May 18, 2011

Today we left Lisbon in the morning, but first stopped to pick up the laundry. The good news is that our underwear was not dry-cleaned or starched.  The ladies were very excited to me and helped me pack the clothes.  We then stopped at a supermarket after a bit of an odyssey to buy some "white" port which we had tried last night in the restaurant.  They did not have the one we had tried so I bought another brand.  The little supermarket was crowded with women doing their daily shopping and it was not an efficient system.  We are spoiled in the US.  The worst thing is that most of us don't realize HOW spoiled we are.  It rained most of the way from Lisbon to Seville.  It took about 4 hours, after filling the tank which was ONLY $130.00! If you think gas prices are high in the States, imagine here!

Our adventure today began in earnest in trying to find our hotel.  The GPS sent us down winding one way tiny streets into a real maze in a so-so district.  After about an hour of trying to get to the hotel, one gentleman gave us some help in circumventing the construction on the street where the hotel was located all torn up.  He told us we would have to go just about half a block in the wrong direction, but there was no other way to get where we needed to go.  Sure enough, as soon as we got to the end of the half block, we ran right into 4 police officers who pulled us over.  After a big lecture and taking all our information from Mario's FL driver's license  and the international license, he let us go, apparently without a ticket. We decided to call the hotel, have them send us a taxi to pick me and all the luggage up and drive us back to the hotel. Mario had to return the rental car.  The girl at the hotel gave us directions, but did not understand why we wanted a taxi.  Even though we spoke Spanish, she did not understand our dilemma or the frustration we were feeling about driving around in circles.  It was getting later and later and Mario had to return the car and handle all the stuff about the broken window, so we decided to look for the rental place and then get a taxi.  OMG!!  We finally got out of the maze and I said, we can't stay at this hotel.  The area is patchy.  I can't imagine this place at night and we will have no car.  We ended up going to another hotel which ironically is right in front of the train station, which we will need on Friday morning when we go to Madrid.  Of course, this hotel is a lot more expensive, but we decided that it was worth losing the other two nights at the other hotel just to feel safe.

I checked us in while Mario went to fill the car to deliver it 100% full and then to drop it off and do all the paperwork.  Mario left and the people at the second hotel were fantastic.  (They should be at the price they are charging.)  I called the travel agent and told him what happened.  He said he would try to get the second night back for us.  Mario called about 30 minutes later that as he pulled into the gas station, he remembered he had given me his wallet after talking to the officers, so he did not have enough Euros to fill the tank and no paperwork for the car rental place, so he came back to the hotel.  He got his wallet and started out again. I prepared our room so that when he came back, he would have clean clothes in the drawers, etc,  He was gone a long time. Finally he came back and said that no one really knew where the rental agency was, but it turned out to be at the train station-yes- across the street from the hotel!!  Then the kicker was that instead of being reimbursed for the acrylic plate in the wing window, they informed him that he would be paying for a new window via the deductible on the insurance policy.  The deductible is around $1200.00!!!!  They did not care that we had a police report, had gotten the window taken care of to protect the car or anything else.  So, we will have to wait for the bill.  Mario will contact the travel agent because that was certainly not what we thought would happen. In the meantime, I called the first hotel to let them know that we could not get to the hotel, that we had been stopped by the police and that they would not send a taxi to help us (even though we were willing to pay for it).  The girl at the hotel got very defensive, made it all our fault and said we would be charged for two nights.  I told her that frankly at that point, I didn't care.

So, about 8 o'clock we finally had lunch (dinner) next door and decided that tomorrow is another day.  We will do a bus tour of Seville and look on the bright side.  We are safe and comfortable.