Last day in Lisbon

Toured Lisbon with my guide and his dog

We went to some off the beaten path places not mentioned in the guide books.

From the top of the arch at Praça do Comércio.

The highlight was a part of Lisbon known as the LxFactory.  It is a collection of small shops with local goods and from local artists.  It has a completely crazy bookstore with an art area on the top level.  There is this fun Italian who makes all these insane contraptions out of discarded items.  He teased me about my horrible command of the Portuguese language while showing me each contraption.

After stopping at a  bike store / cafe, the weather turned rainy so we spent the rest of the day at the Modern art museum.

Would I return to Lisbon?  Absolutely. Led by the wine industry, tourists are starting to go to Portugal so I think this will be a very different place in 10 years. You can see so many of the old buildings being restored all over the city.

Am I ready to go home?  Absolutely. It's been a great trip but it is time to go home.  I fly home tomorrow through London.  See you on the next trip.

My favorite Lisbon picture

Back in Lisbon

Back at the Four Seasons.

I spent the early part of the afternoon shopping in Lisbon with my new friends from Mexico City.  I love people who bring extra bags just for shopping.  We hope to meet again on another Duvine biking trip and have promised to email each other when planning.

After shopping, I went to Belém to visit the rest of the tourist sites.

Belém Tower built in 1515 and was the last thing the sailors saw as they left Portugal.

Monastery of Jerónimos built by King Manual (1495) of which the unique decorative style of Portugal takes it name.

The restored cloisters in the monastery are a perfect example of this Manueline architecture. 

Best gargoyles ever. You can't tell from the picture but these are all different animals including a monkey, a cat and a cricket.

National Coach Museum. This would have been much better if there was more light and didn't smell like mildew.

After seeing all the sights, I treated myself to some pastel de Belém from the famous Pastéis de Belém cafe.  Here I met two interesting people - one from California and one from the Czech Republic. Each works a bunch and saves up money and then quits their respective jobs to travel for many months before returning to work again. Rinse repeat. Sounds like fun.

The last thing to see in Belém is the  25th of April bridge and, way in the distance, the Cristo Rei.  Do these look familiar?  The bridge was built by the same group that build the Golden Gate so looks very similar and the Cristo Rei is a replica of the giant Christ statue in Rio. 

L'AND Hotel and Vineyard

Due to the growing wine industry in Portugal, a number of new hotels are springing up.   This hotel opened in the last few years.

There is a main building with the reception, spa and restaurant.

The rooms are located in single story buildings behind the main building.

I mention the single story building because the rooms have sky lights over the beds. The rooms are arranged as suites with a living room, bedroom and massive bathroom.  Each room has a private outdoor space with a plunge pool in the back and a porch with a fireplace in the front.

Picture of dinner -  Filet with bacon wrapped potato gnocchi.

Today, we return to Lisbon.  My legs are exhausted and I can't possibly bike another foot.

Day 5 Biking

Today was the last and most challenging day of biking.  33 miles from Evora to Montemor-o-Novo. Lots of hills along the way.  More farmland and cork trees.

Here's the gang getting ready to leave the hotel in Evora

We are staying at the L'AND hotel and vineyard.  Dinner is at the hotel's Michelin starred restaurant.

The hotel is new and has more modern decor than the other hotels we've stayed.  I'll include pictures of the hotel tomorrow.  I took a nap and when I awoke it was too dark to take pictures.

Day 4 biking

28 miles from the hotel to Arraiolos, noted for its colorful and hand-stitched woolen tapestries.

A highlight of the ride was going past a large herd of cattle all wearing bells. It was like riding past a concert of ding-donging bells.

The last 3 miles were a climb into Arraiolos where we stopped for lunch in the square.

After spending some time in Arraiolos, we enjoyed a guided tour of Evora.  Evora is a UNESCO world heritage site settled by the Romans, expanded by the Moors and then reconquered by the Christians.

The massive cathedral is different from the typical Catholic cathedrals and is much more fortress like inside.  It was meant to be a place of safety for this often fought over area.

The absolute highlight of Evora is the chapel of bones.

Built by Franciscan monks to remind us to cherish life as it is short and we will all one day become bones, the walls and columns are all decorated with carefully laid out bones. Real bones taken from relocated cemeteries.

Tonight we have dinner in Evora and another 30+ mile ride awaits us tomorrow. 

Convento Do Espinheiro

Considered a national monument of Portugal, Convento Do Espinheiro is a 15th century convent converted into a hotel.  

Besides being luxurious, the hotel contains the original chapel and has converted the old wine cellar into a first class restaurant.

Pictures of the chapel and restaurant

Dinner last night - some kind of cod dish, followed by prawn, pork and Sao Tome chocolate dessert. 

Day 3 Biking

Best day of biking so far. 40 miles over rolling hills from Vila Vicosa to Evora. The weather has been cool and I could have done with less wind but it was still spectacular.  I'm glad I packed my wool biking layers.  The landscape changed too - cork tree groves replaced with larger herds of cattle and corn fields and tomato plants and farming that more closely resembles upstate NY.

We stopped at a ceramic shop in the town of Redondo.  Last night, we were talking about how horrible the Portuguese are at marketing. They have excellent products but either no one knows about them or they make it very inconvenient for people to buy them. For example, not everyone takes credit cards. Sure enough I bought some large items at the ceramic shop and wanted to ship them home. The first thing out of the woman's mouth is that it is too expensive.  The guide just rolled his eyes.  These people need to understand that Americans are not afraid to spend money. I finally convinced the woman that I was ok with the extra shipping charge.

Lunch during the ride. That's pork underneath the egg.

We are staying at another excellent hotel, Convento Do Espinheiro.  Obligatory picture of my room.

Dinner is at the hotel tonight.

Tomorrow, we have another 20+ mile ride followed by a tour of Evora. 

Dinner with Isabelle

Last night, we ate dinner at the Dona Maria vineyard.

We were greeted by Isabelle, the owner of the estate.  After passing through the gate, we entered a courtyard with a palace on the left and the vineyard buildings on the right.  Unfortunately, it was dark so I don't have pictures of the courtyard.  The palace dates to the 18th century and was the home of the king's mistress.  Hand wave, hand wave, details were sketchy here, the estate was acquired by the family of Isabelle's husband hundreds of years ago.  The family lost control during the revolution in the 70's and spent many years regaining control after the revolution ended.

Some of the wines are still produced by woman stomping on the grapes in these large marble vats. Notice the pink marble from this area.

Isabelle gave us a tour of the wine producing facilities and then a tour of the grounds including the chapel where mass was held for the people of the estate and from the local community.

We then dined inside the palace itself. This is the actual home of Isabelle and her family.  Here is the dining room.  Notice the walls of each room are adorned with painted tiles. This is typical of homes from this period.

Isabelle is an incredible host. The food was excellent - leek soup, a cheese tart, duck, spinach cannelloni and local desserts.  There was a tasting of wines throughout dinner. Isabelle said to me that she heard I was a vodka drinker and as she was talking to me I could feel someone standing near me. I looked to my right and a white gloved man had a bottle of vodka on a silver tray with a glass that was larger than a cordial glass but not quite a shot glass.  He stood by me all night and refilled my glass as soon as it was empty. She said she did not know how to serve vodka so they guessed and put the bottle in the freezer before I arrived.  The conversation was lively.  The poor guides Alex and Pedro. They had already spent the last few days surrounded by 5 strong and independent woman.  Adding Isabelle to the mix did not improve their situation.

She also took us on a tour of some of the rooms including the kitchen

We are off for our longest ride of the week today.  More later.

Biking Day 2

Today's ride was fantastic except for the part where I got lost.  We covered about 30 miles visiting Borba and Estremoz.  Estremoz is where I got lost. We were biking back down over cobblestones from the citadel and the statue dedicated to Saint Queen Isabel when my water bottle was jarred loose. I stopped to pick it up and then everyone was gone. These are narrow little streets with lots of turns so easy to get lost. I biked back down to the town center and waited for someone to find me.

Picture of the aforementioned citadel

As you can see from the picture, it was a cloudy and cool day with a threat of rain.  I wore both my tights and light Ibex shirt all day.

We also biked past cork trees. 60% of the cork produced in the world comes from Portugal. Our friends from Portugal call it "Portugal's gold" as it is a highly profitable crop.

The number on the tree indicates the year when the cork was removed. They remove the cork once every nine years.

In addition to cork trees, the countryside here has orange trees, olive trees, vineyards and sheep and cows.

We also stopped by a marble quarry.  Want to know why marble is so expensive? Look at what it takes to quarry it.

You can barely see the men and equipment at the bottom of this pit.

Tomorrow is the longest ride of the week.  Looking forward to it.

Food

Day 4 and I am dying for a nice dish of pasta.  I've been trying to eat the local food as much as possible.

I don't hate the food here but I have not had anything worth writing about yet.

The Alentejo region is known for something called black pig.  The pigs eat acorns grown around the cork trees. When in Rome and all so I ordered some last night at dinner.  Served on a marble plate, it looked like this

This is not the traditional preparation but uses all the local ingredients including acorn.   Those larger round chunks are the black pig.

Verdict: it was ok.  A bit too salty for me.

The desserts have been very good.  This is something they call "orange tree deconstruction."

Everything in the picture is made from oranges.  Those things that look like balls of ice cream are actually a very doughy cake.

Here is a plate of octopus salad.

I've also had various port wines including a white one. You drink that one before dinner. Who knew? Tonight's dinner is supposed to be exceptional so I'm looking forward to that.

Vila Viçosa

Bike tour started today.  We drove 2 hrs to town of Vila Viçosa in the Alentejo region.

This region is a center for the world's marble and our hotel, Alentjo Marmoris,  is almost entirely made from marble.  Marble on the floor, on the walls, columns, tables, pools, fountains, etc. Marble everywhere.

Pictures of the lobby and the bathroom in my room

Today's ride was a short 20 miles get-to-know-your-bike ride.  Here's my ride for the week

Riding this for a few hours today made me really appreciate my bike at home.  

We rode to Castle Juromenha on the Spanish border.

That's Spain on the other side of the river.

The tour group has 4 other people in it.  3 fun ladies from Mexico City (really) and a woman from Michigan. All women! That's a first for me on one of these trips. Usually it is some annoying couple whose husband I manage to insult within the first hour.  The ladies from Mexico City are all related by marriage -- 2 sister-in-laws and their mother-in-law.  None of the husbands care much for biking so they leave them home.  

More Lisbon

Started the morning off in the Alfama neighborhood.

There's a castle and some crazy, hilly streets that turn all over the place. I got hopelessly lost but just kept walking down the hill.

The Alfama region survived the earthquake of 1755 and is a glimpse into Portugal of centuries ago.

I stopped for some yummy Portuguese pastry.   This is called a Pao De Lo

They also have these custard tarts here that are very similar to the custard tarts found everywhere in Hong Kong. The hotel set out a plate of them in my hotel room yesterday afternoon.

I then walked along the river to the Baixa neighborhood.  This area was rebuilt by the military after the earthquake.  The roads are a grid system and all the buildings are uniform in size and style. There is a lot of shopping here and the main north-south avenue is closed to cars.

We don't have nearly enough giant statues with guys on horses in the US.  This is about the 4th one I walked by today.

Lisbon is a charming city to walk around.  The sidewalks are wide and the roads are not clogged with cars. The hills can be brutal though. The climb from the metro back to my hotel gets old fast.

I stopped for some lunch in a sidewalk cafe. I had another traditional dish which can best be described as bread pudding with shrimp in it.

I also stopped by a ginjinha shop for a shot. This is a drink made from ginja cherries, sugar and grappa. It is as bad as it sounds. Don't worry I'll bring a bottle home.  Not as bad as the Ecuadorian fire water but close. A shot costs 1,10 euros and are sold in these tiny storefronts.

My bike tour starts tomorrow. I can't wait to clatter across the lobby of the Four Seasons in my bike shoes.