My GPS needs a reboot!

I need my GPS rebooted! Not once, but twice yesterday I got lost, big time. My sense of direction used to be so much better. Or at least it seemed that way.

I set out yesterday to explore and to find an ATM where I could get some Euros. I had broken my own rule by not doing so at the airport when I arrived. I was just too tired and could not wait to get to the hotel and a bed.

When I wanted to get back to the hotel, I could not find the street on which the hotel is location. Instead I found  the hop on off buses. After the second tour, I decided it was time for a nap and consider dinner.

The hotel staff recommended a restaurant Casa do Alentejo, which they assured me was only a 15 minute walk and I just needed to stay on the same street until I found it on the left side. Half way there I was uncertain, so asked a policeman. He assured me I was in perfect English. Soon I came upon a street with outdoor seating for a multitude of restaurants, like so many other countries, these are obviously tourist spots.

Casa do Alentejo is a moorish structure, no place for handicapped as there are several flights of stairs before you reach the main dining area. While the menu features many traditional Portuguese dishes there was an English translation of the menu. I was not ready for the one of a thousand ways to prepare codfish so I played it safe with gazpacho and lamb stew. The aroma of both dishes as well of the flavor woke my tastebuds. Finished the meal with a black and white mousse. Not quite what I had pictured, but had an unusual texture and of great flavor.

Returning to the hotel should be a simple task, right?  Wrong.  I somehow and I do not know how got off on a wrong street. I was beginning to not have fun so when I saw a taxi, I asked for Santa Marta street. His instructions got me home but was the opposite of what GPS told me. From the time I left for dinner and returned it was 4 hours later. This morning I asked for a map.

Outdoor art; typical cobblestone pattern

View from food mart

Dining room of Caso do Alentejo