Meine 2 Teenager-Söhne und ich genossen unsere Tour mit Rui. Er war sehr sachkundig und teilte historische und kulturelle Informationen mit uns, die wir wirklich genossen. Auch bei Regenwetter war dies eine Tour, die ich sehr empfehlen würde.
K3916HZdavide
10 Mar 2025
Meine Familie nahm die Jeep-Tour nach Arrabida NP und hatte eine tolle Zeit. Unser Guide, Andy, war sachkundig und sympathisch. Ich empfehle die Reise sehr.
In short, STAY AWAY from this tour. Good till lunch, then very scary after. I'll give you the good and the bad - all true however, and a story I'll NEVER forget. Read on to the end even though it is long . . . .
Our driver (Andre Marques) met us at the prescribed time at our hotel in Lisbon. He did not show up in a Jeep as advertised. He was in a Mercedes that appeared to be 15+ years old. The weather for the day was predicted to be sunny and 15 degrees celsius and he said taking a jeep would not be comfortable, so we said okay. The windows in his vehicle were not very clean however, and fogged up unless we kept the windows down a bit.
We first drove to Sesimbra. Andre dropped us off at the beach in town while he grabbed breakfast. The beach was nice and we enjoyed walking it.
We then drove to a church on top of the mountain which overlooks Sesimbra. The church and cemetery were interesting, and the view from the cemetary was beautiful.
We proceeded to the Arrabida nature area and drove to a lookout point which was also very nice. We stepped out for a few minutes and took some pictures.
After that, he told us he was going to take us to a suprise lunch spot where we could get a very good meal. Lunch was not mentioned in the tour's online description, and we had already packed lunch snacks, but didn't object to going to a restaraunt. The restaraunt was a great experience as the food and service were very good, and the view from the outside seating area was amazing. We were very happy at that point.
We then got back in the car and Andre told us he was taking us to a tile factory. Really? A tile factory? This was NOT on the itinerary, but as Andre was a local we figured it must be special, so we didn't object. We also didn't know it was going to be our last stop before returning.
On the way to the tile factory, it became VERY apparent that Andre was not in the same condition after lunch as he had been before. He wasn't necessarily slurring his words as if drunk, but was amped up like a man possessed. On the twisting and hilly roads, he was driving extremely fast and passing every vehicle we encountered. It was if he was racing and the other cars were standing still. My wife asked him to slow down, and told him driving like that would cause her to become sick. He slowed down briefly, but soon returned to driving like a maniac. We again told him he had to slow down. At that time he was regularly driving 100 kph on roads marked with a limit of 50 kph. We were happy to arrive at the tile factory simply because it meant we were not experiencing Andre's driving.
The factory visit was somewhat interesting, but not what we booked the tour for.
When we left the tile factory, Andre told us it was time to head back to Lisbon and he got on the motorway. At that point, we hoped that if we told him to keep the speed down, he would. He didn't.
On the motorway, Andre began weaving through the traffic, again as if in a race, with his head leaning left and right as he weaved. He was singing and playing the music loudly. As our speed went over 150 kph, we advised him to slow down again, for his and our safety. He apologized and asked if 130 kph would be acceptable because lots of people drive that speed on the motorway. We said that would be okay, but asked him to be careful.
Minutes later, his speed went up, up, UP!!! I was sitting behind him in the rear seat and could see he was hitting 210 kph!!!! At that point we became insistent that he slow down! Again he apologized and reduced his speed to about 130 kph.
Moments later he picked up his phone and began to text someone. Almost immediately he veered to the right and came within centimeters of hitting a car next to us. We yelled and he swerved back into our lane and and apologized. I yelled at him "Put your f***ing phone down!" That got his attention, but his response was "You sound like my mother", to which I told him he might want to listen to her.
From that point on, he repeatedly turned around to us in the back seat to apologize, and said he hoped we wouldn't leave a bad review. He told us his mother had throat cancer and his thinking was preoccupied, which was interesting given the music and singing!
Now we had to constantly tell him to look forward because he wasn't paying attention to what was ahead of him. Literally, we told him at least 5 times to just "look forward, focus on your driving, and just get us back to the hotel".
We were so relieved to finally get back to the hotel.
NEVER AGAIN!!!! Viator, take this man/tour off your sight if you know what is the smart thing to do. He said he as the tour company manager and his name is Andre Marques. We are sorry for this review Andre, but feel obligated to protect others. Get help.