_Travelling in Portugal._—The roads are usually very good, and open
carriages with one or two horses can be hired in any town at an
extremely reasonable price, four or five milreis a day being ample for a
carriage and two horses, which for the price will cover some
five-and-twenty miles or more according to circumstances. In railway
travelling it must be borne in mind that the trains on Portuguese
railways for the most part run primarily to convey goods and
merchandise, and that passengers must be content to wait whilst the
goods are being loaded or discharged. The trains, except an express on
the main line, are very slow. The carriages are, however, usually
comfortable. The absence of vociferation in Portugal, which in a general
way is a boon, is somewhat a drawback in railway travelling, as the
names of the stations are not called out, and as they are often painted
inconspicuously, and are not visible from the carriage windows, it is
necessary for strangers to be on the alert in order not to pass their
station. The best way is to provide oneself with a railway guide and
count the stations as they are passed. There is, however, usually a wait
at the stations long enough for inquiries to be made, as things are
rarely done in a hurry in Portugal.
THE END
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
Edinburgh & London
ERRATUM
Page 44. From line 2 read as follows: ‘whilst fighting valiantly by
the side of the Master of Avis at the ever-memorable battle of
Aljubarrota, that gave the regal crown of Portugal to the
illegitimate scion of the House of Burgundy.’
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Made the correction mentioned in the ERRATUM.
2. Silently corrected typographical errors.
3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
5. Superscripts are denoted by a carat before a single superscript
character or a series of superscripted characters enclosed in
curly braces, e.g. M^r. or M^{ister}.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Through Portugal, by Martin Hume