Okay time for an update. Portugal has become one of our favourite places. It's cheap, safe, filled with friendly people and has great weather. Here's a trip we took there a little while ago.
I started in Lisbon on my own, as my wife was only arriving a few days later. Fortunately that also meant I could tackle the hills of Lisbon without too many complaints, and boy were those hills tough. Luckily there was a great area around the coast that was easy to cycle.
It's also a great place to have a nap
After a few days my wife joined me. I lulled her into falsely believing that Portugal was an easy cycling destination by following a very strategically chosen route. The future rides had very few smiles!
See darling, I told you it was flat
Err... this must be an exception
Okay so I lied. Fortunately if you don't feel like cycling or even walking them you can just hop on to a tram
It's a really beautiful city with fantastic tiling
Some really old buildings. Did you know that Lisbon is old. Really old. Older than Rome in fact. Lisbon is the second oldest European capital, only Athens is older.
And some really modern architecture
There were a couple of popup food markets where everything was just delicious, and very well priced
Each village has their own traditional pasteis (tart). The one in Belem, a suburb of Lisbon is the most famous, totally worth the queue!
Eventually it was time to pack the bikes up, load up on some cafe and head to the next town in our tour de Portugal
Goodbye Lisbon, I'll definitely be back
We're heading inland and uphill...
Damn those hills! Fortunately there's a few good spots to stop and rest
Up and up and up we rode. The scenery made it all worthwhile, or at least that's what I thought
No more, demanded the wife! Those hills are just too ridiculous, fortunately our bikes fold so they go on the train really easily and for free, and with a ticket price of just EUR 2.40 it was a bargain. Here we are just arriving in the most magical town I have ever visited
I'll let you know which town that is in the next installment...
