
became narrower, leaving our rental car with about Mary saw my anguish and jumped out, checked us
half an inch clearance on either side. On our first pass, in and got our keys. Mad as hell about the whole
our companion Ira got out of the car to guide me SNAFU, she must have expressed herself clearly to
between a building on one side and the wall on the the manager because he was almost as agitated as I
other -- both of which had countless gouges from was when he emerged from the hotel. He looked at
drivers who drove larger cars or didn’t have an Ira to the car and the tree and car behind me and said: “You
help. Finally, we found the tiny entrance through the can’t park here.”
wall and Ira again guide me through without a scratch.
He probably saw smoke coming out of my sweaty
We thought we had won the day until it became ears when he volunteered to guide me back.
clear that we couldn’t find our hotel and navigating Somehow we made it through the warren of streets
streets clogged with oblivious tourists was hair without a dent or hit and run. I spied one lone parking
raising at best. Finally, a nice lady guided us to the space by the building next to the nunnery/hotel annex
former nunnery we would call home only to discover a and wedged the car in..

76 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2019