Parting Thoughts; Until Next Year

Parting Thoughts

Three days in Lisbon was more than we needed to get the bike packed up and see the things that we wanted to see.  The bike disassembly and packing took an afternoon and while the box was ultimately bigger than I thought it ought to be, it came together nicely.  I knew that the plane that would take us to Alicante (on Spain’s Costa Blanca) was small and I was concerned that the box wouldn’t fit.  Time would tell.

We spent the time we had left exploring the big, busy and hugely popular city that Lisbon is.  Even though the city is big, we spent a lot of time walking just to get a flavor of things.  But we also rode the famous street cars and the metro, too, when we needed to put some distance on.  Similar to Reykjavik in recent years, Lisbon’s popularity as a tourist destination has grown rapidly.  The city is the home of Portugal’s seafaring exploration history and we found the most interesting part of the city to be along the waterfront of the Tagus river.  There are numerous sites that recall the exploits of da Gama, Magellan, Henry the Navigator and the others from Portugal who blazed trails across oceans that previously had not been explored by Europeans.  It is interesting to read about that history, which in the big picture of things was not really that long ago, and fun to walk around.

There is also a kind of foody scene that reminds me a bit of Portland but without the freewheeling Portland attitude.  There is a big food court called the Time Out Market that has dozens of food stalls that are mini-restaurants selling all kinds of food from all kinds of chefs.  That’s very popular.  And of course the famous egg pastries from Belem are a big hit.

But as in all of our trips, we have found that it is the countryside that we enjoy the most tand where we feel most comfortable.  On every one of these bike trips we’ve done we have visited some of the world’s famous cities.  Many are beautiful and we feel truly luck to have the opportunity to visit them.  But for us the small villages and the people who live in them are what makes each trip a joy,  It is why we do these rides.

On our Lisbon-leisure day we took a ferry across the Tagus river just because we thought it would be interesting and our metro ticket worked on the ferry, too.  As we walked down the ramp who did we see but the Dutch family who we’d met about a week earlier up on the Portuguese coast – I mentioned them in an earlier version.  It turns out that they we following our basic route – 2 nights in Sintra and then into Lisbon.

We had a great chat again and they explained that, like us, they felt that the ride from the coast into Lisbon was treacherous.  They decided to forego a stop in Lisbon and make it just a waypoint – they are riding on for another couple of weeks and did not want to spend time in a bustling city.  They took a group decision and they decided to skip Lisbon altogether since the ride into town was so unnerving.  What are the chances that we’d bump into the same group on a ferry a week after we’d bumped into them 400 km up the coast?  Serendipity and good luck.

Our Dutch friends getting ready to move south

Random scenes from Lisbon

A famous funicular

Taking it apart and boxing it up for the flights

With that, here are a few parting thoughts (keep in mind that the comments below refer to riding on roads that do not include bike lanes or separate bike paths):

Cycling in Portugal:  We rode many quiet roads along the coast where traffic wasn’t too heavy.  But we rode too many roads where there was a lot of traffic and the Portuguese drivers simply don’t give way to bikes.  We can both say that without exception the drivers in Portugal are the least cognizant of bikes of drivers in any country we’ve ridden.  That’s not to say that they were rude (though there were several rude-driver moments!).  Instead, I think it is simply that cycling is not part of the road fabric (so to speak) in Portugal.

In Portugal it is not possible to go safely without taking the entire lane when needed, and that requires constant lookout behind.  It also requires some pretty ballsy moves on the bike to block traffic.  For days on end Lorie kept a vigil in her rearview mirror and our conversation for hours on end was something like this: Lorie: “Two back, gap, truck, gap, two more.”  Doug: “OK, three oncoming I’m going to block the lane.”  It became really tiresome.

We both prefer to ride and look at the scenery.  We had read lots about the quiet roads in Portugal but that wasn’t our experience. 

Recommendation: don’t bring your bike to Portugal.  Rent a car – a Toyota Whatever is nice – and drive to the spots where you want to stay.  Or ride the train.  Portugal is a beautiful country and if you have a chance you should visit.  But don’t do it on a bike.

Cycling in Spain:  Spain wins the award for the best, safest, most scenic cycling of anywhere we’ve ridden.  On nearly every road there are signs at least every few kms that tell drivers to give cyclists at least 1 ½ m of space.  And the drivers pay attention to the signs – if there isn’t room to pass, they wait.  And when the wait is done they move past without jamming their foot on the gas pedal, and more often than not they give a happy honk on the horn, a thumbs-up, or a shout of “Aupa, Aupa!”

Recommendation: Anywhere in Spain where it isn’t too hot, and especially in the Pyrenees and the across the north coast.  But be ready to ride some big and steep hills!

Cycling in France: A close second to Spain only because somebody has to win.  France is France and bikes are part of the culture.  We have never had an issue with a car in France.  You can ride anywhere, even the big cities like Paris and Nice and Nimes and be totally comfortable.

And only in France can you get bread the way the French make it.  Enough said!

Forward:

The flight to Alicante was indeed on a small plane.  Lorie and I debated whether the bike made it on board – the plane was so small that the luggage was being loaded from the tarmac – the bottom of the plane was just a few feet off the ground.  We ended up betting $100 on whether the bike made it; I bet no, Lorie yes.

Lorie won.  When we arrived in Alicante they park the plane in a plane parking lot and you walk to a bus.  We watched them unload the luggage and saw no box.  But then they opened a hatch just behind the cockpit and there was the box, strapped to the back of a bulkhead that separated a storage compartment from the cockpit. Glad it made it.  We dropped the bike box (actually boxes – one for the bike, one for the wheels) at a consignment place at the airport (a great convenience) and our friends were at the airport a few minutes later to collect us.

We had a wonderful dinner in Alicante with long time friends.  We ate until 2 a.m...  Spain!

We hiked to the top of a rock mountain with fantastic views

Lorie, Doug, Verena and Javier.

On Tuesday we fly home and we are really looking forward to getting back to the Sherm, seeing the dogs and horses.  It has been an epic trip.  Super fun and super challenging.  But it is time to get home and see family and friends and get back to work.

Until next year, thanks for reading!  We look forward to seeing you.

Doug and Lorie.  Adios.

Final Ride Day: Sintra to Lisbon

We made it to Lisbon.  I say that with mixed emotions.  It is great to be at the finish line, so to speak, but as I feel every time on the last day of riding, I know that it we we will miss the daily routine, the daily exertion, and most of all, meeting new friends and seeing so many amazing things.

Knowing that it was our last day, we decided to modify our route to go westward to the further west point of Europe and then around the coast.  It added about 25 km to the day, but it made the ride a lot more fun and interesting (the original route had us riding through the suburbs for km on end).

Here's our route:



It also added that one big lump at about 18 km but that wasn't a big problem.  The weather called for a pretty warm day -- typical for Lisbon -- so we headed out after our morning coffees with the sun just rising over the hills around Sintra. 

Yesterday was a great day in Sintra and we saw most of the sites that we needed and wanted to see -- the Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle (more of a fort).  And we did some touristy stuff like try the local pastries.

The Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle both sit high above town on a mountaintop.

The Moorish Castle at night

Rather than join the masses on the busses we decided that a hike up the hill would be a good way to start the morning.  After a bit of trial and error we finally found the path to the top (they don't seem to advertise the foot path very much).  The hike was nice, with a dedicated stone path that while rough was cut nicely through thick forest that provided good shade.  We arrived at the castle first, but it had not opened yet (it was only 8:00 when we got there) so we strolled over to the Pena Palace.  This is a royal estate used by Portuguese royalty over the years.  It is interesting with a variety of architectural styles added over the years and with expected opulence.

the path to the top

 

The Moorish Castle is built on massive stones

Part of the Pena Palace

Our chosen route -- very quiet at this early hour

Here are some shots of the palace (we paid to walk around it but not go inside (although we did go in to a few places...))

The different colored sections were added over many centuries, and obviously adopted different styles

The gate has Islamic influence

The tile work is amazing (though some subject matter is a bit gruesome)

We loved this bird sanctuary that was given to a King by a Sultan -- the inscription around the
globe in Islamic text is in praise of Vasco da Gama's travels and discoveries

We wandered around the grounds for a long time -- they have a wide variety of plants with lots of identification signs.  It was lovely.

Next, to the castle, which is about 20 minutes hike away.  It is super cool.  Originally built with just one ring of fortifications in the 8th century, it was fortified over the years with a second, lower wall.  Peasants lived between the first and second walls and the garrisons lived in the upper walled section.  Today there is no development within the walls, so it is purely historical and that made it really interesting (most castles are full of shops and cafes, but it would be really tough to run a cafe up at the top of this hill in any event).

Parts have been restored, but it is pretty much the way it was in 1000

Massive boulders

The main central port of the fort

Looking across to Pena Palace, which was built centuries later (after the reconquest by the Portuguese)

Looking down toward Sintra

That is Lisbon's suburbs out there

We walked the wall as far as we could

What a fun morning!

We headed down the hill and bought some local pastries to chow down on.

All good, but my faves were the one at 11:00 (walnut) and the long one.  Lorie's fave was the wrapped
one -- flakey pastry filled with a sweetened cheese

On to our ride today, which was a perfect last day ride.  The road was quiet for the most part, and when we got to the coast we had a bike path.  We rode past Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe.

Cabo da Roca

And there were lots of surfing beaches (but no good waves, it appeared)

Approaching the outskirts of Lisbon

The town of Cascais

It was hot (about 34 degrees) and lots of folks were swimming

As we got close to Lisbon the roads got super busy with lots of traffic, and there were no bike lanes or escapes.  From a cycling perspective, it was just plain sketchy and dangerous.  We rode as defensively as possible and everything worked out fine, but it was an anxious way to finish the ride.  I'll follow up with some post-ride comments later, but for now, we are tucked into our hotel and we already got 3 bike boxes from a local bike shop (an epic adventure with 3 metro transfers each way, with only a few pedestrians knocked into the road...)

Bike shops are always willing to help out -- we pack das bike into these

Three boxes

I'm not sure that the subway would approve if we asked first, but we would apologize later if they
objected

That's it for now.  I will say that it has been a super fun trip.  Of all the trips we have done, this has been the longest, the hardest, the most climbing, and maybe the most fun.  More to follow in the next couple of days, but here's a shameless selfie showing that we are pretty happy to have made it to Lisbon!

(Yeah, our lips are sunburnt -- the sun is brutal...)

Cheers.

Ride Day 25: Santa Cruz to Sintra

Friends have said that we need to see Sintra, so today that's our destination.  We'll stay 2 nights, then ride the final day into Lisbon.

Fog and cold again this morning like old friends.  At breakfast at the guest house we had a nice chat with a girl from Lisbon who was in Santa Cruz for some kind of therapy (based on cold and fog, no doubt).  She told us all about Lisbon and what we might want to see, and we told her about our ride.  She warned us that we are in for a big change when we turn inland just north of Sintra, not only from a weather perspective but from a crowdedness perspective.



The route is pretty hilly but shouldn't be too bad.  The fog at the start was thick enough that I again used the headlight so that cars coming toward us could see what they were going to hit.  Seemed wise to me. 

Roundabout art, Santa Cruz style, in the morning fog

We hugged the coastline for many miles, mostly in fog, but sometimes skirting the edge between the fog bank and clear blue skies.  We had arm warmers and vests and Lorie wore her rain cape at first.  In one tiny village, mid morning, we came across a beach where they were having some kind of pro surfing competition.  And it was clearing up quickly (so we dumped the warm clothing).  The road dropped steeply to an inlet with a beautiful beach where the competition was getting going, and then brutally steeply up to an overlook area.  We stopped at the overlook and watched some of the surfers warming up.  The photos are not very good but the surfers were amazing.  I tried to do a video but they were too far out there to get a good shot.

Surf headquarters

Where they'll be surfing

Gearing up for the start of the competition

Heading out to test the waters

Surfer art

Ad for the competition

 We rode onward and stopped for coffee in Ericeira, and pretty little seaside town just south of the surf competition.  We met a Dutch family from Amsterdam who were mid-way through a bike journey and they were fascinated by the tandem.  Mom and Dad were traveling with 2 daughters, probably mid 20s, and they had ridden the Oregon coast a few years ago.  They really wanted to ride in Canada and we told them to go to the Icefields Parkway in Alberta.  They promised to do it next year.  I hope that they do.

From Ericeira we turned generally in a southeasterly direction and the girl from breakfast's prediction about the weather came true rather quickly -- the temperature hit about 35 in just a few km -- when we'd started this morning the temperature was about 14.  It felt entirely different from the cool coastal weather that we'd experienced for the past week and it was a bit of a shock.  And just to remind us that we're in Portugal we rode up some tough hills.  One was 1.5 km long and the lowest grade on my gps was 11%; it maxed out at 16%.  Ouch.

And the prediction about crowds became apparent as the traffic volume increased with each km closer to Sintra we came.  We got pretty lost coming into town, but eventually after riding up another ugly hill that had a lot of cars, most of them going hopelessly (and angrily) slowly behind us, we made it to our AirBnB.

Sintra isn't very big, but it is very picturesque, located on a hillside with lots of ups and downs and lots of interesting old buildings and tons of history going way back.  Here's a few buildings that we walked by on our way to visit the National Palace of Sintra.

The municipal building

The National palace (more on it below)

The town municipal building from another angle

We wanted to visit the National Palace, which originally was a Moorish structure but which was taken over by the Portuguese many hundreds of years ago, after the conquest in 1147.  The Iberian peninsula was occupied by the muslims until about the year 1000 and the palace dates from that time.   After the Portuguese drove the muslims out, they turned it into a palace for Portuguese royalty, particularly as a summer hunting lodge.

Bad photo of beautiful tile

Looking up the 30 m smokestack over the kitchen

Part of the kitchen; the royalty apparently liked to eat well

Relief on the ceiling -- the design is Islamic in origin but the frescos are Christian. 
Funny how one can replace the other; maybe they could one day coexist without conquest?

More Islamic design converted to Christian ideology

Some of the amazing tile on the floors

One of the dining rooms

Woodwork over a dining room -- there is a nautical theme with ships painted all around the ceiling --
Portugal ruled the seas for many centuries

Another of the chapels, again with muslim influenced design

Tiled frescoes in the main dining room

The palace is very interesting and beautiful.  While crowded, it was well worth the visit and we really enjoyed walking around and looking at the amazing art, tile, woodwork, etc.  Lorie and I both wished that there was some mention of the history prior to the Portuguese conquest in 1100, but history is written by the victors so that part has been left off.

We're knackered tonight, so we will get a good sleep tonight and spend the day tomorrow visiting the sites around town -- a Moorish castle high above the city and the Palace of Pena -- one of the 7 wonders of Portugal.  Hmm, I wonder.

Cheers!