| Larry |
Nov 22nd, 2002 08:54 AM |
We just returned from Portugal. During our two weeks there I drove 2400 miles... Yah that's a lot of driving, and I wouldn't do it again. Though, we did get to see a lot of southern Portugal and Spain, the next time I travel it'll be to spend a lot of time in a few places.<BR><BR>Although I read a lot of reports on how difficult it was to drive in those countries, in general, that's not true, The cities, especially in the historic, older sections, it can be 'trying'. But this is primarily because you're unfamiliar with both the city and the language. Also, traffic control is managed primarily with round-abouts, and yield signs. Throw in lots of motor bikes, scooters, and pedestrians... and it makes for interesting conversation when you return.<BR><BR>On the other hand, the motorways between major cities are very good. They're lightly traveled and have service centers at regular intervals. They are well maked so if you know the name of your destination or exit you won't have a problem. And, stay in the right lane except to pass. The cars may be small.. a Ford Focus is larger than average, but they'll pass you at 100mph. We didn't pass a whole lot of cars even though we were driving over the speed limit.<BR><BR>In urban areas the traffic is just like any US citiy.. no better or worse.<BR><BR>The six hour drive time, Lisbon to Cadiz sounds optomistic.<BR><BR>If you would like more info, feel free to E-mail. I'll look up Caceres, it might be near one the routes we took.<BR><BR>Laguage was, in general, far less a problem than we had expected. We had a handfull of Portugese and Spanish words/phrases.. that plus body language, worked well. More English was spoken in Portugal than in Spain.
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