Leisurely Sunday stroll through Alentejo

Another great day, though we are not used to riding back-to-back so many miles, so we’re a little tired.

We rode all day today (95km) on quiet country roads and through small towns. We saw many other road cyclists out for their Sunday rides, and it was fun exchanging “Bom dia”s and smiles. 

When we approached Grândola, we chanced upon a mountain bike race! We had to cross a bridge on their route, so we did our best to stay out of the way. We watched a little of the race and found a fast food bifana (steak sandwich) place. €3.20 for a beer, bifana, and coffee. Yay, tasty!

All over Portugal, we’ve seen water spigots, usually with a tile back drop, meant for public water use. But whenever we run out of water, we can’t find them. We’re trying to figure out the trick to finding them. We checked out the park, but they only had a fountain that shoots straight up and can’t be used to fill a bottle. Stay tuned, we’ll let you know when we figure out how to find them.

We continued riding through country side until we reached Torrão. We picked up a few snacks and paid for water bottles. Of course, 2 minutes later we found a public tap. Dammit!

We decided to go to a grocery store to pick up some stuff to make dinner, and then we realized that everything shuts down on Sunday. We’d read about this, but it just didn’t click this morning, so we forgot. The whole town was shut down and all we had was a Kinder Bueno in our bags from the gas station. Crap! Nothing showed up on a Google maps search either.

There was a small town 2km off our route to the campground, so we took a chance (Google has been wrong more often that not, we’re re-learning how to find things without Google’s help). We stopped in the town and asked at a hotel where we could get something. He barely spoke English, and I murdered the Portuguese language, but thankfully he understood and pointed us at a bar where we ordered a cured pork sandwich to go. Close call, we need to try to plan things a little better on Sundays!

But lo and behold, when we got to the campground, they had a restaurant, and they were taking orders for delivery at 6pm! We were famished so ordered some french fries, olives, and apple pie, not really sure what kind of cuisine that consisted of, but it was yummy.

This campground, Markádia, is super swanky. The toilets here have lids and toilet paper, and they have cabins for rent starting at €63 for 200 sq.ft. But for just €14.40, we get space for two people and a tent. Bikes are free, and Steve has a stunning picture on Instagram showing our site overlooking the lake. Go follow him @scubastevecyclist to see it.

Okay that’s it for now. See ya!