Batalha to Alcobaca to Nazare and the Portuguese People

     Before further travels we really need to mention some Portuguese people we have met. Each day we have had the opportunity to meet and be helped by some of the friendliest people, no one asking for anything in return.
     We have also been the dumbest tourists ever known to wander unattended. Ìt`s a wonder... On multiple occasions we have left expensive electronic devices behind, dropped or misplaced, only to have them returned. Directions, people on bicycles riding along guiding us, invitations to home stays. We say super thanks to.. Rita, Municipal Camping Coimbra, for plain awesomeness, directions and returning electronic devices,  the waitress from St Iris´s bar in Tomar who found and returned to us the next day in a pastelleria our flashcard, the waitress in Siciliano´s in Tomar that returned our entire electronics bag that had been left behind. Henri the Dutch cyclist for advice and the heaps of people from older ladies to taxi drivers that have put us back on the right path that we so frequently wander off of and Pedra Rocha for his map that helps us find our way each day.
     The Portugese breakfast is a feast of pastry. Each morning we are fueled by coffee in it's various forms. The Gelao, a large glass of milky coffee, cafe leite, strong and short or espresso, just a shot. Usually it's a combination of the above,  accompanied by whatever delightful morsel that looks good and sits behind the glass cases in large varieties. Most times we choose several and go back to try others. Always there are regional delicacies that need our attention.
     We headed out of Batalha to more climbing on our way to Alcobaca. Climbing has now become a part of our everyday travel. What goes down must come up and we no longer look at downhills as free miles but as a prelude to another climbing session, often steep, sometimes reaching 10-12%.
     Alcobaca,  built in the 1100s, is another World Heritage site. Built to honor a vow to St Bernard, this monastery is built in the Cistercian fashion and was also famous for the "perpetual gormandizing of the fat waddling monks". The door into the refectory was made narrow so that any monk who could not pass had to go on a fast.
     Alcobaca has an especially interesting history. Dom Pedro, the son of the king, falls in love with his wife's lady in waiting, Ines. After his wife dies, he secretly marries her as his father is afraid of Spanish influence. Unaware of the marriage, his father has her murdered and when Dom Pedro accedes to the throne he rips out and eats the hearts of her murderers, exhumes and crowns her body and makes the entire court kiss the hand of her decomposing body.
     Particularly austere, it is the austerity itself that makes it impressive. The tombs of Pedro and Ines are on opposite sides of the church, facing each other, so that they will each be the first thing that they see when they rise up on judgment day.
     Continuing on we came to the town of Nazare and the beginning of wind. Lots of wind. Unending wind. Gale force wind. One should probably think "wind" when the hillsides are covered with windmills. We cheat on the way to the camping ground Vale Paraiso (which so far is our winner of the thumbs down due to the expensive and poor working laundry). Going past the detour signs we enter onto the new and so far unused interchange that allows us, and someone on a motorcycle, to cut off multiple kilometers and a entire town. After setting up in windy city, spending €12 euros on ineffective washing and drying that still required a laundry line and left our clothes, well... dirty.. we went off to dinner.
     Ah.. the best laid plans of mice and men. Oh yes we really would like to have the paella that we have planned on for 2 days but you are closed. Every restaurant is dedicated to the exact same food. We'll have to take a look at the tourist spots in the states like Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and see it it's the same. Same menu, slightly different view, all expensive. And so back on our bicycles we went to our favorite standby, fresh bread and peanut butter and jelly with Super Bock.

Tomar to Fatima and on to Batalha

     On the 13th of each month, people in the millions come and we stopped in for a few moments to check it out. It is supposedly the site, in the early 1900s, of the visitation of the Virgin Mary to 3 children, with subsequent appearances each month for several months, each time the children receiving a prophecy.
     You cannot come to Portugal without seeing the influence of the various religions that have made their mark here, Celts,Visigoths, Moors, Christians.
     Deciding earlier that we were going to find a room, we picked out a whitewashed residencial with geranium window boxes right on the praca with the Monastery only to find it was full. Told to wait, the Dona could be seen running across the praca to return with another woman, in traditional Portuguese dress. There in turn we were lead to another woman who ran a tourist store and we were offered a room.
     At first we thought that we were going to end up in someone's house, and had been quoted the same price as the cost of the room at the first place, €30. Upon arrival however it was it´s own place, with room for our bikes, two balconies that overlooked another praca, bedroom, bath, living room, a full apartment! We got her name and number for the future, and we sank into the lap of luxury ~

     The evening was spent on the Praca at a Prosciutto bar, hams hung from the ceiling and slices of cured prosciutto piled high on rustic bread, the blue azulejo tiled room filled with local men and huge mugs of Sagres beer passed around. A good way to relax!
     Life is pretty good sleeping on the Big Agnes sleeping pad in the tent but beds still can`t be beat! And in room suites win hands down!
     Our favorite however is the tomb of Henry the Navigator, responsible for the Age of Discovery. Not that it was more outstanding than any other tomb but of who he was, he´s just our personal wandering favorite. After an easy morning of viewing and coffees, we were off to Alcobaca.

Tomar

      After yesterday's debacle it was easy make the choice to stay in Tomar for the day. The Bastion of the Knights Templar, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.     
     A charming, amazing little town and is well worth staying several days if not longer. The Municipal Campismo is right in town and surrounded by sights, restaurants, cafes..all a touring cyclist could desire.
     We met a fellow bicycle tourer from Holland, Henri, who has been touring around the world. He had been staying in the Municipal Campismo for a month and while loathe to leave had not found the apartment of his budget to live in for the winter so was heading farther south.
     Tomar is all that is described and more. The Convento de Cristo built into the Templar Castle and it's attached buildings are nothing less than magnificent. Built in various styles but particularly famous for it's Manueline architecture. The chapel itself built so the Knights could ride in on their horses to attend Mass.

Tomar with theTemplar Castle on the hill.

Knights Templar Castle

     Arched bridges over waterways, cobbled streets and flowers. Statues and bronzes abound as do garden areas. We met our gardener friend who had refused us the ride but was nonetheless happy to see that we had arrived safely.

Our new friends Maria and Adelaide

      Lazy sots that we are we decided to take the Tourist Trem, a motorized train that goes around town on 2 different tours. We picked the crappy tour, rose instead of green. We did make two wonderful new friends in the process, Maria and Adelaide from Leiria. The older women had come for a short visit and also wanted the train.
     You had to meet a certain number of people for the train to go and so Lowell and I stood out on a mission to obtain the allocated number. In short we had success so off we went! Touring the...new part of town, the hospital, the armory , multiple multi-story housing complexes and our favorite, the 40,000 matchbox Museu de Fosforos. (Matchbook museum). As opposed to the multi-castle, 6 mile long Roman double arch aqueduct tour.
     With everyone staring as we went by the four of us turned it into a personal parade with much waving and laughing. At the end we parted with an invitation to visit and we were off for another pastry, this time an egg creme filled sugar sprinkled monstrosity.

The evening view from the St. Iris cafe.

     We are finishing out the day with a beer and free wifi at an outdoor cafe bar, St. Iris, a mere one block from the municipal campground, watching the sun set over the castle while the Dumbo elephant children's ride sits next to us playing Hi Ho from Sleeping Beauty.

Coimbra to Tomar

We didn't expect to do 60 miles and 2300 feet of climbing but it's how it ended. Our goal was to have a short day, starting out with good directions for safe bicycling by our new friend at the Municipal Campismo, Rita, and head to Conimbriga, home to an extensive complex of Roman Ruins. Eventually our camp was to be in Penela.
A fast route out of town had us the 12 K to Conimbriga in short time. The site are the most well preserved Roman ruins on the Iberian Peninsula and has multiple sections. Houses, now in ruins but with intricate tile mosaic floors intact, baths, laundries, gardens, the requisite Christian chapel built on top of an old bathing area. Floors made with a Swastika design that symbolizes peace. Under a covering is the house of fountains which has had the fountains and water gardens restored. A lunch under the olive trees in the heat and with our new best friends, the flies, we were on our way again. Climbing our way to the mountain top destination of Penela with it's crowning castle we find... the mercado is back downhill , there is no ice and the Municipal campground is closed with no poaching available. we had run out of luck.
Deciding to head further on towards Tomar, we decided to wild camp as there were no campsites or find a residencial/pousada. No such luck and we were on road we do not recommend, the N110/N1. Narrow and a major truck way, no shoulders. I will give credit that many tried to avoid us but there was just no room and Lowell, for the third time this trip, took a fall trying to jump onto a sidewalk.
It did provide lots of local entertainment as he hit the garage door of the local bar, mind you one foot from the street, and had what had to be all 8 of the people who lived in town out on their balconies or out of the bar. At least this time there was no blood and he was up and going again with only sore elbows.
Several stops incurred attempting to find a place to put the tent but all just shook their heads and said that camping was down the road as the sun was dropping.
Attempting to pay gardners with a large truck to take us in to Tomar, where they were going did not work as there was no room in the car and the driver would not allow us in the back..
Chatting with people at the gas station came up with 2 options though. One, a residencial and two the campground. The residencial was just down the street and looked great but camping was 3 K and so we opted for it instead. It was a mistake.
No campground, nada, nein, nicht, nao. No wild camping and we were left with one more choice, 10 K from Tomar was a Residencial that the gardner had mentioned. Upon arrival it was dark, dirty, dingy, dogs barking, drunk men lounging and without much discussion we moved on. We would just pound out the last 10 K.
By this time it was completely dark and even with lots of lights and reflectors and reflective vests it was a bit scary. But LM! occurs.. it's all downhill. When we came to the major interchange roundabout it had every direction on the compass to Tomar. LM! we chose the right one and it headed downhill all the way, quite a long way, directly to the Municipal Campismo.

Coimbra

Coimbra is a town famous for it's university and after a long and somewhat eventful trip we made it. The Municipal Campimisso comes highly recommended by us. Perched upon a hillside (though cyclists beware, it is a long climb on commuter heavy streets), it has views down the backside of wooded forest and, depending on the site, highway. But the free showers with free toilet paper, and all the previous mentioned amenities make for an awesome stay. It is however a typical Portuguese campground with sites close together and the best ones reserved for the motor-homes as few people tent camp.
We started our Coimbra visit the easy way, taking a 5 euro taxi to the top of the hill that the University and the city is perched on and made our way down the river. Starting at the Praca Dom Dinis we had a great lunch of shrimp sandwiches for 2 euro and heading over to the Biblioteca where over 30,000 volumes of 14, 15 and 16 Century major writings are stored, everything gilded top to bottom. On oak cabinet shelves to avoid insects and a family of bats that live there to take care of the rest. Due to inherent temperature control via the actual building, insects are the major enemy of the papers and the bats take care of those that live past the oak. Every night the caretaker covers all the tables and furniture with leather covers to protect from bat droppings and each morning he removes them. Lowell commented that this would be the design of my perfect house. Nothing but books and someone to dust them.

The Biblioteca of Coimbra University with Dom Denis in foreground.

On to the Chapel of St Miguel, where we watched a French tourist berated not only by the woman docent of the chapel but his tour group for taking pictures and stood looking at the spectacular display of art, albeit religious and poor St. Miguel holding his heart full of arrows in his hand. Lowell often wonders out loud why Jesus is always shown on his worst day ever?

Coimbra City Downhill Press Conference

Onward thru narrow cobblestone walkways listening to a cello playing from a window to the Se Velha or Old Cathedral where a press conference on the new downhill mountain bike competition to occur actually within the city on the cobblestone streets was being held.
The streets are filled with the traditionally dressed students of the Uni in black dresses and suits and black caps, just think Harry Potter and you will have it. New students however are not allowed the traditional manner but are made to do strange things in public as a manner of Freshman hazing such as walking holding hands but between the legs, singing each House's song ad nauseum very loudly, or out on a scavenger hunt.

The caped students of Coimbra University

At one point we overheard a group get directions at Beca dos Gatos and upon seeing another group of the same were able to pass on the information. " Duas quadras antes Se Velha, olha para placa Beca dos Gatos e viri direta!" Or something like that.
Super Bock in the Praca Republica, on to more streets filled with tiled buildings, Moorish architecture and thieves. We like to pick them out but so far have been left alone. Past the Roma/Gypsy beggars we found gold! An Indian cuisine restaurant where Lowell was able to fill his veggie heart to the brim and then a quick taxi to camp and packing to prepare for the next leg, Coimbra to ??? We had yet to decide.

Figueira da Foz to Coimbra

 

Lowell traverses Cabo Montego

Starting off in Quiamos, we did not want to ascend the long road back to the N109. We stood at the beach,watching waves and contemplating our choices. We could climb a substantial distance of 14 K, back out to the main road or could do a 4K trip around the Cabo Montego to Bucacao and on to F. da Foz.
The issue however was on every map we had there was no actual road on the 4 K choice.
     LM! The local guard showed up to check the beach and recommened the shorter round. Each way would consist of a climb but the 4K was not only shorter it had great views. The guard promised laughing to come look for us if we did not make it and so with a lightheartedness we set off for a quick coffee.

  The guards (and the gentleman at the counter in the coffee shop were both right and not only were the substantial incredible views but the short steep climb (14%) was worth the free miles down the other side into F. da Fo   z.
     In F. da Foz we were able to obtain some needed supplies includng an electrical adaptor which we thought we had but didn´t and a bicycle pump. Our floor pump and bicycle pumps each had problems and not all gas stations had an air pump that fit our adaptors. It was worth it to me to buy the floor pump for a mere €17. Lowell was also missing screws for his shoes. For the future we note that the screws come loose and a couple of extra won´t hurt.

The Bicycle Shop in F. da Foz

     After a trip to Pingo Doce super mercado we were feeling pretty darn great having received directions from the bicycle shop on the best bike route to Coimbra. We backed this up with a few questions down the road from some utility workers and off we went.
Yes, off we went, down the road and then off the pavement onto the gravel as directed to the other side of the power plant then back onto pavement headed...where? Keep the river on your right shoulder they said. Don´t divert they said. So why is the river over there and we are on a canal here? Did they mean the canal? We can´t see anyway over to the river and that way is gravel and this way is pavement, albeit with hundreds of potholes.
And so it went, until we ran into each other trying to avoid potholes at 15 miles per hour. Connecting panniers Lowell skewered out of control and fell head first (for the second time in two months), while I skidded to a stop, a ways down the road. Looking back I was relieved to see Lowell standing with blood running down his face without any outstanding angles in his body.
After further inspection it was another LM! A few minor scratches and kudos to his helmet as he has three deep purple bruises that match exactly the holes in his helmet. Another disaster diverted(although he wasn´t quite as sure as I was.) The bicycle took a bit and had to have handlebars re-adjusted as well as the rack, fenders, brake levers and saddle.
Now somewhat lost, somewhat injured, definitely hot and tired, we plugged on until finally we gave in to a lunch on a farmer´s road in the shade scattered in sheep nuggets.

Lunch with the Sheep Nuggets

Continuing on we came to a crossroads that stretched in four directions as far as you could see. Checking all our maps we were at an end as to which way to go with no one and no cars in sight...and LM! Here comes unseen and out of nowhere an elderly woman, dressed in traditional black clothing which gave us the directions. Go straight, always! she said, don´t turn! she said, slapping her arm as if to punish it for pointing the wrong way, and off we went again... to get lost again and further stop to talk with women hand washing and repairing their laundry. Up the road to the principle street and then right, don´t turn and always straight! And off we went to only turn around and start over again from the canal.
     We asked directions of a man repairing the canal.... two roundabouts and then right, don´t turn and then straight! he said and finally we made it! Onto the N111, our original choice in the morning and the final 30 kilometers to Coimbra. Upon arrival to Coimbra thankfully we found easy, marked directions to a fabulous Municipal Campground. After a bit of climbing we dragged ourselves into paradise with hot showers, restaurant, bar, gym, massage, aerobics, swimming pool and miniature golf!

The Municipal Campground in Coimbra

49 miles, a Super Bock and a shower later we were done for the night.

Aveiro to Figueira da Foz

       Or accurately it should be Sao Jacinto to Quiamos. We had camped in the municipal campground in Sao Jacinto and headed off for an early start. First stop? Coffee. Portugal has the finest coffee in an array of styles. We have had everything from gelao ( tall glass of milky coffee) to cafe com leite (short with a little milk) to espresso. All good, all motivating and accompanied by a huge array of breads and pastries.

On the ferry from Sao Jacinto to Aviero

     Lowell had checked the ferry schedule but wanted a recheck so in the middle of our slow, relaxing breakfast I rode down the the ferry dock finding an older gentleman in traditional dress. But as I was riding up he signaled for me to enter the ferry and that it was leaving.      
     Turning my bicycle around I hollered over my shoulder that I had to get my husband and for the first time I was passing other cyclists instead of the other way around. Lowell loaded up in a split second and we were racing back to the ferry, again being waved on by the gentleman. As we rode up they lowered the ramp for us, having been ready to take off! Another lucky moment and again demonstrating how wonderful the people of Portugal are.
     A short ride across for €3 and we arrived in Aveiro. I had wanted to visit an area in Aveiro but we had decided against it. After evaluating distance covered vs. quality of experience we have learned that we need to skip some places in orderto have more time to see those things that are important to us. In Aveiro I had wanted to visit an area of brightly striped houses and once again luck intervened.
     We had come to a crossroads and did not know which of the ways was better in order to follow the coast line but, lo and behold, the gentleman that we had recently passed caught up with us and so Joao became our tour guide heading to Costa Nova. This would also put us on the direct path to Figueira da Foz. And Costa Nova was the area that I had wanted to visit!

Costa Nova by Aveiro

Passing out of Costa Nova and it´s brightly stripped houses we bid our guide Joao goodbye with a ringing of bicycle bells and were off on on way. We made our way into Praia Mira where inquiring at the tourism site, yes you guessed it, another lucky moment. A Lucky Moment shall now be referred to as LM!. We had decided to travel via the coast to F. da Foz but found out that the section from Praia Mira to Praia Tocha, while noted as a rural road on the map, is actually a wide deep sand path. Pushing loaded bicycles through kilometers of sand is definately something to be missed. We were placed on first a long shady road to the roundabout with the boat heading to the N109 and then onto the N109 with wide cycling shoulders where we ended up having a lunch in a turnout with shade. Frequently we are seeing rest areas with picnic tables and shade but have yet to stop.
     Our goal was to actually camp in F. da Foz but upon arrival to Quiamos we were hot, tired and ready to stop. We loaded up at a cafe\ mercado and headed down the the Orbitur camp at Quiamos, being met by a fabulously friendly hostess. A huge change from our last Orbitur meeting. Hot showers and Super Bock after 48 miles.

Porto to Aveiro

Having arrived in Porto we were to find that we had chosen a great place to stay. It had been a bit of a journey as when we arrived in Madrid we were late and had been cancelled off our connection which we only found out after running like banshees through the airport to arrive 20 minutes before our connecting flight to Porto. It was the first of many lucky moments we had experienced. Not only did they put us on the flight but our cancelled baggage made it with us!
Met by the van driver that we had requested we were at the Residencial Grande Rio in moments and can only say super things about this place. We had a big room with a balcony, three sets of floor to ceiling windows with three beds even though we booked a twin bed room. Another lucky break. Everything had been sold out when we booked except the twin room and here we were with the best room possible.
A priority was putting the bicycles together and lucky strike again, we were provided with a large patio that was out of the way and a place to leave our bicycle bags for the duration of the trip. All of this and a fabulous breakfast included in the price gives Residencial Grande Rio quite a recommendation for cycling tourists.

The Hand Doorknocker

A day spent out in Porto seeing the sites. A World Heritage city, it is definately old and quite a bit shabby, even the better areas. The buildings are covered with an array of muti-colored, multi-designed tiles, intricate iron decorations and door knockers that are a hand with a ring on it. Roofs are decorated with small pergolas or cats, sometimes at one end, sometimes at both ends.
We used the Lonely Planet walking tour which was excellent although we covered it in less time than noted. Visiting the Torre de Clerigos we had a 220 step view of the panorama of Porto and onto the Igreja da Misericordia. Built in Rococo style and featuring a Renaissance painting by an unknown person called the Fons Vitae, or Fountain of Life, it supports to this day the poor, orphaned and disadvantaged.
As most art from these time periods, religion is featured in one form or another and displayed in an extravagant manner as in the Igreja de Sao Francisco which houses not only catacombs with mounted numbered skulls denoting areas but 200 kilos of gold incrusted woodwork. Macabre viewing though as the wood carvings were of the events that created the martyrs. (Decapitations, driving of metal spikes through various body parts and so forth.)
It is often noted that precipitators of martyrdom in any historical religious site were not shown unless they were Moors at which point they were carved as dark, swarthy, turbaned men with swords. To offset this dark history we were also witness to a wedding and so were surrounded by laughing, celebrating people.
The next day we headed out down the coast to begin our trip. We have to give fabulous kudos to Portugal for the extensive bicycle path that took us, with few interruptions, to our next place of stay in Sao Jacinto. Off the road with good paving, red in color, and differentiated areas for walkers and cyclists.

Across the river from Porto in Vila Nova da Gaia

Portugal is cycling crazy which as cyclists we apprciate and on this particular Saturday we were repeated greeted by fully kitted-out road and mountain cyclists. We also noted that they kept a breezy pace and found ourselves passed by everyone including grandma on our fully packed 70 plus pound bicycles. Smiles and waves all around accompanied by ringing of bicycle bells, featuring ocean waves, beaches and views, made for a great start to our trip.
Stopping in Furodouro we found a great pizza place on the strand, with views of the beach, blue skies and our bicycles out front. There was a bit of confusion regarding pizza and soup (first the soup, then the pizza the waitress explained, but we had not ordered soup) and that was when we had the good luck to meet Pedro Rocha. Pedro was having lunch with his family and not only assisted us with the soup order but was kind enough to provide us with a map that was better and more detailed that anything else we had. Chatting about bicycles and travels while enjoying great pizza we have since on our journey silently thanked Pedro as our constant guide with his map in hand. ( Brigada Pedro! Voce siempre com nos!)

The Boats of Torreira

But jet lag did set in and we skipped the fortress of Torreira to make our way to Sao Jacinto. We would recommend a lunch stop in Torreira for anyone passing through as the brightly colored boats docked on an esplanade with benches and shade would be a pleasant place to pass time. We did have a short stop as Lowell took a fall going around a sharp corner that transitioned up a steep incline, falling at the feet of a young woman who helped him and his bike up, both of them beet red and laughing.
We stopped first at the Orbitur campground to not be greeted by anyone and finally meeting the rude hostess. She alone determined our moving on even though the site looked great. We found out later that things had indeed been available there that we had asked her about and to which she had responded in the negative.
We made a short jaunt into Sao Jacinto to pick up supplies prior to finding the next campground. Lots of wonderful local people giving assistance and directions for the ferry, ATM, and market for another lucky moment.
However our next site, while not as scenic, made up in friendliness, the Municipal Campissmo de Sao Jacinto. The tent camping was limited but a hot shower and a Super Bock (tasty brand!) beer and we were out for the night!

The Portugal Plan

Being big fans of bicycle touring, like most other tourers we have "the list" and like others we're sure, the list has select reasons for each country on it. For us, Portugal was a natural extension of previous travels, particularly Brasil.
Having spent some time in Brasil we studied Brasilian Portuguese and thought we could have the best of both worlds continuing to learn while touring. We have since found that although the Portuguese can understand the Brasilian version, it is not necessarily the other way with Luso-Portuguese which has a Slavic sound.
Flights were arranged out of the local airport to Madrid and then on to Porto, paying 150 dollars each way for the bicycles! Feel free to do all cyclists a favor and complain every time you fly about bicycle charges. It'll get paid back in karma.
After heaps of discussion we will take our bike bags and chose Residencial Grande Rio, based on amongst other things, baggage storage. Here's to fingers crossed!
The plan is to stay in Porto for two days, then head down the coast, moving inland to Bucacao and Coimbra area. Back to the coast and down to Cabo Roca, Europe's farthest point west. Leaving the coast, we are considering to try to avoid Lisboa and head east to the medieval walled city of Evora. There is the thought of camping outside of Lisboa and busing in to indulge in one of our favorite travel past-times, walking in tourist areas with a daypack on that has mousetraps in it. Great fun and there is always a deserving soul out there.
Changing directions in Evora, we will head north up the mountain ranges that separate Portugal from Spain, through the Serra Estrella visiting the highest point in Portugal, the Torre, where we might find snow and will definitely find cold. Down the Douro River Valley, home of port wine, back to Porto. If we have time then we will loop from Porto up into the Minho via Guimares and back to Porto.
Our focus? World Heritage sites, cheese, Fado music, the famous breads, pastries and seafood of Portugal, maybe even some Madeira and Port and anything or anywhere that might come up.

Pam's Surly Long Haul Trucker built by Gold Country Cyclery

Lowell's Raleigh Sojurn built by Golden Spoke Bicycle Shop