Wheelless travails in Albufeira, Portugal

Lost a wheel

We arrive at dusk in a not so crowded station. The bus driver has got the bags out. Again I have to drag them along the ubiquitous Portuguese calçada. One suitcase is leaning on its side. We are booking an uber and communication is iffy. But when it's done we have only five minutes to get to the pick up area also across calcadas. A BYD is already waiting for us. Only after the driver helps us hoist the suitcase into the trunk,does he utter  “ You’ve lost a wheel!”. The corner is also cracked.Must be all the movement in the bus's luggage compartment. Or scraping against the jagged calçada.  Too late to check. The bus has already left. No wheel in sight.

Lurch 

The enormity of the situation crashes over us the moment the driver pulls away. Our apartment building looms across the street, perched on an incline like it’s daring us to try. We’re dropped at a perpendicular road, nowhere near an entrance. Every path is a mosaic of ankle-twisting stone.

Where is the entrance? He shrugs. He doesn’t know. And then he’s gone.

For a second, we just stand there with the wobbling, tottering, mangled object that now feels twice as heavy. We scan the street. No signs. No shortcuts. Realty sinks in.

It’s uphill.Not a gentle slope. Not a forgiving climb. A relentless, cobbled ascent that threatens to send both us and our belongings crashing down at any moment. Each step is a gamble. Each tug feels like it might be the one that snaps our grip, our patience, or worse, the object itself.

Forward march

By the time we reach the building, our arms ache, and our feet shaky. Relief? The receptionist greets us with a polite smile and a sentence,

“The apartment is across the courtyard.” More dragging. More scraping. More jolts. The calcada is unforgiving as ever. 

Then comes the final blow:“Third floor.” No lift.The staircase zigzags upward in narrow, brick-lined turns. We stare up at it, 

For a moment, neither of us moves.Then, unexpectedly, the receptionist steps forward. “Let me help.” 

At last, the blue door. We push inside.The apartment opens into cool stillness, red tiles beneath our feet. We are drawn by the light from the glass doors at the other end.And then we see it. The door leads to a balcony and beyond it the calm azure sea that stretches to the horizon. 

Against all odds we made it!