At the strong urging of our hosts at the guest house in Aveiro, we changed our route so that it diverted directly west so that we rode through Costra Nova, a small village near the coast. The change didn't change our overall mileage on the day and it was a beautiful morning, so we went for it.
Costra Nova is a fishing village that is famous for its "happy houses" that I mentioned yesterday. The place is mostly a seaside village now, but there is a lot of fishing still and lots of happy houses.
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| We had to ride over one creepy bridge on the way |
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| Over estuaries |
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| And another bike path... |
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| to the town of happy houses |
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| I waited while Lorie took photos |
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| The marina is mostly pleasure craft these days |
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| But the houses are there |
We had to stop for another coffee at a happy house cafe. How could we not?
Our ride was almost directly south along the coast and there was a nice, strongish, tail wind. And the road was flat. At one point we rode through a wildfire scar that must have run for at least 20 km -- the fire was obviously very intense. Portugal has had some terrible wildfires in the past few years and this was surely a bad one.
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| This fire scar went on for many miles |
The ride was actually a bit boring - flat roads and heat and wind (at least at our backs) and in no time we were in our destination, Figuera da Foz, a rather large-ish seaside town. I feel like we're ticking them off at this point in our trip: Espinho, Aveiro, Figuera da Foz, tomorrow Nazare, the next Santa Cruz. We are rapidly approaching Lisbon and the end of the ride. That brings mixed feelings. We are for sure getting tired -- we feel it whenever the road tips upwardly. But we are enjoying the ride and the things we see and the people we meet and it is hard to think of it ending. Still 5 more days to ride though.
Figuera da Foz is an odd town from what we saw. Very, very quiet, on this Friday night. Huge beach, lots of big hotels (many dated), a bull fighting arena. Maybe it is busy in the summer but it felt to us like time was passing it by as the town was all but deserted.
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| We missed the bull fights... |
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| We walked the beach but there's not much to see |
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| Miles of boardwalks |
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| Looking west, toward Florida and Mar a Lago |
We eventually wandered back through town and, being hungry, stopped in at some cafe that had 2 for 1 beers and bargain sandwiches. The place was great and the one worker guy spoke just a bit of English. He wanted my name so that he could yell and let me know when our order was ready. "But the place is empty," I suggested. "No, por favor, I need your name. OK.
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| My name is "Duck" |
So when I heard "Duck" over the loudspeaker I was sure that our order was ready. No mistaking that one.
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| Our dinner |
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| 2 for 1 beers |
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| Our hotel -- with four cats on the front porch (I liked the cats; Lorie thought them to be beggars). It is a great deal - a clean room, fast WiFi, breakfast included, all for just over $30 US. Not bad |
More southage tomorrow, to Navare, another beach town and another day closer to Lisbon.
Cheers.
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