Hello Amsterdam, Goodbye Portugal

It certainly would have been very easy to spend more time at the Castelo de Estremoz. In fact it would have been very easy to settle into this lifestyle permanently. With its palatial rooms, marble staircases, incredible antique furniture and priceless works of art, it really did give us a brief taste of what royal living must be all about.

To complete the fairytale picture, we awoke to find the surrounding area had been covered over by an impenetrable white blanket of cloud. The castle and a few other nearby small mountains protruded through like islands on a white sea. It was spellbinding to see and we felt that our adventure had been given the final seal of approval.

It would also have been wonderful to have spent much longer over breakfast. The huge dining hall and carefully prepared tables surely warranted at least an hour or two while we savoured our cereals and pondered the news of the day. Unfortunately it could not be. The problem was that the servants did not open the breakfast hall till 8 am and our bus was due to leave at 8.30 am. Where was the justice in that ? Life can be cruel sometimes.

In spite of the haste, breakfast was still something I will never forget. I have dined in some pretty exotic places over the years, but this was probably the epitome. Everything else will be pretty mundane by comparison.

When we loaded our luggage into the bus I walked over to the statue of Santa Isabel, where we had left the two scallop shells. They were still there. Behind the statue the white sea of cloud showed no sign of lifting, although the sun was already shining brightly over our heads. I hoped that Paul and Jan were enjoying the views with us since they had accompanied us all the way in our hearts.

All too soon it was time to bid farewell to Estremoz. The bus squeezed its way out through the medieval streets and over the drawbridge. Soon we were on the huge motorway and speeding back to Lisbon. An ideal opportunity to grab a few more minutes of sleep.

We still had one final Portuguese highlight to experience. The incredible Vasco da Gama Bridge across the Tagus River was completed in 1998 and, at 14 km long, it one of the longest in Europe. It certainly must have made a huge difference to life in the capital when it was opened to the public.

At Lisbon airport we bade farewell to the rest of the group, while Allan Barlin and I headed inside to get some information about our flight. Our next stop was Amsterdam for a couple of nights, before heading on to a week in Switzerland. Allan is a farmer from NSW and I had shared several adventures with him in the past. I always enjoy his wild sense of humour and his easy going manner.

Our flight to Amsterdam went quickly and smoothly enough.Somehow we even scored the only empty seat on the plane - right between us. We arrived at Amsterdam's huge Schipol Airport right on sunset.

The walk to the baggage collection area seemed almost as long as our Camino Walk a couple of week's earlier, but we eventually found carousel number 4 and waited for our luggage. About twenty minutes absolutely nothing had come out of the chute. Not a thing. At least we weren't the only ones waiting, so we weren't really worried.

After a few minutes longer I decided to do some investigation. I made an immediate discovery. On the very next carousel a familiar looking bag was looking very lonely as it went around and around all by itself. It was my beloved blue bag. I don't know how long it had been going around while we had been facing in the wrong direction, but I was just pleased to be reunited with it. I called Allan over and we soon found his bag as well.

We then walked about 3 km to the taxi stand (Schipol is a VERY big airport) and waited for the next taxi. Instead of a taxi, a futuristic black craft pulled up alongside us. The alien invited us to get aboard, so we did. The alien pressed a few buttons on a giant touchscreen and we silently slid off into the traffic. I wondered if the alien knew any English so decided to speak to him.

"What sort of machine is this ?", I asked.
"It is the new Tesla, Model S", it replied.

Apparently it was only two months old and it certainly made for an interesting and entertaining ride. It took off like a cut snake and cruised effortlessly and silently at 120 kph while the huge screen showed our progress through the streets of Amsterdam. I had certainly never been in a taxi like it and it was almost worth the 55 Euro it cost us for the transfer to our hotel.

After we had checked in to our rooms, I took Allan on a brief tour of the neighbouring area. I had to explain to him to be very careful when you order cookies with your coffee. It's that sort of place.Read more