Portugal and Spain.

     Two days before departure, the first test awaited us: a strike of employees began at Ben Gurion Airport. This event usually lasts several days. But we were incredibly lucky and the strike ended in a day. By the time we left, the airport was already operating as usual. Then we thought that the worst thing that could interfere with our trip had not happened.
  And then came the long-awaited day of departure. As expected, three hours before departure, the entire crew gathered at the airport. We passed the security check, registration without problems, and the border passport control, having biometric magnetic cards, generally slipped through instantly, checked in Duty Free and went to land.
  Almost five hours of night flight to Brussels was somehow tiring. In addition, the food was tasteless, perhaps because at night.
We arrived almost on time, a little less than an hour before flying to Lisbon. Time is running out, but we should be on time. In addition, we continue flying with the same airline, which, by the way, is based at Brussels Airport. But Brussels Airlines has prepared a surprise for us in the form of a specific obstacle course.
  We go to the border passport control, and there is literally a crowd of two hundred people, and only two passages out of a dozen are open. There are also stands for EU citizens, they are free, but they don’t let us in there: the wrong “face” of the passport. Europe-s!!! 20-25 minutes passed, and we practically do not move.
  Finally, Europe is starting to wake up and two more passages have been opened. We managed to get there in time, but another fifteen minutes pass before they start letting passengers through. The passport control procedure itself took another 5-7 minutes.
  We run further to the security check and customs control and again run into a huge queue. At this moment, we hear our names on the radio. It is also amazing how we heard them with a distorted pronunciation. In any case, we realized that we and about two dozen other passengers from our flight were urgently invited to board the plane. We try to bypass the queue and explain our problem to the nearest officer. The same is done by most, if not all, whose names have just been announced on the radio.
  Something extraordinary happened here. The same officer to whom they tried to explain the situation without taking off their rubber gloves loudly yelled “GO BACK!!!” several times, accompanying all this with an unambiguous gesture indicating in which direction we need to get out. We and other passengers, who became our companions in misfortune, turned out to be prudent people, did not aggravate the situation, and dutifully trudged in the indicated direction, i.e. to the end of the queue.
  While all the procedures were completed, by the way, they were quite tough, including the translucence of shoes on a special apparatus, about 20 more minutes passed.
  We ran further, still hoping that they were waiting for us. Already on the way to our landing arm, we were met by a representative of Brussels Airlines, asked our names and in a sweet voice said that our plane had already left!!! Oil painting!
  Here we must pay tribute to this woman: without waiting for our reaction, she calmly said that we should not worry, they are already waiting for us at the company's service bureau and we will fly away on the next flight.
  Her words brought us out of our momentary state of groggy and we headed to the service bureau, which turned out to be very close. All those who arrived from Tel Aviv had already gathered there and were supposed to fly further to Lisbon. We were somewhere in the middle of the queue.
  The next flight to Lisbon was at 12 o'clock, there were only two empty seats on it and the first two lucky people from the queue went to while away the time before the flight (it was about 9 am). Everyone else, including us, was invited to fly to Lisbon via Madrid. Departure in about an hour. Regarding the luggage, we received an explanation that we will receive it in Lisbon, but it is not clear whether the luggage was removed from the Lisbon flight and it flies with us through Madrid, or the luggage flew directly to Lisbon.
  After reissuing tickets, we immediately went to the boarding gate for the Madrid flight in order to avoid unforeseen obstacles as much as possible.
  So, we are flying to Madrid. Flight duration - 1 hour 50 minutes, food and drinks in flight - for an additional fee. This is now accepted on domestic European flights. We arrive in Madrid and run to the Lisbon flight, but the plane from Lisbon has not arrived yet. We spend two hours waiting and, finally, we fly to Lisbon, the flight is over an hour. Food and drink again for money.
  We arrive in Lisbon - instead of 8.30 am according to the originally purchased tickets - at 4 pm. But the obstacle course continues. We go to get luggage, but it's not there! We have already been to this movie when we were left without luggage in Milan three years ago and received it two days later. Now, it turns out, the shell hits the same funnel.
  We go to the Lost&Found office, where lazy boys have been arranging our absent suitcases for another hour. We received assurances that we would receive the baggage no later than tomorrow evening.
  This time we are more prepared for such a situation than three years ago. In hand luggage, everyone has a two-three-day supply of personal belongings. All equipment, including mobile phones and chargers for them, is also in hand luggage. But you can’t foresee everything, in addition, such necessary things as cosmetics, perfumes, shaving accessories, the same elementary toothpaste will still need to be looked for somewhere.
  Okay, let's move on. We're going to get cars. We went out into the hall, where the offices of rental offices were lined up in rows. We go around all the offices several times, but our company called Amoita is nowhere to be found. We go to the information office, we turn to the police - no one knows such a company. What? Another intrigue of Brussels Airlines? But what side are they here?
Some of us, losing self-control, plaintively whisper: "I want to go home". But we pull ourselves together, stop useless throwing around the airport, stop: who smoked (by the way, now this is a problem at airports: only in designated areas), who just got distracted and took a breath.
  Most importantly, we understand that no one but ourselves will help. We begin to calmly analyze the situation, remember about vouchers for receiving cars, once again, more carefully, we read them. Pay attention to phone numbers. Never paid attention to them and did not use them, but now, maybe this is the way to solve the problem.
  We called, they answered surprisingly quickly, and even in English. We say that we can’t find an office, we get an answer: there is no office, and a company representative was waiting for us in the morning, but did not wait. Let's explain our case. Okay, they say, wait there and there, a company representative will come in 15 minutes. Well, it's easier now.
  Indeed, in 15 minutes at the appointed place we meet with a representative of this very Amoita. He introduced himself as Antonio. The first thing he did was to go somewhere and, returning literally a minute later, brought posters with our names and phone numbers of the company, which were hung in the arrivals hall.
  It turned out that small rental companies that are associated with Internet online booking agencies most often do not have permanent offices and send their representatives for each order. This is probably one of the factors contributing to the relatively low prices for car rental in such offices.
  We draw up all the papers almost on our knees. Antonio then asks two drivers to go with him to the public parking lot, while the rest with luggage (or leftover luggage) must wait outside the arrivals hall.
  We go to the public parking lot, which is located nearby, but across the street from the airport building. Here we saw our two twins - two black Opel Corsa, even the numbers are almost the same, only the last two digits are different - 31 and 33. The cars are in good condition, up to 40 thousand on the speedometer. Gearbox - combined automatic, i.e. the main mode is automatic, but if desired, you can shift gears manually.
  We drive the cars to the airport building, make the final settlement with Antonio, agree on the order and time for the return of the cars. Antonio wishes us a happy journey and leaves us. We get into cars. While we decided not to break the couple. Therefore, two people get into one car, but both drivers, four into the other, incl. also two drivers.
  There were no questions about where to go. Our plan for today, with the direct participation of Brussels Airlines, is torn to shreds. Therefore, it remains for us to complete the last point - the Penedo Furado hotel in the town of Foz Do Arelho, which is next to Caldas Da Rainha. We aim our GPS-navigators at the address of the hotel and, finally, we break free, that is, onto the road.
About the roads of Portugal (we still have a car trip), I will write further.
  An hour and a half later we were making circles around our hotel. Our navigator considered the street and the house where the hotel is located as a pedestrian zone. In addition, the town is small, the streets are narrow. Our small cars had difficulty fitting into the turns between the houses. After we had traveled the same route three times, someone saw the sign of our hotel between the houses.
  The hotel seemed very nice and cozy to us. We quickly resolved all the formalities with accommodation, put the cars in the parking lot, had a little rest and put ourselves in order. We learned from the owner of the hotel where the nearest supermarket and restaurant were and went out to survey the surroundings. 
  We found a mini market not far away and found all the things we needed there.
  We walked a little along the pleasant streets with neat white houses and soon came to the embankment of the bay. Here we found a restaurant, which we called "Pepe" (there was the word Pepe in the name - Pepe). Having comfortably settled down on the veranda with a beautiful view of the bay, we had a very tasty dinner, at least somehow compensating for all the troubles of this long, but not the best day.