The Plan: Take the train from Coimbra to Caldas da Rainha and then, take a taxi to the hotel in Obidos.
The good part is that there is a train #804 that goes direct from Coimbra to Caldas da Rainha in a reasonably short time about two hours and one hour faster than by bus. The train stopped only three or four times but was direct.
Now for the grim part. There are no taxis at the Caldas da Rainha train station. Let me repeat that. There are no taxis at the Caldas da Rainha train station. The ticket seller told me that there is a taxi station approximately a ten minute walk from the station. He told us that he did have a train leaving for Obidos in five minutes. What luck I thought. The train ride to Obidos is a very short.
Now understand the Obidos train station. When you get off the train, the train station is abandoned: closed in 1997. There is no one around in any official capacity that you can talk to for assistance and you are essentially out in a field with a gravel road leading to normal driving road. After bumping our spinner suitcases along the rough gravel road, we arrived at the normal street, which is busy with cars. Gazing up; low and behold there is the Obidos wall and the road up is only at about a 45 degree angle for about 800 yards.
But then, a minor miracle occurred, which is what it takes if you take the train to Obidos. A fluent English speaker was on the same train and got off at Obidos. He offered to help. In a short while, he called a local cab. Keep in mind that cabs in Obidos are not marked. They look like any other vehicle, so you wouldn't recognize a taxi if it passed by you on the road. Had we not been rescued by the kindness of this stranger, we would probably still be standing on the road in Obidos staring up at the castle walls.
Recommendation: There is nothing wrong with getting a train to Caldas da Rainha, but because there are no cabs at the train station, either get the number of a local Caldas Da Rainha taxi company or contact your hotel and tell them that you need a cab sent to the station. This is true for both Caldas da Rainha and Obidos train stations. I should have done this but when Caldas da Rainha didn't have taxis and then, Obidos station was abandoned, I think I suffered from traveler brain paralysis caused by the two events.
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