Octopussy

Ever since we tried the polvo grelhada (grilled octopus) in Lisbon, I’ve been craving more of it, so today we set off in search of some for lunch. We were successful, and it was delicious!

It was a perfect rest day. We spent the morning re-packing our bags, washing clothes in our hotel sink, wiping down our bikes from all the mud we accumulated off-roading yesterday, and planning the next few days of riding and accommodations.

After lunch, we walked a few km down the beautiful Portimão waterfront to Praia da Rocha. It’s a quite touristy beach with high rises that reminded us somewhat of Long Beach, but it’s low season so was relatively quiet. We chilled on a couch with a beer overlooking the ocean and then put on our flips and walked down the beach. The water was chilly so we opted not to swim.

We stocked up on too many supplies on the way back, but we did end up with some good stuff, like a new wine opener (my cheapo was not working with the dry Portuguese corks), some more thread (I had to make some more repairs to one of my bike bags), plastic ziplock baggies, reusable wash cloths, and way too much food (I picked out 4 oranges at a roadside stand, and the guy tossed in 4 more for €1! We’d rather not carry 1 kg of oranges…). We filled our bags with our favorite sweet and salty snacks as well. Steve is loving the Haribo gummies, and I can’t get enough almond cookies and Nutella.

Dinner at a local kebab shop, where we joined a small crowd of locals cheering on a football (soccer) game. I think they were from Africa, and they didn’t understand our English or Portuguese, but we figured it out with hand gestures and smiles and left happy with two chicken doner kebabs.

3 more days of riding and we’ll be in Seville, Spain!