Day 46 –On to Madrid
On getting back into Porto, I jumped on a four hour train ($15) north to Vigo, Spain, arriving at about 10 pm. I splurged for my birthday the next day and got a decent hotel room to catch up on sleep and veg. It was the hotel Chess Mexico whose only relationship to Mexico was the Aztec design in the foyer. For only $50/night I got a hotel room that would go for 3-4 times that at home. I spent my the first half of my birthday walking the boring town of Vigo, which is mostly a seaport/ship broker town. It was Saturday and almost everything was closed because they are more evening oriented there. I did have a very good and massive fried calamari sandwich for $3.50. The second half of the day I stayed in my room and relaxed with my complimentary hotel wi-fi.
I wanted to go see the Islas da Cieres, the legendary vacation spot of the gods, but it has been doing nothing but rain and the visibility is poor. So I am off to Madrid on a eight hour train right now, in a first class cabin. First class was $18 more to get better seats, a movie I can’t understand, and more legroom. For such a long trip, it is definitely worth it, except for the movie. I have an offer by a Lisboa friend to use his Madrid couch to crash on while I am there so maybe I can save some money. We’ll see, I was supposed to give him more warning, I just didn’t want to spend another day in dreary Vigo.
My Portugal average daily expenses:
Algarve (south) $45/day
Lisboa/Porto $62/day
Madeira $198/day including airfare
