Castles and Tulips

 The first group of five headed off early on Thursday morning for the train back to Lisbon.  Some of them were going riding in France for a week.  One is headed to a cruise - meeting her husband in Lisbon and sailing north with stops in Spain, France, Belgium, Holland and Britain (if I remember correctly - and one is headed home.  Huw and Carolyn dropped them and returned to the hotel for a final farewell before they headed south to Lagos to return the van and prepare for their next adventure taking a group through the Historic Heartland.  The rest of us, Sandy, myself, Sig, Tilly, Marni, Diane and Barry, were to fend for ourselves with our bus into Lisbon departing at noon.  It was an uneventful journey back into the big city and at the bus station we headed in slightly different directions.  Sandy and I were booked at a new hotel in the old city - Alfama - while everyone else was returning to the Vila Garden where we stayed at the beginning of the tr...

 While it feels like just yesterday we left Castelo de Vide for three more days of riding.  Monday was a wonderful ride mostly downhill, out of the mountains, to a small town of about 3500 called Alter do Chao.  It's claim to fame is to be home to the Royal stud farm.  They were in the middle of an annual fair/event based around the horses of the region.  I believe the type of horse is the Alter, named after the region in which they have been bred.  The riding was delightful through a couple of small towns, on very quiet roads surrounded by ranches and cork trees.  We wound back and forth over the Grande river - a few small climbs, but overall a steady descent.  The weather warmed as we rode reaching the mid 20s making the final few kilometers very warm.  Along the way we stopped to view a castle that had been renovated into a upscale hotel.  From the front and side, and even upon entering the castle, one could not notice the hotel....

 Our days have become somewhat routine when riding.  Arise for breakfast around 7; eat; pack and deliver baggage to the van at about 8:45 to begin riding at 9.  We've altered a little depending on the weather and distance and terrain being covered.  This particular route - the Border Castles route - is consistently about 60 kilometers each day.  Day's 9 and 10, though, involve the most climbing of the trip.  First from Elvas to Aronches- about 600 meters of climbing through the day - and then to Castelo de Vida - about 1000 meters of climbing.  The days were more of a struggle for Sandy who's caught COVID and fighting the effects of tiredness and coughing.  My COVID has subsided to the point that I feel pretty normal.  Hopefully the rest day in Castello de Vide will be one of recovery for both of us. The ride to Aronches is beautiful.  It is through rolling countryside on very quiet country roads - almost no vehicles makes for lovely rid...

Entrance to Fort Graca (Elvas) Elvas and Fort Santa Lucia Elvas is along the eastern border of Portugal with Spain.  Fort Graca is huge - it held 1800 men when it was most active in the early 1800's.  It provided support to British Soldiers during the Penisular Wars involving Wellington and Napoleon.  There were significant battles nearby inside Spain.  In Elvas the "English Cemetery" holds five british soldiers killed during those battles.   These scenes from Elvas include views from the castle, the aqueduct, the pillory (where criminals were punished during the middle ages.)  And the gate where Moors overcame Roman opposition to defeat the town in the 8th century.

 Well, the riding has begun.  We were introduced to our bikes in Evora.  Did the fittings and adjustments to prepare, slept then at about 9 am on Monday began our first day's ride to Monserraz.  I'd tested positive for COVID on Sunday evening.  The cold I was experiencing was significant.  Personnally, I didn't really want to know as either way, the bottom line was I was not doing so well.  Saturday night had been difficult.  I was stuffed up as the virus and my body competed for space in my nostrils.  I didn't sleep well.  The combination of the cold, and jet lag, were hard.  Thankfully, Tillie had drugs.  Tylenol for colds turned out to be a lifesaver.  Despite the cold I got a decent nights sleep on Sunday and felt well enough to try riding on Monday.  After a bit of debate over whether I should isolate at the Evora hotel for a couple of days my desire to be on the road won.  The route was 60 kilometers throug...

 Thanks so much to Sandy for filling in some of the blanks of the past week.  Just a few comments of my own about 1) Amsterdam; 2) Lisbon and Sintra before getting into the meat of the riding.  The Canal tour in Amsterdam was, for me, essential to understand the nature of the city.  One can be amazed by the infrastructure for cycling, walking and public transportation but before all those things were the canals.  Working waterways that encompass the city.  I didn't initially notice them.  As we landed Sandy commented on the water that is ubiquitous from the air.  On the ground it's there, but less obvious.  The bus had bus lanes to itself with priority it seemed over the cars that were there.  Taking the bus from the airport to hotel was literally door to door service from the airport (and back).  We must have seen the canals along the way.  I was absorbing some of the sights - the museums, the shops, the Olympic stadium. ...

 Sandy again. So, That night, Jim got sick. A bit of a fever, stuffed nose sore throat. Luckily, I had a mask in my purse. Took an Uber to the bus depot...Jim put in "Stet Rio" on Uber, not knowing that Sete Rio is a district, not the bus depot. The driver knew zero english and drove us to the middle of a street. it took a while to explain it wad the bus depot we wanted, then of course, it was a couple of KM away, so we promised hima tip. We gave him an extra 10 Euros for his trouble, so he was happy, The bus trip was onl 1.5 hours and was great. In Portugal, buses are preferable to the trains. Train system is unreliable, on strike or track issues. Busses are taken by everyone, clean, comfortable, on time. Reserved seats so there is no rush to get on. Arrived in Evora and met up with our group. We got there at about noon, so the afternoon, after a lunch of vichysous soup, fried mackerel and white wine, we went to the Chapel of Bones. Literally a chapel with the bones of the 1...

 Bruno met us at 8.30am to take us west to Sinra, the summer palaces of the kings. Sintra is much cooler than Lisbon due to being closer to the Atlantic  Ocean. In summer, Lisbon can hit 40, Sintra's max temp was recorded last summer at 28. Sintra was way busier than the last time we were there. We went to the Palace where the grounds are based on Dante's inferno (the name escapes me). last time wer were there, there was no one. This time, line up for 20 minutes...crazy. Bruno guided us through there, then on to the dramatic coast. We went to the most western point of Europe, next land would be by New York. It was really windy, with a cold wind off the Atlantic. The surf was cool. Then on to a restaurant for lunch that you picked your fish ....how fresh is that? wonderful lunch, again so much food that our supper was in the hotel garden with wine, cheese, crackers and chips. Tomorrow, a bus ride to Evora to start working (cycling) off all the food we ate.

 Sandy again. Jet lag sleep sucks. So tired, sleep 3 hours, awake the rest of the night. We met up with our friends, Sig, Tilley, Barry and Dianne in the morning. Tilley had arranged for a guide "Bruno" to rent a van for the next 2 days to guide us around Lisbon. We had hired Bruno a few years back to guide us, we was a wonderful guide (letstalklisbon.com). This morning he took us just south of Lisbon to Sebutal, the real port of Portugal. It is only about an hours drive, over a "mountain range" (big hill for a Canadian by the Rocky Mountains). But just gorgeous. Went to the farmers market, which had amazing strawberries and fruit, and fish...FRESH fish, octopus, shrimp, eels so fresh they were alive and the lady was cutting out the guts while they were alive....just amazing. drove down the coast, with amazing ocean views, to a tourist town. We  visited a winery which specialized in he Muscatel grape. The winery was over 100 years old and was on the 6th generation o...

 Sandy again. We had jet lag. Fell asleep at 8 pm. Awake at 3 am. In the morning, we did not know what to do with ourselves. We discovered, to go to most museums, we have to prebuy the tickets and make an appointment. So jim make appointments for the Ryjks and the Van Gogh when we get back to from Portugal. What to do today? I looked at the map (while we were having a breakfast of Dutch Pancakes) and saw there is a "Jewish Quarter" about 3 km away and several museums there. We purchased tickets to the " Resistance " museum. By the time we walked there, did the museum then picked up our luggage to bus back to the airport.      Off we went. The resistance museum was great - heavy but very insightful. Full of portraits and stories of people during the war - deciding whether to go along with the Nazi's or form a resistance. The Dutch had no idea how long the war would last,,,,and the Nazi rules were slow and insidious. Hard to explain in this post, but no one h...

 hey so nothing has been posted. we were really jet lagged at the beginning. And now Jim has COVID, so he is not up to posting. I will let you know where we are, but I am not the writer that Jim is...so, here it goes... We left Edmonton on Tuesday afternoon. It was cold enough that they had to do a small deicing of the wings. I remarked to Jim. this is the last of the cold weather I want to see!!! Our flight to Vancouver was uneventful. Our luggage was checked through to Amsterdam, so when we landed in Vancouver the only thing we had to do was make our way over  to the international terminal. We were allowed in the KLM lounge in Vancouver, had some really good food there. Wonton soup, noodles. Soon we had to leave for the gate. The flight was great. we ended up fling over Edmonton airspace to go the northern arc toa Amsterdam.  In Amsterdam, we decided to take the bus so we would be comfortable on the bus system for our return when we took the bus to Haarlem. The people a...

 I really, deeply appreciate the number of you that have asked if I would be writing during our upcoming trip.  We'll leave on Tuesday, April 11th for just about a month traveling in Portugal (again), Holland and Belgium.  The first leg of the trip will take us from Edmonton to Amsterdam via Vancouver.  We'll spend a little over 24 hours in Amsterdam and fly south to Lisbon.  In Lisbon we'll join our friends, also from Edmonton, who are taking a different route - leaving a day later and arriving about 18 hours earlier (if everything goes according to plan).  Tilly and Sig Jensen, Marni Wisner, Barry and Dianne Bowtell will be out feeding their faces and listening to Fado Music when Sandy and I check into the hotel.  Tilly's been looking forward to those chicken gizzards since we first tasted them in 2017 on our very first visit to Lisbon.  Truth be told, I'm a little jealous, the Fado music is in a very Portuguese restaurant that's a little off th...