Andrew had successfully navigated his residency appointment in October, and now it was my turn. We still haven’t found a house sitter in Portugal, so I traveled solo to Lisbon and back via train while Andrew stayed home with our furry kids. My primary goals were: pack light for easy travel, find something delicious to eat in Lisbon, carve out some time for relaxation, make it through my first assigned Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (SEF) appointment, travel solely by train and foot, and try to make it back for language class in Olhão Thursday night. Had I jammed too much in to a 37 hour stretch?

I managed to pack everything I wanted to bring in a backpack and a large purse. I needed an assortment of paperwork for my residency meeting. I also wanted something comfy for my overnight stay and a change of clothes to increase my chances of taking a decent photo for my residency card (I am notoriously unphotogenic so I need all the help I can get). I even had room for my Kindle, a magazine, a puzzle book, and an assortment of toiletries.

I booked my train tickets with the Comboios Portugal (CP) app a couple of days before my journey. I opted for first class tickets and paid just over $31 (second class tickets run about $24) for the ride from Olhão to Lisbon. For the return trip I would take the Alfa Pendular, which is the high speed train. This saves about 30 minutes travel time, but costs a bit more with a price tag of $37 for first class seats. The CP app shows the train route, assigned carriage number, seat number, and it also shows connections, stops, and times. I love having electronic tickets on my cell phone. My phone still has a US number and service through T-Mobile. I usually leave it at home when we are out and about locally, but when traveling I sign up for the $5 a day International Pass in order to avoid crazy expensive charges.

I left Olhão at 8:00 on Wednesday morning, destination: Faro. We had already taken the train to Faro several times, but it was especially busy the morning of my departure and was standing room only. My large backpack was a bit cumbersome, but the train ride was a short 10 minute jaunt. I had about 10 minutes to change trains in Faro. The information about where to board the connecting train for Lisbon was a verbal announcement in Portuguese. I now knew enough of the language to understand the entire broadcast!

The carriage numbers were visible outside of the train and they were also posted inside near the door, I boarded and found my seat. I was pleasantly surprised by the leg room and settled in for my first long(er) distance train ride. I had booked an Intercidades (IC) or intercity train and there were 11 stops scheduled between Faro and Lisbon. People entered and exited at almost every stop. I was thankful that I was traveling light every time I saw people rolling huge suitcases around the train. There was a rack for suitcases near the door, but many people chose to cram their suitcases into the leg space near their seats. Some people also seemed confused about assigned seating (i.e. seats are not see one take one for longer rides and you should be able to find this information on your ticket). The overall travel time was about 3 hours and 20 minutes.

I arrived in Lisbon just before noon. I was quite hungry since I had failed to eat before I left home and hadn’t purchased anything from the train’s dining car. Full disclosure: I already had a restaurant selected for lunch because in true foodie form I had already stalked suggestions from my favorite website. My mind was set on eating piri-piri chicken at A Valenciana. I couldn’t check in to my hotel until 14:00, so I started the 1 mile walk from the Lisbon Sete-Rios train station.

I was immediately impressed with all of the green areas in Lisbon. I saw several parks and a community garden. Some parks have outdoor exercise equipment for community members to use, just like in our city. Many of the walking paths were ample enough to to accommodate runners and walkers. There was an interesting mix of graffiti with modern buildings and ancient structures. My phone’s GPS didn’t always cooperate with orientation, so I got a few extra steps in, but I finally arrived in the vicinity of the restaurant. I must have been famished and slightly disoriented, because I tried to enter two wrong doors before finally arriving at the correct entrance with the assistance of two kind restaurant employees.

I asked for a table for one in Portuguese and crossed my fingers I would get in because this place was huge, very busy, and I had failed to make reservations. The restaurant had two floors which included indoor and outdoor seating. I was seated promptly and when my waiter arrived, I ordered the chicken and some vinho verde (green wine). The couvert (cover charge) arrived shortly thereafter. What is couvert? In Portuguese restaurants waitstaff bring food to start your meal, this can be platters of olives, sardine pate, bread, butter, pickled vegetables etc. This food isn’t free, but it is well worth the money and we always eat it. You can tell waitstaff that you don’t want it, but most restaurants safely assume that you do.

My small bottle of wine arrived and I could barely contain my excitement for the food. It was so worth the wait. A 1/2 order of chicken (4 pieces) with rice and French fries was about $8. The chef had included spicy, oily drippings with the chicken and I drizzled it over everything. The meat had a crispy skin and a perfectly moist interior. I even ate the chicken leg and wing which I usually leave for Andrew. How can chicken taste this damn good? I’m not sure, but I keep saying it about the chicken I eat in Portugal and this piri-piri version was the best yet. The meal was so excellent that I vowed to return with Andrew so he could experience it too. I couldn’t finish everything, so I asked for a to go box and ended my meal with a coffee, I definitely did not have room for dessert.

I made the trek back to my hotel, the Sana-Malhoa and checked in. I managed to start the check-in process in Portuguese, but after 3-4 exchanges the front desk employee gave up on my slow, stunted attempts and began speaking English. She advised that breakfast was included the next day. I made it to my room and took a long nap. I hadn’t slept well the night before my travels and woke up revived. The bed was comfy and warm. I watched some futebol (soccer) coverage on the news since Benfica was playing that night and then I dug into my leftovers. They were still delicious cold and not having utensils didn’t stop me from finishing every morsel.

The hotel bar didn’t appeal to me, but the massive bathtub was calling my name. This tub was so huge that I could lie all the way down in it. It was also extremely deep and I couldn’t help but worry for elderly clients trying to get in and out (there was a very prominent distress alarm with a very long cord right in the bathtub and I imagine it gets used frequently). I had remembered to pack some bath bombs and I reveled in the long hot soak. I even had time to give myself a much needed mani and pedi.

After a so-so night’s rest due to anxiety about my SEF appointment (Do people get immediately kicked out of the country if they fail these appointments? Would Andrew and the pets be waving goodbye as immigration takes me in to custody?), I headed down for breakfast. I entertained the notion of grabbing a croissant and coffee and bringing it back to my room. After being seated in the formal dining area, I realized that this was not a grab and go kind of breakfast. It was an expansive breakfast buffet with champagne, smoothies, pastries, fruit, cereal, tapas, eggs, bacon, and almost every other option you can imagine. I felt obligated to eat more than I had planned and the food was tasty and endless. On another day with nothing but leisure on the agenda I would gladly spend an hour to start my day with too much food and one champagne glass too many. I had several trains to catch and an important appointment on the horizon, so I didn’t partake of the champagne, but it looked quite appealing.

My appointment was scheduled for 15:30 in Agualva-Cacém, located between Lisbon and Sintra, so I checked out of the hotel early and walked back to the train station. I hadn’t booked tickets in advance from Lisbon to Agualva-Cacém, so I purchased one with a ticket agent in Portuguese, the cost one way was under $2. Lisbon Sete-Rios is a busy station and train routes are posted on electronic reader boards which made navigation fairly simple. The train ride to my destination was about 20 minutes with 7 scheduled stops and I wanted to arrive early enough to find the building for my appointment in advance. The first stop was Benfica! We had been celebrating the soccer team’s successes since we arrived in June and it was a name I instantly recognized when we pulled in to the station.

I arrived at my destination, exited the train and started the 10 minute walk to the Loja de Cidadão (citizen’s store) that housed the SEF office. I had more than two hours before my appointment, so I found a nearby park and passed the time reading and people watching. I headed to my appointment about 30 minutes early. We had visited a Loja de Cidadão previously in Faro when we tried to get our gas stove hooked up. They are busy places that contain many utility and administrative offices. Usually there are electronic check in kiosks and security officers near the entrance. After about five minutes of checking various options in the kiosk and not finding an entry for SEF, I asked an employee for assistance. They directed me to another employee who told me where to find the SEF office. The instructions were something similar to “follow the green line to the end.” I failed to find anything green, but wandered toward the back of the building and then felt quite dense when I realized that the green line was on the ceiling and not the floor. When will I stop feeling like a lost idiot?

Upon arrival at the office, I felt transported back in time to our secondary passport application experience in Seattle. People were stressed out, pacing, and staring intensely into the ether with fear in their eyes. Some applicants had brought assistants with them, it was not clear if the assistants were Portuguese lawyers, translators, or family members (maybe there were some of each in the mix). I only saw 1 other person that had come to the appointment alone. It was obvious that some people were having any number of difficulties with the process and you could almost smell desperation in the air. I tried to summon a quiet and calm energy. The SEF employee called my name and my appointment began. We spoke a mixture of Portuguese and English, and I had many more documents than the employee asked for. I paid the administrative fee, had my photo and fingerprints taken (ugh, I had really tried to get a haircut before my appointment but had failed – another notch in the list of not so great photos) and sailed through in about 20 minutes. Success, I was now a temporary resident for 2 years!

I REALLY wanted to make it back to Olhão before 21:00 so I wouldn’t miss my Portuguese language class. It was just before 16:00 and I hustled back to the Agualva-Cacém train station. My ticket out of Lisbon Sete-Rios was scheduled for a departure just after 17:00 and if everything worked out, I should arrive at the Olhão train station at 20:40 with just enough time to walk to school. I arrived in Lisbon with about 45 minutes to spare, so I had a snack at the train station. One thing to note, some public restrooms, like at the Sete-Rios station, are pay to use so it is helpful to have some change or small bills with you. There are also restrooms on many of the trains.

I consulted my CP app for my train route number and time of departure and didn’t find a match on the reader board, I also consulted a paper departure schedule and tried to find the train route and stops on my phone, but I was still confused. I finally asked for assistance in English, unfortunately my Portuguese failed me under duress. The employee advised that the train I had a ticket for departed at the same time as what was listed on the reader board, but it had a different train route number assigned than my app. The reader board also only listed the ultimate destination and I was scheduled to change trains along that route so my specific stop wasn’t noted. Without some previous knowledge of the stops on a particular train route it would have been difficult to navigate this particular train on my own. I headed upstairs to catch the train and it zoomed way past where I was standing. The trains don’t stop for very long (think NYC subways), so I had just entered the door on the very last car before the train left the station. I found my seat after confirming I was in the right train carriage with an employee. I must have looked a bit flustered because the employee told me that a young man sitting across from me was changing trains with me at the next stop (aka “follow that guy he knows what to do” in the nicest way possible).

After a 45 minute train ride, I was at the Pinhal Novo station waiting for the train that would take me to Faro. I think the young man across from me was taking responsibility for me getting on the right train after overhearing the train employee because he reassured me I was in the right place. The train was running behind and I only had a 7 minute window in Faro to catch the train home. The speedy train from Pinhal-Novo to Faro arrived and we were off. The ride was quite bumpy at times, drinks and magazines flew off of a nearby table, but I was happy to be heading home and was desperately hoping to arrive on time. We arrived in Faro late, but the train to Olhão was waiting. There was no verbal announcements, so I hoped the only other train at the station was the one I was meant to be on. I finally arrived in Olhão, Andrew met me at the station and we sped off to school, breezing in the classroom door just on time. Mission complete!

Tip:

I frequently use Eater for foodie suggestions when traveling. It has more information for large cities, but entries for smaller tourist destinations are also available. I usually Google “Eater 38 Los Angeles” for current hot restaurants in a specific location or “Eater Brunch New York” for suggestions for a specific type of meal in a specific location. I have used this website to find consistently AWESOME food from Portland, OR to NYC and many, many places in between.