Tues 10/22: Santiago do Cacém to Porto Covo
A word about breakfasts: the breakfasts at our hotels were all pretty similar, and we didn't find them too odd for the American palate. There's (surprisingly) none of the odd sea creatures I encountered in at a buffet breakfast in Japan, and none of the salads you'd find in Israel. For the most part the breakfasts included various dry cereals, instant oatmeal, yogurt, an assortment of pastries, and some wan fresh fruit. Every breakfast included a small warm food section with industrial scrambled eggs and various porky breakfast meats, and let me say, there seems to be a nationwide pride in making the worst scrambled eggs possible. I mean, they were uniformly inedible. Interestingly, there were also always trays of cold cuts and bread. I guess either cold cut sandwiches are a Portuguese breakfast food, or the hotels, which cater to active travelers, give their guests an opportunity to grab something to eat later for lunch. Sadly, the cold cuts were never labeled and seemed entirely pork-based, so I never indulged. There were a few innovations I'd like to see at home: fresh-squeezed orange juice, including one place with a Willy Wonka-ish do it yourself juice squeezing machine; hot milk for your coffee; and most places had decaf. But where's the doggone waffle maker like you'd find at any self-respecting American hotel breakfast?
One other item of note: the lobby lounge area of our hotel was equipped with a Roland
electric piano, and I took the opportunity to play a few songs one morning while our group
slowly shuffled in. I enjoyed having a chance to play, and they were all
suitably impressed 😀.
The day's ride was described as an “easy day, with a hilly
start”, which was fairly accurate – except the description didn’t mention that our ride included yet another rough
unpaved road section. We started by riding paved roads up to the Roman ruins above town. The ruins were pretty small, but
they still looked interesting to me; however, when the group found that there was a 3
Euro entrance we decided to move
on.
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| Roman ruins |
We knew we were going back towards the coast, and yet somehow our ride
started by taking us up in elevation. I mean, c’mon – how is you have to ride uphill to get to sea level? Where are we, New Orleans? We passed through some typically pleasant countryside before
making a turn into – uh, oh – a dirt road. Today’s road was
through some more really lovely scenery, but while it was better than the
previous day’s totally unrideable sandy trail, it was still borderline to be able to ride it on our bikes, which had front suspension to cushion the ruts but lacked the beefy tires you'd want for this kind of trail. Mike, Terry and I gingerly made our way through. Clare and John walked. We
all met up where the pavement picked up again, and then continued on to a
recommended stop at a little rural café, where we had our daily Coke Zero break (but of course, no food other than our energy bar snacks). Another ugly Americanism: every day when we stopped for our Coke Zero break there was much hue and cry about the lack of ice - how could these savages serve soda without ice? Well, from everyone except for me - I actually prefer my soda the European way, without ice. On this one occasion the woman behind the counter was actually able to provide ice for our drinks, which made our group very happy. What made me happy was my ability to say something close enough to "um sem gelo" that the woman understand that I didn't want ice. I feel a real sense of accomplishment any time I can make myself understood in a foreign language - even if it's something as simple as three words.
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| Riding on the dirt ... |
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| ... and on the pavement |
Our tour definitely steered us towards little local businesses. One of the features our app mentioned in its descritpion of today's café is that there’s an old guy who works in an adjacent shed (apparently
not affiliated with the café) who is a beekeeper and honey maker and is notably devoted to the craft. We got to see
him working at scraping the beeswax out of some frames, readying them for the
following year. The old guy speaks no English, so we kind of smiled and
waved at each other. It turns out that Mike used to keep bees (!) and he was
able to explain to us what the guy was doing and pointed out the
different pieces of equipment.
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| The old beekeeper |
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| Sitting under the olive trees while we drank our Coke Zeros |
The ride after our stop was truly stunning, as we were riding
right along the coast. The Alentejo Coast of Portugal faces the Atlantic, and
every beach we visited on our trip had big crashing surf. There's also varied
topography. While some of the beaches look similar to East Coast U.S. beaches,
others have dramatic cliffs and giant rocks extending out into the ocean. Our
route took us to an overlook where we had to walk along a narrow path atop a rather
sheer cliff to get the best view. Interestingly, there was a little horseshoe shaped beach area
carved out of the cliffs, totally private except to those atop the cliffs.
This, it turned out, was a nude beach; however, it being late October, the
beach was sparsely populated, and those there were largely limited to what
seemed to be vacationing elder naturists. Sorry, no pictures.
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| Scenic coastline |
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| "Nude beach" |
Finally, we made our way into Porto Covo, a picturesque fishing
town turned beach vacation destination, with whitewashed houses and a quaint-as-heck little town square. We were staying in a small suite hotel. In contrast to the sometimes small rooms at our other lodgings, at this place I had a
whole 1 BR vacation flat. I would have loved to have had the
kitchenette (Microwave! Stove! Dishes! Utensils!) for the nights I bought
dinner at the supermarket in our previous town, but ironically, in Porto Covo we ate dinner out.
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| The posse rides into Porto Covo |
After a shower and a brief nap I walked down through town to the beachfront
(finding a geocache along the way), where I ran into John and Clare. I joined them for a beer in a bar, during which we discussed strategies for the
next day – the route again included dirt roads, but Clare’s goal was to find a
way to avoid them. John's plan was to go back to their hotel room after dinner and study some
combination of RideWithGPS, Google Earth, and Google Maps to find a paved,
though likely less picturesque, alternative to the official route.
The three of us continued to dinner at an Italian restaurant. After three days of
energy bars for lunch and supermarket scrounges for dinner, my tagliatelle with
mushrooms, onions, spinach, goat cheese, garlic, pesto, and capers was
delicious beyond words. Mike and Terry wound up eating at the same place, and
after dinner we walked back together and then went our separate ways for the evneing. I walked around the
hotel grounds a little bit, checking out the pool and their laughable mini-golf course,
then retired to my room for the night.
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Scenic coastline at Porto Covo
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| Whitewashed buildings (the number 42!) |
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| Porto Covo at sunset |
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| OMG, the tagliatelle was good! |
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| More oddball Portuguese plumbing |
Weds 10/23: Porto Covo to Vila Nova del MilfontesBreakfast at the Porto Covo Hotel was a little weak. I mean, they had the same bricklike eggs, weird
cold-cuts, and so on as everywhere else. I was able to get my cereal, yogurt and
some little pastries. It’s just that they seemed to be cutting corners a little bit.
For example, instead of a fancy Nespresso machine there was just a Thermos of
coffee – and no decaf. On the flip side, this hotel seemed to host lots of active tourists, for example, some other cyclists, and a pair of young German women and an
Australian trio all doing the four day hike of the Fisherman’s
Trail. It was fun to chat about everyone's adventures.
Our ride was going to take us to our final cycling
destination, the beach town of Vila Nova de Milfontes. Once we get there we’ll
have covered most of the wild Alentejo Coast, almost to the more developed and
better known Algarve region. While short in mileage (only 22 miles), and
described in the app as as a “Short flat day” and a “nice and relaxing day”, it
turned out to be as challenging as the other days due to the fact that it was
almost entirely on rough dirt roads.
Have I mentioned that Clare really doesn’t like riding unpaved roads? John had failed to find an alternate route, and at this point in the trip, she decided she just wasn't going to even try to ride the unpaved parts anymore; she just walked them. We were all inclined to
cut her some slack since she’s soldiering on despite having some family stuff at
home. Also, it really didn't separate the group very much, as we only crept along on the dirt trails, and were happy to wait a few minutes every now and then for them to catch up. Plus, to her credit,
she’s never complained about the situation – she just walked the dirt segments.
We started off with another dirt path along yet
another set of fabulous cliffs. I’ve got to say, the days rides have become
predictable – a bumpy back road leading to some incredible coastline which is
even prettier than what we previously thought
must the prettiest coastline in existence. Somewhere along the ride
there’s a castle. And finally, we ride into a quaint town that’s even quainter
than what we previously thought must be the quaintest town in existence.
So yeah, another ride along some cliffs and pounding surf
against cliffs, giant rocks, and tranquil beaches. This time we went past a
seventeenth century fort used to protect the coast against pirate attacks, and
another fort out on an island which has been occupied since 216 BC, starting
with a Carthaginian settlement. The area has been a fishing center since Roman
times – apparently the Romans made some delicious fish sauces. Here’s one of their recipes: mix fish eggs, fish guts, small fish, and shellfish. Heat well, then
let decompose for about 2 months. Yum!
We rode dirt trails through some wooded areas.
I was out ahead and had stopped in some shade to wait for the rest of the group
when I noticed what appeared to be something almost the size of a ping pong
ball walking itself across the street. On closer examination it turned out to
be a dung beetle
rolling a ball of, well, dung. They’re pretty big bugs. Weird and fascinating
to watch. And icky
Then for a while we were on a busy paved road with no
shoulder, with big trucks – the European equivalent of 18 wheelers flying by. Eventually we
reached a junction where the app showed two possible routes: the preferred
route was to duck back onto dirt roads for more scenic beauty, but you could
also continue on pavement to town. John and Clare opted for pavement and
traffic, while the rest of us took the dirt road. You know how I mentioned that
each beach was prettier than the last? Well, here we were again, down a little
side path to yet another breathtaking beach, where we watched surfers and
marveled at the large wall built to create a sheltered port area.
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| The town of Vila Nova del Milfontes, from Faro Beach |
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Statue by the water in Vila Nova del Milfontes
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Scenery on the way to Vila Nova del Milfontes
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Eventually my group rolled into Vila Nove de Milfontes and headed
for the promontory at Farol Beach, where there’s a weird statue and views down
onto several beaches. John and Clare’s route had unsurprisingly been faster,
and they met us down at Farol Beach, having already dropped their bikes off at
the hotel. The five of us went into town, where we sat at a cafe and each
ordered a Coke Zero and a side salad. Once again, no real lunch, but at least we ordered some kinda food! I swear – do
these people ever eat? From there we walked over to a market. I wouldn’t call
it a supermarket – more of a neighborhood market. The place lacked a prepared
foods section and there wasn’t much there for me to eat, save for the famous
Portuguese cans of fish, so I left empty-handed. John and Clare bought some
snack foods and a fair amount of alcohol. We had gotten into town too early to
check into our hotel, but by the time we finished our soda break and food
shopping, it was time to check in. The HS Milfontes was the most bare bones of the
hotels we’ve stayed in all week, but it’s fine, and the location is great – ocean-front balconies, and an easy walk into town. And the water pressure is unlike anything I've ever experienced. It's like being pressure-washed. Which feels great after a bike ride. I went through my usual post-ride ritual of
showering (mostly to wash off the heavy, goopy sunscreen I use), napping, and
staring at my phone for a while.
I walked down to the water by myself to watch the sunset, and bumped into my fellow travelers – John and Clare going back
to hotel to eat their supermarket dinner, and Mike and Terry going to a restaurant to eat (they invited me
to join them but I declined – restaurant was the traditional Portuguese menu). Instead, I ate by myself at a place which surprisingly had chicken on the menu, a seeming rarity here. I had chicken breasts with a mustard sauce, apples. The dish came with fries, and a side salad. An actual side salad! I swore I was going to eat only one or two fries, and usually I have the willpower to avoid food that's bad for me, but I wound up eating them all.
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Vila Nova del Milfontes sunset scenes
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| Chicken dinner! |
Special kayaking note: Vila Nova del Milfontes looks like it has some good kayaking, with its large, sheltered cove. There were a few places which offered kayak tours, and I smiled to see the familiar Wilderness Systems logo on a kayak just outside my hotel. More surprisingly, right across from our hotel there was what seemed to be a boathouse (well, giant temporary building) which seemed to be home to the local serious kayakers. One day I saw a guy hosing off a K2 racing kayak and a wing paddle. I wish I had had the opportunity to talk with that guy - and to go paddling!
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| Racing paddler |
Thurs 10/24: South of Vila Nova del MilfontesOur final day of touring! And another place where we were staying two nights, so no packing!
As always, we started
with breakfast at the hotel. Like our previous hotel, this one seems dominated
by active tour groups – in this case, a cycling tour group from Germany. They
seemed very fit and even Mike (who is pretty tall himself) noted how tall they
all seemed.
Today's ride was again on sandy dirt roads and, as readers might by now anticipate, Clare opted out and therefore so
did John. Mike, Terry, and I decided to do
the planned ride but as it was an out-and-back route we decided to cut it a little bit short. We’re all already a little
bit sore from days of off-road riding and weren’t really looking for 40+ more bumpy miles. The tour company - ever responsive on Whatsapp - gave us a good suggestion of where to turn around.
We started out crossing the bridge over the Mira River, then
again ducked onto back dirt roads, taking us through the towns of Nascedios and
Almograve, and finally to viewpoints at Porto das Lapas, and into the Costa
Altenejana e Vicentina Natural Park to
see the stunning scenery at Cape Sardão, where we found more high cliffs, made
of 300 million year old schist rock, along with a 100 year old lighthouse.
Positioned as it is at a crossroads among various parts of the world, this area
sees flora normally native to the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and North
Africa. Today was the first day we had significant wind, which was in our face
as we rode out, giving us a little bit of a challenge. It was also the first
time we saw cloudy weather. During the course of our ride it went from the
amazing sunshine we’ve had all week to totally overcast. No rain or anything,
just the novelty of clouds and wind.
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| Scenery south of South of Vila Nova del Milfontes |
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| Celebrating the end of the ride |
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| Look carefully - there's a stork nesting in the rocks |
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| Mike on the trail near Cape Sardao |
The app pointed out that this is the only place in the world
where one can see storks nesting in ocean rocks – usually they like to next in
trees, or like ospreys, atop just about anything – power poles, chimneys, etc.
And we did indeed spot a stork nesting in an incredibly improbable-seeming
spot.
On the way back we stopped at a local café in Cavaleiro for
our ritual Coke Zero break (a relatively cheap € 1.80), then
retraced our steps home. Today’s road was mostly rideable, with little patches
of tricky sand. Mike and Terry each took a fall – fortunately neither was
seriously injured.
The whole group met up for dinner at Choupana restaurant,
where we initially sat outside at the ocean-front deck but quickly realized
that with the sun setting and a breeze blowing, we were going to be cold – so
we moved inside. As with most traditional Portuguese restaurants, the majority
of the menu was grilled sea creatures with some token ham and beef dishes. I
tried to order the veggie burger, but they were sold out, so I went with
chicken – yes, they actually had that Portuguese rarity, chicken. All of us ordered the chicken so they served us family
style, two freshly grilled chickens: boiled potatoes (except for Terry, who
opeted for fires), and another meager salad. As always, John splurged and
ordered the bread basket, and we got some wine, with which we toasted our
successful trip. For a farewell dessert the five of us split a cheesecake
(having eaten chicken, I didn’t try it), and a caramel custard (very eggy –
meh). After dinner we all walked by to the hotel together. John, Clare and I
would be traveling back to Lisbon together, so we knew we’d see each other the
next day. Mike and Terry were continuing on for more travel in Portugal, so we said our goodbyes. I went back to my room with a goal to stay up at least until midnight to begin the transition back to
East Coast U.S. time.
Fri 10/25: Vila Nova del Milfontes to Lisbon and Home
Not much to say. I took a walk around town in the morning - one final chance to soak in this wonderful country before heading home.
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| Walking around town |
John, Clare and I had arranged transport back to Lisbon. Unlike our tiny Uber at the start of the trip, we had a roomy van with a personable young guy named Alex at the wheel. John was continuing on to London, but Clare and I took the same flight home. By weird coincidence, my friends Helen and Eric were on the same flight! A smooth flight, a quick Metro ride, and another adventure successfully completed!
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| A final look at Vila Nova de Milfontes |
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| With Helen and Eric on the Dulles people mover after arrival back in DC |
One last bit of trivia ...
