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.