We have tickets on the 10 am train from Lisbon's Oriente station to Albufeira-Ferreiras.  I've been checking out Uber car availability in the area and our plan is to try ordering an Uber and if that doesn't work try hailing a taxi or walk to a nearby Metro station where there is a cab line.  Given the plan, we target a 8:15 am departure to give us tons of time should we have issues. (OK - so we're more than a little over-cautious).

At 8:15am I order the Uber and it arrives in literally one minute.  The driver has to wait a couple of minutes for us to walk down the pedestrian-only street from our apartment to the pick-up spot.  We arrive at the station shortly after 8:30 am.  We spend a little too much time in an unheated train station for me, but we don't stress about missing our train!  We fill some of the time having coffee and pastry at one of the cafe's.

We watch the board and see that our train will depart from Track 7 so we are waiting there as the train before ours departs the station.  Our train pulls in and a gentleman helps us find our car - it turns out to be the other half of the bar car.  As we settle into our first class seats we find them comfortable.  We can only speculate if they are worth the extra 8€ each that we paid for the comfort as we did not have a chance to see a second class car.

The train ride is smooth as we pass through the western portion of Alentejo.  As in the eastern area we see umbrella pines and oak trees.  We pass from Alentejo to the Algarve region, arriving at Albufeira-Ferreiras station.  We catch a taxi at the station and within 15 minutes we are greeted by Reinaldo, the owner of the AirBnB that we are renting for the next four weeks.

Reinaldo shows us around the apartment and answers our questions.  We confirm that the wifi works and that we have each other's WhatsApp numbers.

The apartment is within Albufeira's central /Old Town area, just a few blocks from the beach and 6-7 blocks to the town square. Our first order of business is to find a place for a late lunch.  We Google "restaurants near me", pick one and start walking the 4-5 blocks.  When we arrive we find a sign posted on the door to Restaurante Rossi.  It is closed for "holidays".  Then we notice a similar sign on the restaurant across the street saying they will open in March.  Oh oh - we knew we were coming off-season but we  didn't expect the shops and restaurants to be closed.

​We walk along the road leading between beach viewpoints.  I spot a couple coming toward us who are speaking in English and ask for their restaurant recommendations.  They gladly suggest a few, indicating that many of the the restaurants closer to the square are open.  We stop at Restaurant 54 and have a delicious meal of grilled salmon and grilled cod.

This afternoon's adventure is to visit the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora and to discover the streets around it. We begin by walking through small streets which feel like we are going straight uphill, giving our hamstrings a workout.  As we have only had breakfast today, we stop in a little Restaurant for what we think is going to be a small bite to eat.  We order one of the sausages flamed tableside, a cheese plate, bread and olives.  When we are done we look at each other and agree it was not a small amount. Oh well, we'll hope for a light dinner.

We're recovering from our walk yesterday, but need to be ready for this afternoon's tour - "Discover Lisbon with a Photographer".  We relax in the morning and have lunch at a nearby restaurant.

We take the Metro blue line, transfer to the green line and get off at Intendente Station then meet our guide, Miguel, in front of the 1908 Lisboa Hotel.  Once again due to the off-season and scheduling during the week William are the only participants of the tour.  Miguel explains his background as a professional photographer then we talk about our cameras and some photo basics.  We set our cameras to A (aperture priority), make appropriate adjustments and we begin strolling the streets of the Mouraria area of Lisbon.  It is some of the same streets as we saw yesterday, but today our eyes take priority over our stomachs. Miguel provides helpful coaching and recommendations along the way and we enjoy talking with him.  The quality of our photos improve as a result.

At 11:30 on Monday we are scheduled to meet Kathe, the tour guide for "1001 Flavors of Lisbon".  We take the Metro to the Martin Moniz station, then walk a few blocks to our meeting point. (Ok, more than a few blocks, but if I would have paid attention to the location details it would have only been a few blocks).  We are in the Mouraria area of Lisbon, an area where the immigrants have stettled over the centuries.  Kathe arrives and we find out we are the only people on today's tour.  Great for us, we now have a private tour!

As we walk to our first restaurant Kathe tells us a little about herself then discusses the area.  We pop into a very small restaurant where we have bread, cheese, alheira, wine/beer.  Alheira is chicken sausage that became a popular food of Jews and Muslims who settled in the area, both those who forcibly converted to Catholicism and those who didn't.  The sausage helped them to fit in as if they were consuming pork sausage and hopefully avoid the Inquisition.  The sausage has a more mushy texture than many we've tasted but is very good.

As we walk through Mouraria we talk about azulejos, the famous Portuguese tiles.  The early style of tile originated in Moorish Spain and was brought to Portugal in the 15th Century.  Portuguese artisans then improved the technique and styles, making it their own.  Kathe also discusses the Great Lisbon Earthquake which occurred on All Saints Day in 1755.  Half the population was lost, it took one year to clean up and 100 years to rebuild.

We wake up on Sunday morning and open the wooden doors covering the windows to a view of the river and the nearby cruise ship dock.  Wonderful!  So far at least it doesn't appear that our jet lag will be too bad.  We walk to breakfast at one of the many small cafes nearby bathed in the sunshine and sit outside even though the air is a bit brisk.

During breakfast we develop our plan for the day.  We will take it easy, exploring the train stations and buying our tickets for Albuferia.  We know that the trains go through Oriente station.  The question is if we are going to book from nearby Santa Apolina and feel comfortable making a 10 minute train change at Oriente or just book from Oriente.