July 18 - Awaken with the awful feeling that all I will do today is deal with problems. Get a recommendation on a local mechanic, then explain our car issues to the rental agency. Hours go by and the arrangement is made for me to get the car towed, take a taxi to Porto, and rent another car as a replacement.
The tow vehicle arrives at 11:30, and I ride with the tow truck guy to another town, where a taxi shows up for me to carry on to Porto. While we are waiting, I find out from the driver that jobs are tough to come by in Portugal, he, like many, has a relative or two living somewhere else (in his case the US).
Back in Porto, the driver takes me to a different rental branch, out by the airport. It takes about an hour (there is some confusion about my case and the initial rental agent did not give me papers), and then I am off. Get back to Parada at 15:00.
Wanting to make something of today, we drive to Vila Real and visit Fundacão da Casa de Mateus. Janet really wants to see this place since it is the Portuguese version of her surname.
This location was a winery from the 16th C, then enlarged as a palace in the 18th C. The vision was for it to be a home to the arts and literature. As such, it contains many works of art and a large library. Though it has the name ‘Mateus’, no family with that name was ever involved with the property.
We go on a guided tour for about 30 minutes of the interior.
On our way back to Parada, stop at the Lidl supermarket and get food for dinner, since we have a full kitchen at our disposal. I’m just glad it only took half a day to sort out the car and we can be on our way tomorrow.