Transportation…check

We had limited means of transportation after returning the car, mainly our feet or Uber. Monday was a true rest day for us, we just walked to the closets grocery store to us, a 15 minute walk. Tuesday we met with a tutor to set up Portuguese lessons. We’ll have them twice a week until we return to the US in June. We had our first lesson Thursday. We learned a few basic phrases, pronunciation, and numbers.

The next order of business for us Tuesday was to find a car and/or bikes. We prefer to drive cars with an automatic transmission, and it’s challenging to find them here. Looking online, I’d only been able to find one, so that’s the dealership where we began. Pedro helped us, he speaks English well. He knew the car we asked about, a Peugeot 208 electric, but it isn’t in Figueira. The dealership is one of a network in the region, and he said it was in Coimbra, about 45 minutes away. So, we headed to Coimbra. But the dealership isn’t in the city limits of Coimbra, with easy access from the highway. It’s on the outskirts, so we took back roads all the way there. Both Ben and I were nauseous by the time we arrived.

We get out of Pedro’s car, and he goes into the office to get the keys to the car…only it’s not there. Whoever told him it was there on the phone was wrong. He showed us a similar car of the same model, and we found it was actually too small for us. The driver’s seat didn’t have enough leg room. As we’re leaving to drive back to Figueira, one of the salesmen there tells Pedro about another automatic car at the Citroen dealer across the street (same autogroup). It has good legroom, so we test drive it. We aren’t picky at this point, and it drove well, so we take it, a Citroen C3.

When buying a car in the US, this is the time where the salesperson takes you to their desk to start the paperwork, and you’re able to take the car that day. In Portugal, at least at this dealer, that is not the case. The car stays in Coimbra as we head back to Figueira. Pedro takes us to lunch on the way back. The errand we had in mind–go look at a car, meet a person to tell them what we are looking for in a car–has now turned into a 3.5 hour excursion. This is us because at least there’s an end in sight. Pedro loves to do these panoramas.

Ben and I were exhausted by the time we get back. We were going to look at bikes next, since it’s on the same side of town. We split up: Ben stays with Pedro to do the paperwork, and I walk to the bike shop to look at their bikes. We decided to try electric bikes, ones where the motor assists your pedaling but doesn’t move the bike by itself.

The sales lady was very nice, she speaks English very well. Unfortunately again for us, I found that the location here in Figueira is a show store. The main facility with all the bikes is across the river. So no getting bikes today either. She did have 2 in stock of the ones I wanted, so we ordered them to pick up Friday. Until then, we continue on foot and Uber.

Thursday comes, and we’re excited to finally have a means of transportation – a car. We meet Pedro at 5:30pm, expecting to just pick up the keys and the car. Nope – another trip to Coimbra! I couldn’t believe it, but it wasn’t surprising. Pedro had told us the car would be in Figueira for us to pick up. We had planned to get food and pick up a few more things we needed. So I was a little hungry on the drive. I did have a snack, but I was tired by the time we got to the dealership.

That’s Pedro in the background. We all felt like that after this ordeal. He wanted to show us how to do everything, but we just wanted to get going. We may have slightly insulted him by cutting him off, but I don’t care after 2 hours of travel time to get the car and zero gas in the tank. Yep – first stop, a gas station to turn off the fuel light. (Deep sigh).

Friday we pick up the bikes. This goes much smoother than with the car. Susanna has them ready for us when we arrive at the Figueira store. She gave us a discount on all the things we bought that day, so we picked up the helmets, a bag, and locks. She shows me how to operate the battery and the tire lock, and we’re soon on our way. I still haven’t taken a photo of the bikes, but I’ll add it when I finally do. We biked along the beach and stopped for dinner on the way back. Good end to the week. We pick up Amy tomorrow!

Finally remembered to get a shot of the bikes. We got Trek Verve electric bikes. They’ve been great, we use them quite a bit. I bike to the gym, and it’s a great warmup. The motor assist helps up the long, large hill on the way there. I’m a fan so far. The bag we bought holds a good amount of groceries. Ben’s bike is gray, mine is “aquatic blue.” Pretty much a teal green.