Sintra and Lisbon are Both Hilly!

June 28, 2014
Lisbon, Portugal



Ok, now I've cycled some hills in my lifetime, but nothing like we cycled the last few days! OMG!!! Steep, windy, narrow, trafficky...yup, 'bout sums it up!!!!! Poor April...I was killing her! But the cars and trucks and busses were so considerate of us grinding our little hearts out on the side of the road.

We got into Sintra and decided it just had too much to see that we needed to stay a night. Besides, it was getting quite populated and wild camping was going to be difficult. Sintra is really a suburb of Lisbon being only 20 miles away...and there's even a commuter train to there...but I get ahead io myself.

First we needed to find a hostel with room for our trikes. Not always an easy task. One popped up on Google Maps so over we went. Old building. Gigantic, old foyer. Third floor walk up to hostel:(. Back in 45 minutes, said the sign. Check online...booked a twin room for 30€ ($20 ea). Yes!

A quick tour of some of the historic district with houses hoping straight up the hillside, castles on the hilltop, palaces all around...and cars and busses and tourists everywhere...told us we needed to ditch these bikes. There's was no way we'd cycle up any street here and we'd clog traffic trying. Back to the hostel. Bikes could stay in foyer! I stashed my camping gear in a little used closet I found under the stairs. Not carrying all the stuff up 3 flights! Adorable hostel. Free breakfast included. Scored! Now to figure out what to see in a short afternoon. A tour guide mentioned the amazing gardens of Quinta de Regaleira and the hostel host said the Pena Palace way up on the hill was not to be missed. And there was a Hop On Hop Off bus you could get for 5€. I like that! Our legs were burnt from cycling into this hilly town. Nothing left to walk hills with..no!

The Pena Palace must have been what Disney modeled its palaces after:










And the view was amazing too!

But I forgot to mention the excitement on the bus going up there. The streets are very, very, very narrow with many blind curves. The driver breed around each one because he had to put the bus across the whole road to make the turns. What did we meet but a loaded Harley Davidson with a couple on it. They stopped just barely before hitting the bus, but the weight of the bike slowly tipped them over! They they are, the men off the bus, pushing it upright again! And then we all went merrily on our way, but the bike had a few bruises and the riders may have too. Whew!




On the way down to town center, we went to the gardens with caves and pools and waterfalls. Again, landscaped up this steep hillside with tennis courts, aquariums, and grottos galore! This is a staircase built into a cave.





The next day we had to get into Lisbon and my original plan was to bike in, but April came up with a better plan: train!!




And what a great idea it was...it let us off just over a kilometer from our hostel. Who knew that kilometer would take us an hour to do! Steep like I've never known! 15% grade or worse! I'd say. Then add cobblestones, and trolley tracks, and streets that are one car wide, and go in every possible direction...always UP! So lost! But rescued by some guys when our trike tires dropped into trolley tracks and we were blocking traffic!



And Johnie's Place, although it looked sketchy from the outside is adorable too and plenty of room for trikes!

Next we have to get ready for flying to London, so I need a box for my gear:



Livin' the life!

BagLady

Aveiro, Portugal

June 18, 2014
Somewhere south of Aveiro
We spent 2 days cycling from Coimbra to Aveiro. I let Google Maps "walking" set the route and it was just delightful. All back roads. And I mean BACK roads. Past gravel pits and through woods. Quite rough at times. And sandy. But nothing our mountain trikes couldn't handle.



And the small towns were sweet. Tiled houses. Lush vegetable gardens. Smiling faces.






I decided to make plans to stay with a Warmshowers host in Aveiro to meet locals and save money. (For those who don't know, there's a website called Warmshowers.org where touring cyclist can arrange to stay in the home of other cyclists...similar to Couch Surfing). Tiago answered my email and said he could put the 2 of us up and also had room for our trikes. Great!! His location was ideal! Walking distance from the center of town. His place was small and he lives with 2 roommates. Guys dorm room describes it! But sweeter guys they could not have been! We were able to store the bikes on the back patio. And April and I preferring to sleep outdoors and save Tiago having to clean his room chose to set up my double tent out there. Worked perfectly for us!
Loved the quaint town with its tiled houses everywhere and canal down the middle. Didn't get a chance to take a boat tour because it was soaring hot in the sun yesterday but it would have been fun.









Ovos moles: a light crispy outside filled with cooked sweetened egg yolk...yummy,





Livin' the life,
BagLady

Coimbra

June 15, 2015
Coimbra, Spain

I just found this older blog post that I guess I never posted online...oops! There may be more. Oh well, I hope they are still interesting reads.

Can you see I'm getting caught up on my journals. Unlike many bloggers, I have no rhyme, reason, or format to how, when, or what I write. Tis what it is. It's only for me. You just get to read it:)

Sleep deprived was understated. Three nights of disturbed sleep in a row:
1) dogs barking
2) train
3) partying outside my window

Got my fingers crossed for tonight, but they're already blasting the WC games in the square across the way. Can't open the room window because it's so so loud.

So I need to continue my story of getting to Coimbra (pronounced coh-eem-bra, accenting the eem).

The asst conductor awakes us (I was already awake...and so was April when I had to pound on the sleeper door after locking myself out to go to the WC - water closet). Time was confusing because of an hour time change and the train was 40 minutes late (probably due to us when we got on:)). And he wasn't sure what side if the train we de parsed from. And he wanted all if our gear staged for a quick exit. Then he told me to follow him. He had said the conductor was going to help me unload my bike. So we're walking through car after car until we get to the engine room. He's looking and looking. But I didn't know what for. The conductor? Then he looks worried. He can't find my bike. I try to tell him it wasn't in this direction. It was a couple of cars in front of ours. So back we go. We get to where my bike was put and the first thing I notice is it's on the other side from where I placed it. Now I'm worried that it tumbled there. But no. It was moved. Moved so we could open the door to deboard. The conductor joins me and we wait with the door open for the train up stop. Feeling a bit like a hobo riding the rails at this point:). We get the bike down. Mr Asst Conductor and April unload everything else. And the train departs. Hope we got it all! Here we are in the dark (6am) and the fog on a train platform in another country with no phone (read Google Maps) and no idea which way to go to town. Hadn't done my usual prep work. Stupid me. We start riding towards town but the signs appear to lead to highways. That's not what we want. And there are curbs. Hard to get off this road. I saw a bar open on a side street so decided I needed to ask someone. Do they even speak English here? Will I understand enough? Gotta get help so in I go. Does anyone in here speak English? Blank faces. Might as well tell my story and see the response. So I do. Then one guy confesses that he does, a little. I smile. A little is all I need! And usually it's more than they realize. So with him drawing me maps and explaining the hills of the village and getting our hostel address on his smart phone we're all set! Then as we're pedaling away April spots a map of Coimbra on the medium and we go take pictures for future reference. Invaluable once we got into the bowels of this beautiful, worn but elegant, and HILLY city. I must say April has done a great job of staying up with me when I'm trying to figure out where we're going and turning this way and that. Kudos to her. It can't be easy.

We found our beautiful hostel but it was only 7:30 am and check in wasn't until 2. Several people helped or talked to us this morning. And all apologized for being drunk. (The bars stay open all night. ). But listening to their stories and accepting their help was a lesson in dropping judgements. The last guy told us to just ring the bell and put our stuff in the hostel. Mareese was able to check us in, provide storage for our bikes and gear, and give us maps and ideas of what to see and do.



That's the bikes stacked on their sides in a crawl space of an old stairway. Half the door was painted shut.

This is a major university town built on a steep hillside up from a river. The houses go right up the hill.



And the amount of English is so impressive. So much more than we experienced in Spain. And their accents are good too.

Yesterday the children of different neighborhoods were celebrating.



Livin' the life,

BagLady