Because of the rather complicated Government approach to inheritance documentation I had to go to Figueira back and forth in an almost crazy driving adventure that ultimately led me to getting to know several offical departments and their working dynamics, which might be interesting writing about some day, (for the record of the number of hours spent to obtain a single sheet of paper), but what I am about to write about today is the transport adventure therewith associated.
I left Oriente train station on a train bound to Porto with a stop over at Alfarelos where I would get the connection to Figueira on the western line trains. This rather short trip of two hours and an half took me back to my adolescent years in which my brothers and I used to stop over at Alfarelos train station, so as to get on a train bound to Porto that would take the whole day.
How could we consider this "painful" day long trip an exciting adventure then I honestly don't know ... but we did look forward to those twice ayear train trips on our way to the boarding schools we were studying at and back. It made me equally wonder how my mother coped with these weekend trips throughout her medical practising life, as if she just went around the corner on an errand ...
Figueira da Foz has changed a lot since my childhood and adolescent years but there are enough recognisable features dating back to those days, amongst which some old buildings like the local market and the townhall with its sculpted panels ...
