The Portuguese Venice - Getting to know a Portuguese emergency room

Today Cindy is back... and there is a lot to report, because it never gets boring with us...

In our motorhome travel guide, there was a little insider tip on the way to Nazare. The city of Aveiro is supposed to be a mix of Holland (lots of bicycles), Venice (canals and gondolas), and Portugal (colorful fishing village). Apart from the insider tip (it was packed), it didn't disappoint.

The city is simply wonderful. There are old, colorful houses everywhere that line the canal system. In the water, there are numerous Moliceiros, which are gondolas that were previously used as fishing boats. Really beautiful and definitely worth a visit!

Afterwards, we drove to Nazare, a popular city for surfers because of the monster waves. We didn't have any monster waves, but there was a lot of wind and a rough sea. The kids and Steffi watched the sunset on top of the hill and almost got blown away. Unfortunately, I was already in bed because the day was very exhausting for me.

The next morning, we got ready for the continuation of our journey to Lisbon. And as usual, Steffi wanted to wake up Elisa and chase her out of the tent. Suddenly, a loud scream echoed through the campsite. I rushed out as fast as I could (which was about as fast as a snail) and saw Steffi lying in front of our motorhome, clutching her right knee. Since Steffi was used to a lot from her handball days, it wasn't good that she stayed lying down. Our step has sunk into the sand and Steffi twisted her ankle as a result. Her arms and legs were all scraped up, but worse, she had a swollen knee and a lot of pain.

Panic broke out for us. Steffi was sure that something was broken. Which in itself is not very nice. But when you consider that she is our only driver, because I am unable to drive due to my post-COVID condition, and we are 2600 km away from home, you can certainly understand our panic.

We received a tip from home to contact the ADAC for repatriation. We followed the advice and now we had to drive to the nearest hospital to get a certificate of inability to drive. The campground staff were very nice and arranged a taxi for us, as well as an additional night on site. 10 minutes later, we were sitting in the taxi, and we said goodbye to the kids with the phrase "we'll be back in 3 hours, buy ice cream and relax by the pool." Well, what can I say, 3 hours turned into 8, and we still didn't have a doctor's letter.

The registration at the emergency room went smoothly, and now it was time to wait. The nurse already said that it was very busy today, so we had to bring some waiting time... Hour after hour passed, our phone batteries were getting emptier and emptier (we packed the power bank without a cable in a hurry), and hardly anything happened. Well, nothing happened for the two of us, because there was a lot of bustle there. I have never experienced such a loud emergency room before, you couldn't even hear the announcements anymore. Steffi couldn't sit anymore at some point, and I was in pain too. She kept walking back and forth, saying it was okay, only getting up and taking the first step hurt. And when we discovered after 7 hours that the called patients were sitting in the next room and still hadn't seen a doctor, we made a plan B. We decided to drive to Lisbon the next day. Steffi said driving was really possible, and she absolutely didn't want me to drive. Mean, just because I often confuse right and left and have hardly any reaction time... In Lisbon, Steffi will rest and if it doesn't get better, she will see a doctor there.

Our nice taxi driver picked us up again at 9:30 pm. Our stomachs were down to our knees (which is actually not a big deal), and the kids kept writing that they were hungry (we can't satisfy them at the moment anyway, the next growth spurt must have started). Rui, the taxi driver, kindly stopped at the golden M, so that our girls greeted us with screams (it was definitely because of us and not because of the burger).

So we let the evening come to an end, we would think about everything else the next day. I then slept in the second bed so I wouldn't constantly touch Steffi's knee at night. I strongly doubt that it was supposed to be a second double bed, because even I, with my sweet 1.63m, couldn't stretch out... Construction error??

Update: after 3 days of intensive cooling and doing nothing except bathing, Steffi is actually able to drive and we can continue our journey.