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I’m sitting in the sun in the grass listening to bees buzz around me, overlooking a reservoir, munching on bread and cheese. And I don’t feel like writing a blog, so I’m just writing to say that it’s time for me to live in the moment, and I will update this when I can.

Follow me on Strava if you want to see the route we are riding. That will update every day: https://www.strava.com/athletes/timnorman

We left our campground early because we knew the headwinds would be very strong, and they were quite intense! We were pedaling just to go downhill at times, across open fields where the wind whipped through so hard that the caterpillars attempting to crawl across the road would be tossed back into the grass.

We were still in good spirits though. The traffic was light, and it was sunny, and the expansive views were stunning.

After about 3 grueling hours, we made it to the historic town of Évora, a UNESCO heritage site, due in part to the fact that it’s a walled city that is still active. It is home to many historic places including these ruins from the 1st century, nearly 2,000 years old.

We will spend a full day there the next day, exploring, and resting our legs.

But for the rest of the day, we cycled 22km more into headwinds to a small traditional Alentejo farm house in the countryside, where our extremely generous host family (from the WarmShowers network) prepared us dinner, introduced us to friends they’d meet in Laos, as well as their three friendly dogs, two cats, and chickens, and told us stories about their cycling tours (they took 1,001 days cycling from New Zealand to Portugal two years ago and are writing a book about it!), as we watched the sunset over a field of cork trees and snacked on local sheeps-milk cheese and Portuguese bread.

Nuno has an organic, fully sustainable vegetable garden that supplies almost all of their produce. His techniques are fascinating and require no pesticides due to mixing of plants that resist certain pests, and he produces his own fertilizer by fermenting a poisonous weed that grows in parts of the yard. Now this is a life I could envision coming back to after years on the road!

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!

You thought we had two years to go, huh?! Well actually, we still do, sorry if the title mislead you. But in the end, this trip is not our physical destination.

As we cycled out of the small town of Seixal and towards Setúbal, we were riding through beautiful countryside in perfect sunny cool weather with a stiff tailwind, and I was suddenly filled with an intense feeling of joy. I yelled out a few “Yahoo”‘s and may have even done a fist pump (sorry). The wind and sun on my face, the beautiful scenery, the smell of freshly tilled farms, the light but satisfying burning in my legs, the salty taste of my sweat (and OMG, Kinder Bueno tastes so much better over here – I told Steve they are what Kit Kats want to be when they grow up), the mostly-courteous light traffic, the sometimes-smooth roads, even the 5km of dirt roads that made our bikes filthy. It all added up and reminded me exactly why we are doing this. It’s not about the planning or the routes or the gear or the destination, though those things give us something specific to do and experience and people to meet. It’s about prolonging this moment of happiness and sharing it with others around us.

Finally, today we are now on tour, the tour of our lives. And it feels amazing.

I asked Steve whether this day was particularly different from our days on our last tour, and he said no, you’ve just forgotten what it feels like.

We met four other cycling tourists today. Two were a couple from my home of New England (they are from Maine), and they have toured all around the world. They also started in Lisbon on their current tour, on the same day we did, and are headed to Milan, Italy. We happened to catch the same two ferry rides we took today, one at 8:30 and the next at 2:30, a happy coincidence. Really enjoyed speaking with them! The other two were towing a trailer that seemed to have a child in it. We didn’t get a chance to chat, just exchange Oí’s.

We rode through the Parque Natural da Arrábida over the hills and along the coast.

We went through quite a bit of farmland. The Setúbal region is known for its wines. I didn’t realize grapes could grow in farms in beach sand, but we saw it.

The campground is unlike campgrounds in the US. There is a huge open area where you can park camper vans or setup tents, no reservation needed. This time of year it’s almost completely empty. The bathrooms are very clean with free hot showers, but all the toilets are squat toilets, time to practice another skill, I guess, now that I’ve mastered the bidet. No toilet paper either, but we’re prepared and have some.

 We’re right on a lagoon off the Atlantic ocean, so it’s very pretty, but we haven’t gotten down to see the water yet.

Dinner was crackers, cheese, cookies, and fruit from the convenience store. We didn’t feel like getting a sit down dinner tonight. We will make it up at breakfast tomorrow.

The language barrier is a lot different in the country side. Many people don’t speak English, so we’re getting a chance to practice our Portuguese and have figured a lot out, but some encounters are weird. At the restaurant, I asked how much, and she responded so quickly I couldn’t catch the numbers. I scribbled on my hand to ask her to write it down, but she thought I meant I wanted to use a credit card. She put her hands up exasperated because it was just for €5.50 but then brought out a machine and I gave her the card because it was easier. Stuff like that. But, I can order a beer no problem. Hehe!

Speaking of money, finally we have our first day below our budget, including camping, ferry tolls, breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Not sure I can continue to write this much detail every day but will try to update when I can. Ciao!

Tomorrow we leave on the first leg of our trip with all of our gear, riding 100km down the coast to a campground to spend the night.

So today we spent a lot of time preparing our bikes, doing a tune up, packing our bags, adding reflective tape to our helmets, bike frame, and bags, replacing some things that had broken (Steve’s international power charger already broke off in the outlet… Made in China).

We then went to a traditional Portuguese seafood restaurant for lunch and I had an amazing salted cod dish cooked in olive oil (a little salty, but the cod was so tender and flavorful), and Steve had an omelet. We need to remember to start taking food photos, sorry. Then we walked around the city some more, taking a few last photos, trying some more pastries and cod fish cakes, and splitting a fancy bifana (sandwich) and cheesecake for dinner.

We’ve noticed a lot more graffiti around Portugal than we are used to seeing in the US, so I took some photos.

And… I tried the bidet finally, and… I like it 🙂 Steve has a photo, but, yeah, it’s not going online…

One thing I’ve noticed about Europeans is that when they hear you speak English, they assume you can’t understand what they’re saying so they’ll say anything they want about you in their native language right in earshot. I understand French and am slowly learning a few words in Portuguese. I think we got called “girls” (mulheres) by a group of young Portuguese kids walking behind us, and I overheard some French girls call our style bizarre (well our travel clothes were definitely chosen for function over style, I’ll give them that!). It’ll be interesting to use this assumption to our advantage, stay tuned for some fun stories hehe!

Not sure about cell connectivity the next few days, so don’t panic if you don’t hear from us. We will post when we can.

Today we decided to warm up our legs and head out for a ride along the coast.

We arrived in Belem early enough to have a short line at Pasteis de Belém for their famous pastel de nata (yes, it was life-changing!), but the tourists were already descending on the other attractions, so we headed out quickly.

The ride along the coast varied greatly from wide, well-marked smooth bike paths along the coast to narrow, pot-holed lined cobble streets with steady traffic. As we got closer to Cascais, it became beautiful, and we stopped for a snack overlooking the waves and the surfers.

Past Cascais, we followed the coast around and started climbing, our destination being the Santuário da Peninha, one of the highest points in the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, which would afford us 360° views for dozens of miles.

(There it is, all the way at the top of the hill, in the picture below!)

You can kind of make out the Ponte 25 de Abril bridge in Lisbon, 40km away, behind us.

Finally we headed down into Sintra. It was getting late, and the riding past Pena Palace and Castelo dos Mouros was beautiful, so we decided to take our time and enjoy the views and hang out at a cute bar to have some tapas and beer. Steve has discovered that the local beers both have a non-alcoholic version that many bars carry, so he’s been able to join in for a toast or two. I resisted having a ginginja, a cherry liquore that comes in a chocolate cup. I had two a few days ago and they are delicious. Beer makes me take abstract photos, so here you go:

 

One of the things that is going to take some getting used to is sticking out like a sore thumb in our cycling get-up. We got quite a number of stares today, and some guy on the train kicked Steve’s bike and said something rude-sounding in Portuguese and then got up and walked out of the train. There was plenty of room in the train, so I’m not sure what his deal was. It’s difficult trying to figure out the cultural faux pas we are undoubtedly making, given that we don’t speak the language.

We have a host family lined up near Evora for Monday night, so initially we were planning to stay another day in Lisbon, but we are starting to get tired of the over-priced and over-touristy area we are staying in. We are well over our budget already, and whenever we walk out of our hostel, we are instantly bombarded with dudes pushing drugs (we’ve been told they aren’t real, so don’t get excited!) and people trying to corral us into their shitty restaurants. We have had some amazing experiences in the city that more than make up for these annoyances, but we are ready for a slower pace for a while, and we are eager to get going for real.

So instead, we are thinking on Saturday to take an extra day riding south to find some beach-side camping along a part of the coast that we hadn’t planned on visiting. Stay tuned for more details. I’m also going to bug Steve to write another blog post! He has some great photos from today.

Today we slept in a bit before enjoying a delicious grilled octopus lunch (sorry, no food porn! Next time). We then spent some time at the Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdad.

Portugal was under a dictatorship from 1933 to 1974, when a peaceful revolution overthrew the government and instilled a democratic one. The Portuguese are rightly very proud of this accomplishment, and this museum portrayed some of the horrors of authoritarianism, including torture, silencing of the media, and severe restrictions on freedom.

As an American, it’s interesting and empowering to see a culture that’s recovering from an authoritarian regime, at a time when we are flirting with one.

We later joined a walking tapas tour of the city, sampling some tasty bites throughout the city. Tomorrow we hope to cycle to Belem, Cascais, and Sintra.

We spent our second day doing some Lisbon city tours. We started off with a free tour from a company called Sandeman, not expecting much, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the tour. Although our tour guide, Ricardo, was fairly new, he gave an excellent tour. Of course, since it’s free, tipping is expected (the guides are unpaid), and we stopped in the middle for a soft sales pitch for their other paid tours. They were reasonably priced, and we felt they steered us away from over-priced tourist traps, so ultimately would save us money.
We learned a lot of history and great tips for good restaurants where locals hang out, and we decided to sign up for the Alfama tour that afternoon as well. Our guide there, Yuri, had a great energy about him and invited us and a few other guests to join him and Ricardo for beers at a miroudoro (vantage point) and later on, dinner at a restaurant co-op in a more local neighborhood.

Ultimately it ended up being a fantastic day of sight-seeing and making friends! Some interesting photos below…

It couldn’t have gone more smoothly, except for the sleep deprivation due to our jet lag!
Landed in Lisbon around 8am local time and breezed through Customs and Immigration. Because we had a one-way ticket, we were a little concerned they may demand proof of onward travel out of the Schengen visa zone, so we “rented” a return ticket on FlyOnward.com, but we never were asked to show it. Nice to have for the piece of mind, but unnecessary.

It was our first time putting our bikes together after 5 amazing lessons from a generous bicycle mechanic friend. We found a quiet corner near the parking garage and started unboxing the bikes. Aside from a glance from a few security guards, no one gave us any trouble. One woman asked us about our trip and was very excited to hear about it. It took us about 3 hours to do both bikes. We asked someone at the lost & found luggage department where to leave the empty boxes, and he said he’d take care of them for us, great!

The ride into town was a bit tricky as we got used to the way the bike paths are laid out; they seem to appear and disappear at random, either dumping you off on the sidewalk or at a crosswalk. I’m glad we mapped the route ahead of time on the GPS. Pedestrians were courteous but seemed surprised to see us in the bike lanes, where they walked by default, though we weren’t the only bikes. Auto traffic was much more friendly than we expected after repeated warnings by friends about the horrible Portuguese drivers; I think riding in Boston is scarier! The scenery riding through town was fantastic, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather, slightly overcast and 24°C.

We spent the remaining evening having late lunch at an over-priced tourist trap restaurant next to our pensão and wandered around town sipping as much espresso as we could to keep from falling asleep when we sat down.

Enjoyed our first of many pastel de nata; they are as delicious and crispy as everyone told us, OMG! Found a great food court (Time Out) so we could eat a few appetizers in lieu of dinner, since we planned to be in bed by 8, when all the restaurants open.

Stumbled onto a very friendly bicycle shop who replaced Steve’s water bottle cage that broke in San Diego and hooked us up with some spare nipples for our wheels, the one spare parts item we’d not had time to get before our trip.

My biggest anxiety was about getting our bicycles to Lisbon in one piece, so from here on, it should be smooth sailing!

We are going to explore Lisbon a few more days, and then Saturday we ride inland towards Evora, and we are starting to look up camping options along the way. Stay tuned!

I’ve been trying to figure out how to express this idea, and I’m not sure I’ve done a good job, but let me try.

Today, we are at an inflexion point where everything changes. Tomorrow, everything shifts instantly from being about planning and preparation to being about experiencing and sharing. In a way, it’s no longer about us and the things we’re doing; it becomes about a shared experience in communities we have yet to discover.
Instead of boring our friends with our endless details of plans and training, we will now begin to enjoy the stories of others, the feelings of other environments, and the cultures we know little about.

Instead of riding our bicycles to prepare our bodies, we will begin to ride our bicycles to visit other places and connect with other people.

Instead of ticking off tasks from our To Do list, we will start living in the moment, trusting in the unknown, and joining others in their goals.

All this is good because, frankly, we are getting tired of talking about ourselves and looking forward to talking about more interesting things!

Everything is about to change, and to answer the most common question we’re asked: no, we probably aren’t ready, but we’re doing it anyway!