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!