Day 6, 7, 8 - Catching up - Amsterdam and Lisbon

 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.  Once settled in the hotel the tickets for the canal tour were just down the street.  It seemed to be the right thing to do so we purchased those passes for the 4 pm tour, went for a bit of a walk in the old city; watched the spectacle of Macron's visit at the Royal Palace; then settled onto the boat.  It was a very different perspective than walking the streets.  Below street level it was easier to appreciate the design of the city and some of the ways in which people lived.  It was during the boat tour that one begins to really notice the house boats lining the canals.  Obvious that some would never leave the moorings in which they are tied - there's literally no where to go for a boat whose masts would be removed by the bridges at either end of the stretch of waterway in which they sit.


 I'm looking forward to more exploration of this city as we come to the end of the journey.

Lisbon - it felt like we were just here - well, we were.  In September at the start of our Camino.  But this time round we were connecting with friends (old and new).  Bruno, our trusty guide, from 2018 and 19 - he'd introduced us to Sintra in the rain, to Obidos, Fatima and Nazarre - took us in new directions.  South to Sebatul along the coast, where we followed back along the coast to return to Lisbon.  Then back to Sintra where we once again got to explore the garden estate based around the Masonic teachings and Dante's Comedia.  The estate is built into the side of the mountain.  What is above ground is echoed below.  One enters the well into Hell, passing through Purgatory and finally reaching Paradiso.  It is the Easter holidays (or was when we were visiting).  It was shocking to encounter crowds of people at this unique estate.  The lineups were long when during our previous visit in 2018 we had the grounds to ourselves.  Please enjoy the pictures -the weather was much better this time round.

Coastline near Sebatul

At the fish market in Sebatul





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