We started our trip to Portugal by buying one of the cheap tickets Otman found while researching. Unlike the last trip, we made our plans and made hotel reservations wherever we were going to stay and bought our bus tickets. But we found ourselves in many complicated situations, as we are people that interesting events do not come and ask for addresses. Otman and I traveled all over Portugal without internet on our phone and turned this situation into a survival game. We set off from Madrid airport to go to Faro, our first stop. When we arrived in Faro city center in the evening, the only thing we thought about was that the driver of the public bus who brought us was driving the bus like F1 pilots, accompanied by cultural music. We perceived this as an official sign that we were in Portugal and convinced ourselves that this was normal. What made this trip more interesting was that we were in the month of Ramadan. Otman had fasted even though we were traveling and broke his fast with a sandwich on the plane. He was still very hungry because he hadn't eaten all day. He was waiting to be found in the cave of hunger. We immediately found something to eat and went to our hostel.
The next day we went on a cute trip in Faro. Otman had found the perfect spot for a great photo, and we were waiting for planes to pass like kids for it. Until the evening, we competed with Otman to take the best photo. Then we took the bus to Lisbon and arrived at dusk, when problems were most likely to arise. Rain welcomed us like a lovely host in Lisbon. It was our greatest luck that Google maps worked without internet. When we arrived at the address of the hostel we were staying at, we could not see any name or entrance door. But one of the employees there guessed that we were looking for the hard-to-find hostel and took us through a tunnel, and we checked in in what looked like a bunker and spent the night in this strange hostel.
We spent the next two days touring the wonderful sights of Lisbon. It was amazing to see Sintra and the Belem tower. We had the most peaceful and quiet days in Lisbon among the places we have been to so far. So when we got to the station to take the bus to Porto, Otman turned around and said THANK YOU.
When we arrived in Porto at night, we encountered a similar scenario, where it was more difficult to solve and we needed more luck. Our Airbnb host, whom we tried to reach from the internet on the bus, was not responding. When we reached the address, I tried to shake hands by holding the doorknob of the outer door of an uninviting building without a huge window. We wanted nothing more than to go through the door that didn't open and lie on our bed waiting for us on the first floor. For the first time, we were regretting being without internet. We rang the bell of other apartments and had the door open. But nobody was opening the door of the airbnb apartment inside. There was nobody inside. We tried to go out on the street many times to ask someone for help, but no one was around. It was like someone was handing out something for free and everyone rushed there. Sitting on the stairs inside the building, thinking of sleeping there. Luck had advised the son of our Airbnb owner that day to see his mother that day, and told him to arrive home when we were waiting for him. When he realized that his mother was not there, he called her and our host, who came 15 minutes later, showed us our room. When we woke up in the morning, we went on a trip to Porto. With its beautiful venues, Porto was like a restaurant where we preferred the Douro river as a beverage.
After finishing our last day in Portugal, we parted ways the next day. Otman's plan was to continue in Ibiza, so I rode my horse to Bilbao. Life was pregnant with other things for us.