My Not So High Speed Alfa Pendular Experience | Lisbon Oriente - Faro

ROUTE: LISBON ORIENTE - FARO OPERATOR: COMBOIOS DE PORTUGAL TRAIN: ALFA PENDULAR DEPART: 1723 ARRIVE: 2023 COST: €15,00 2nd class adult single (PROMOTIONAL FARE) On my last visit to Portugal having used the Regional and Intercidades rail services, the high-speed Alfa Pendular eluded me. So, on my most recent visit it was time to try the AP train. Comboios de Portugal offer excellent promotional fares when you book 5, 8 or more days in advance. A €15 single fare for a 3-hour high-speed journey was very appealing! The non-promo fares came in at €33,40 in 1st class (Conforto) and €25,00 in 2nd class (Turistica). Not prohibitive but who doesn’t love a bargain? Lisbon Oriente station facade like myself has lots of curves. Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, Lisbon Oriente is winner of the 1998 Brunel Award. From a distance it looks striking. A study in concrete. Found it to be dark and unwelcoming. Have you used Oriente? What’s your opinion of it? The platforms are wind-swept and featureless and I found it to be dark, dingy, poorly-signed and confusing.  Departing Lisbon Oriente we will call at Entrecampos, Pinhal Novo, Tunes, Albufeiea - Ferreiras, Loule and Faro. Alfa Pendular is the name of the high-speed tilting train operated by the Portuguese railway company Comboios de Portugal. It connects the cities of Guimarães, Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra, Santarém, Lisbon, Albufeira and Faro. The trains were assembled in Portugal by ADtranz at the former Sorefame works at Amadora. They entered service in 1999 and rom 2017, the sets were refurbished, introducing new interiors, livery, seating and features such as Wi-Fi and power outlets. They have a top speed of 220km/h or 140mph. The 25th April Bridge, also known as 25 de Abril Bridge (Ponte 25 de Abril in Portuguese) is the longest suspension bridge in Europe. It has two levels, the top level is for cars and the lower, which was added in 1999 is for trains. The overpass took 45 months to build. It was inaugurated on the 6 August 1966 and was named Salazar Bridge, after António de Oliveira Salazar, dictator of Portugal until 1974. After the Carnation Revolution that took place on 25 April 1974 and Salazar’s regime was overturned, the Bridge was given the name 25th of April. It was designed by the American Bridge Company, also responsible for the San Francisco Bridge, and this is why the 25 de Abril Bridge looks a bit like the Golden Gate Bridge. As you may have guessed, I’m Tim. I live in the Scottish Highlands and I’ve always had a love of travel. Thanks to the magic that is YouTube I can share my travels with you, the unsuspecting viewer. Thank you so much for watching this video and supporting my channel. All your likes, dislikes, comments and subs are greatly appreciated. If you like what you watched please hit that Subscribe button! Keywords: train report, portugal tourism, travel, trains Follow my travels on X & Instagram: @TimsTravels01 You can support the channel here: https://ko-fi.com/timstravels Or here: https://paypal.me/timstravels1?countr... MUSIC Kimochii by Mona Wonderlick   / monawonderlick   Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3aovLOi Music promoted by Audio Library    • Kimochii – Mona Wonderlick (No Copyright M...  ri #train #trainjourney #railways #comboiosdeportugal #railway #rail #random #railwayline #railwayroute #railwayjourney #alfapendular #alfa #ap #railfans #railroad #pendolino #traintravel #travel #timstravels