Bernie and Linda's Blog: October 2017

Monday, October 30, 2017

Oct 30th Update

Last week we took a trip with our friends Peter and Sherri to visit El Caminito Del Rey (the king's little pathway). The trail is located about an hour's drive east of Olvera in the mountains near the town of El Chorro.

The trail, much of which is suspended along the cliffs of a narrow gorge, was originally built between 1901 and 1905. It was built by the workers of a hydro power plant to facilitate maintenance and inspection. King Alfonso X111 visited the area in 1921 for the inauguration of a new dam and thereafter the trail was know as El Caminito del Rey.

Over time the trail went into disuse and deteriorated. After several people lost their lives attempting to navigate the pathway, it was closed to the public in 1999. With regional government funding the trail was rebuilt between 2011 and 2014 and was re-opened to the public.

Here area a few photos of the caminito and the parkland in which it lies. The trail can walked in one direction only, from north to south.

There is entrance fee of 10 euros and reservations are suggested. By the time we decided to go, all reserve tickets were sold but tickets are also sold at the gate located at the beginning of the elevated section of the trail. You have to hike in a couple of kilometres and wait to see how many day tickets will be sold. We went mid-week and didn't have a problem getting admission.

A limited number of people are allowed on the elevated trail at any given time. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to complete the elevated portion.

There is some hype about the fear factor, as indicated by the necessity of wearing a helmet, but we found the experience quite mild. There is secure railing the full length of the walkway.

Above is a photo of Peter and Sherri,
our trail companions.
They have a B&B in Olvera called #31.

There are several lakes in this area. As you can see the water is low. Rainfall has been below normal for the last couple of years.

The Caminito is visible passing over the rail bridge exiting a tunnel.

starting out on walk to the caminito

A view from along the caminito

Just a another photo of the new trail with parts of the old trail below it.

The photo to the right is of a railway bridge near the end of the trail. I like the design.

Linda at the door to Casa Resolana. Getting ready to leave on a ride to the coast.

A few days after hiking the caminito Linda and I took a trip an overnight to the coast. We wanted ride highway A-397 again so we booked a night in a hostal in San Pedro de Alcantara. Linda is on the hunt for gifts and the beach strip has a much better selection of stores.

We took the back road out of Olvera rather the main highway. The back roads are slow going but they pass though some nice villages. At Ronda we got back onto the main highway heading for coast. On our last ride up from the coast we noticed a nice looking cafe so we decided that would be a good stop for coffee and lunch before continuing down to the coast.

As I mentioned once before, the A-397 is a very popular motorcycle route and this cafe, Venta el Madrono, is a popular stop for riders.

Upon our arrival in San Pedro we checked into our hotel and explored the town. We generally always stay in the older part of the towns. It is more interesting than the newer area and also the small hotels as nice and inexpensive. Many have names such as Hostal or Hospedaje but they are not "hostals" as we know them. Many are nice guest houses or boutique hotels. Most have rooms with bathrooms and amenities such as wifi and roof top gardens. Prices vary but we normally pay 40 to 45 euros per night.

This is the church plaza in San Pedro.

One reason we came to San Pedro was that there is a bicycle store that I wanted to visit. We had planned to rent bicycles and ride to Marbella the next day. We visited the bike shop and chatted with the owner for quite a while. As well as booking a couple of bikes for the next day I wanted to ask about longer term e-bicycle rental for next year. The owner was open to long term rental and let us take a couple of bikes for a test ride.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel, stashed our motorcycle gear in the luggage and picked up our bicycles for the ride to Marbella. The distance between San Pedro and Marbella is about 11K and there is a bike / walking path along the beach front that connects the communities. The path was a little busy with the morning walkers and joggers but the trail is shared with bikes. The pedestrians have the right of way so it was a slow ride. On the return trip, around 2 in the afternoon, there was less foot traffic so it was a more pleasant ride. There are plenty of beaches and cafes along the route. You can stop for a drink and a swim at any time.

A typical beach on the Costa del Sol. This shot form where we locked the bikes in Marbella

As you can see in this photo, the beach is far from crowded. It is almost the end of the beach season but the temperatures still reach the mid to high 20s.

Reaching San Pedro we returned the bikes, paid the rental fees (7 euros), put on out motorcycle gear and headed back to Olvera. We stopped once again at the Venta El Madroño cafe for refreshments.

Packing Up

We are leaving Olvera on Friday morning so we are starting to get organized for the move. I have made arrangements to store the moto and associated gear in a garage in town. I'm taking the bike there on Wednesday. We are also leaving a few other items here with our friends Peter and Sherri, who have the B&B in town. On Friday we are taking the train to Seville. We have to travel 20k to the town of Setenil to catch the train, which will likely be by cab.

We will be spending 5 nights in Seville before taking the train to Valencia. While in Seville, we rented an apartment in Triana, an area of Seville across the river from the city centre.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with the owner of the house we are renting and have made tentative arrangements to rent it again next fall for 2 months. We really enjoy our time here.

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll get some time to do a couple of more entries before we leave Spain.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

October 23d. Update

Since my last update we have spent most of our time in and around Olvera. At last posting the weather seemed to be changing as cloud cover moved in from the west. After looking at the forecast we decided to head to the coast for a couple of days. So on Friday the 13th, we booked a hotel on Tarifa and hit the road.

There are a several route options to get from Olvera to Tarifa. We decide to take a route that took us though Gaucin, the village we stayed in last year. We stopped for coffee and chatted with local, whom we had met last year. This route follows nice winding two lanes highways though the mountains until it meets the main highway near Algeciras. From there to the turn off to Tarifa is not quite as much fun... busy traffic, confusing signs, exits and traffic circles.

Tarifa is located on a point of land that protrudes south into the Mediterranean. It is most southern tip of mainland Spain. Tarifa is well know by the wind and kite surfing community. There is a constant wind blowing. We came back to Tarifa on this trip for two reasons... one was for the weather, which was forecast to be better than in Olvera and to eat at a restaurant called Bar El Francés. Unfortunately, the weather was not quite as nice as forecast but the food at El Frances did not disappoint. It is the best restaurant food we have had in Spain or Portugal.

Bar el Frances is small bar with a large outdoor patio. The bar comfortably accommodates about 15 standing patrons but but there are usually 25 people inside, shoulder to shoulder. We arrived at the bar at about 2 pm and we were informed that we were number 10 on the waiting list for a table. No problem we went for stroll around the old town for 45 minutes. When we arrived back, I shouldered my way into the bar and ordered some drinks, brought them outside and we stood on the sidewalk enjoying the refreshments, chatting with the other patiently waiting customers.

The view from our hotel room. The mountains you can see are the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

Nicely decorated cannon on a lookout in Tarifa

The next day we followed the Mediterranean coast back to San Pedro de Alcantara and took highway A-397 to Ronda and then to Olvera. The A-397 is well known as one of the best motorcycling roads in Andalucia. It was busy on the Saturday we returned to Olvera but we are planning to had back to the coast on this coming Thursday.

On our way along the coast we stopped for a few hours in Estepona. All along this coast is very touristy. There are many condos and apartment buildings but the older parts of the villages are quite nice. The beaches are long and wide and there are nice long promenades on which to walk or bicycle.

When we arrived back in Olvera the partly cloudy weather persisted though the weekend and the high daytime temperature had declined to the low 20s. Nice weather to be outside. We are continuing to walk or bicycle every day.

On Monday we rented bicycles to ride the via verde from Olvera to Puerto Serrano and return. A total distance of 73 kilometres. As I have mentioned before, the ride is downhill to Puerto Serrano and uphill on the return. Our previous experience indicated that the return trip took twice and long and the uphills seemed much steeper than they looked. The afternoon sun and wind didn't make it any easier. This time Linda opted to rent and E-bike. I stuck with a basic mountain bike.

We stopped at the intermediate point (Corripe) for coffee, then continued on the Puerto Serrano. After a bite to eat in the station restaurant we started to prepare for the return ride. Just as we were about to leave, a family arrived on the via verde. We had seen and chatted briefly with them in Corripe. They were a from the Netherlands. We told them that we were riding back to Olvera and asked them if they were planning to do the same. They laughed and said "No. We are taking a taxi back." The man had rented an E-bike, and asked me if I wanted to use it for the return trip. We discussed it for a moment or two and we decided that he would take my mountain baike in the Taxi and I would ride the E-bike back.

In retrospect I was very lucky. Even with the E-bike, the ride back was good exercise. One thing that I really like about E-bikes it that they don't provide power unless you do. You can select different levels of assist but you can also control the amount of effort that you want to exert. In other words you can get as much of a workout as you want... or not? Also when 2 people are riding together you can maintain the same pace. One simply uses more or less assistance and you both get a good workout. We spent roughly 5 hours riding the 70+ K.


Another view of the local area taken from the via verde.

It was a good thing that we got our ride in on Monday. Stormy weather arrived. We had 2 days of thunder showers and continuous rain. We went out and bought an umbrella and kept up our exercise routine. I make this sounds much more athletic that it really is. We walked to the grocery store a few times do get some more wine. By Friday we were back to blue skies!

Friday evening we received an unexpected email from a couple who live in Fernie. They had heard, through the grape vine, that we were in Olvera and arranged their bicycle trip to stop in Olvera for 2 nights. Jason and Louise explained in the email how they knew we were here and asked if we wanted to get together for coffee. We met Saturday morning for coffee and spent the day together hiking around town and taking a trail to one of the adjacent villages for lunch. When we returned to Olvera we took them to our local for a couple of sunset drinks.

We don't remember meeting Jason and Louise before but we are certainly glad that they contacted us. It was great to get to know them. We had a wonderful day. Looking forward to seeing them on ski hill this winter.

We managed to catch up with this snail as he was racing across the path.

Sunset in Olvera from Bar El Tapir Despistado

Tomorrow we are planning to go to walk El Caminito del Rey with some friends. I should have some interesting photos for the next report.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

First Two Weeks In Olvera

We have been in Casa Resolana, Olvera now for 2 weeks. We have been spending most of our time in and around Olvera either walking or cycling on the Via Verde.

The weather has been warmer than normal. Everyday has been sunny with high temperatures in the high 20s. Over night temperatures generally drop to 12 to 15C so the morning are a pleasant time to walk. We have been averaging 10K per day walking. Within the 10k we have been averaging more that 40 flights of climbing.

We have been buying groceries at the local super market and preparing most of our meals. There is a good selection of restaurants in Olvera but the timing for meal service does not work for us. We are up fairly early and don't like to take an afternoon nap, so waiting for the restaurants to open and get their kitchen ready means that you can't go out to eat until 8:00 pm. Even then, you would be the only patrons in the restaurant and the kitchen may not be ready to serve until 9:00 pm. By then we are ready for bed.

The sun sets around 8, so most evenings its wine, tapas and sunset! I could have taken the photo below just about every evening since we have been here.

Twice now we have been bicycling on the via verde. Our route is to ride the section from Olvera to Coripe and return, about 45K round trip. The first half is easy but the ride back uphill in the hot sun is more challenging. There is a nice little restaurant at the old station in Coripe for refreshments or a light lunch. Below are a few photos taken from the via verde on one of our bike rides.

Olvera Castle from the via verde

Zaframagon, a nature reserve for nesting Griffon Vultures

On the Zaframagon viaduct

So far we have taken a couple of trips on the motorcycle. One overnight trip to Ronda and a day trip to a hiking trail in the nearby mountains.

Linda wanted to do something for my birthday, so we booked a room in cute little little guest house on the old part of Ronda and did a nice little road trip though the mountains (Sierras de Grazalema) stopping for coffee in Zahara and lunch in the town of Grazalema.

Ronda is located in quite a spectacular setting. The old town is built an outcropping of rock separated from the "mainland" by a deep gorge. It is located about 40 kilometres (in a straight line) from the Mediterranean coast. Up until a few years ago it only accessible via a narrow road, too narrow for tour buses, but now that there is a new road it is a popular day trip from the Costa del Sol. There were lots of tourists.

Puente Nuevo This is the "new" bridge, as apposed to the "old" bridge a couple of photos lower.

Puente Nuevo

Puente Viejo the "old' bridge

The sun coming up on Puente Nuevo

Yesterday we rode the moto to Peurto de las Palomas (The Port of the Doves) for a short hike around the top of the mountain. We had seen the trail head when we did the trip though this area on the way to Ronda.

The road up to Puerto de las Palomas is narrow and winding. Like most of the mountain roads it is just wide enough for two cars to pass each other. Often you cannot see around the next tight corner. You have to hope that any vehicle coming in the other direction leaves you enough passing space. Luckily there is not a lot of traffic on this road.

At the top of the pass, there is a view point and parking lot with easy access to the trail (or sendero in Spanish).

When riding the moto we wear ventilated but padded jackets and pants, helmets and boots. When we go on a day trip we wear shirts under the pants and carry a pair of sandals to wear. Once parked with take off the moto gears and store it in the empty luggage. It's a bit of a hassle but not a big deal if you can find a shady spot to change.

From the top of this pass you can see in both directions. These two photos taken in opposite directions.

This area has a large selection of senderos ranging in difficulty and length. The Puerto de las Palomas sendero that we walked is rated as easy. It is a 3K loop around the peak. We took our time and completed the loop in about an hour and a half or so.

Griffin Vultures also nest on the peak and are often seen gliding over head. With up to a 10ft wingspan, you get the feeling that they could pick you up.

This photo looks north west. The lake is created by a dam at the west end. The water is low at this time of year.

The white village seen between these peaks is Olvera.

We are enjoying our stay in Olvera. We extended our stay here for 5 days so in total we will be in Casa Resolan for 5 weeks. On November 3 we are heading to Seville for 5 days then on to Valencia, by train, for 6 days before catching our flights back to Calgary.

We are planning to leave the moto in storage someplace here in Olvera. We have a couple of leads but havn't found a place yet.

Tomorrow we are off another overnight trip to Tarifa, with a stop for coffee in Gaucin, the town we stayed in last year.

Monday, October 02, 2017

Back to Spain

After a hot and busy summer we are off, once again, on a travel adventure. We have returned to Spain and with a side trip to Portugal, at the beginning of this 2 month trip.

When we left Spain last November we left the motorcycle with IMT Bike Tours in Barcelona and we returned to Barcelona on Tuesday, Sept 12. We spent 2 days in Barcelona, acclimatizing to the time change (9 hours from Pacific time), preparing the bike for travel and taking a nice long walking tour of the city.

We booked a multi-leg international flight with Air Canada from Calgary to Barcelona with a stopover in Toronto to visit Linda's family. We are finding that the multi-leg booking works well for us. You can stopover for almost any length of time at intermediate points for a much cheaper fare than booking individual flights. Our Multi-leg flight goes from Calgary to Toronto to Barcelona then returns from Valencia to Calgary with a layover in Frankfurt. In this case the stopover in Toronto added about $130 each to the total cost of the flight. Also on international flights, checked baggage (first bag) is free of charge. This also applies to the Calgary-Toronto leg, so that saves a few extra bucks.

As I sit down to finish this blog entry, we are in our rented house in Olvera, Spain, almost 3 weeks into our trip.

Barcelona

Barcelona is a busy city but it is easy to find your way around. Last time we were here we took the metro but this time we decided to walk. We stayed in a hotel near the bike storage in Sants, a district of Barcelona. From our hotel to the Plaza Barcelona and old town Barcelona (the touristy area) was a 30 to 35 minute. Then we walked to the beach / marina through the old town and returned up the La Rambla and picked another route back to the hotel though Plaza Catalunya. In all, we walked for about 3 hours though a mix of narrow streets and tree lined boulevards. It was nice to get some exercise after the long flight.

Except for the main tourist areas the city was not crowed, the sidewalks are generally quite wide. There are plenty of nice outdoors bars and cafes in all areas of Barcelona. We stopped in a couple of them for a drink and a bite to eat. The weather was perfect.


Wide boulevard street

Typical sidewalk cafe

Relaxing along La Rambla

Dedicated bicycle paths all over town

We left Barcelona around 10 am on Sept 14th. For me, it is a challenge to drive or ride in the cities. Not only are the roads very busy but the rules of the road and the driving customs are different then those to which we are accustomed. For example: When you reach and intersection with a green traffic light and a stop sign, what do you do? Stop or go? We still don't have the answer to this question. Since the crossing traffic was stopped, we proceeded with caution though the intersection.

Our plan is to ride from Barcelona for Porto, Portugal. Stay in Porto for a couple of days and then explore the coast of Portugal before returning into Spain and heading to the town of Olvera, where we have rented a house for a month. We decided to put in a couple for longer day and stick to the main highways for the first couple of days. In the first 2 days we covered over 800K. The last 3 days of the trip to Porto were much shorter travel days. I booked hotel rooms in advance along this route using booking.com. Advanced bookings seems to work well for us on these parts of the trip. The hotels are sometimes difficult to locate and it is not easy find parking and walk around looking for a place with all the motorcycle gear on.

Zaragoza

Our first stop on was in the city of Zaragoza, the capital of the province of Aragon. Another advantage of having the hotel booked in advance is that you can use the GPS to lead you to it. We did not have much information about Zaragoza but we were pleasantly surprised. We found a great little tapas restaurant in the historic part of town and had a very good meal. We would have liked to have stayed longer.

Downtown Zaragoza, looking toward the palace

Our next stop was on the outskirts of Valladolid. A very plain hotel in the middle of an industrial area. Linda was not impressed but I made up for it by lucking into much nicer accommodation the next 2 nights.

Zamora

From Valadolid we rode only 130K to the town of Zamora, located on the Douro river. The Douro river originates in north-central Spain and winds its way to the Atlantic Ocean. In Zamora we stayed in small hotel on the edge of the old town, close to the river. In the photo below, the hotel, Hosteria Real de Zamora, is located on the far right of the photo. There is a car parked in front of the entrance. It is a very nice place to stay.

interesting statue in a town plaza

One of the older narrow bridges. Now a pedestrian and bicycle bridge.

The Douro River forms part of the boundary between Spain and Portugal before turning west again though the port wine district and the city of Porto. We followed and crossed the Douro many time on our route from Valladolid to Porto. Our crossing into Portugal was over a single lane hydro dam. Like all of Europe, there is no check point. The only way that we knew we had entered Portugal was the welcoming sign and the one hour time change on the GPS.

Entering Port Wine winery area.

Porto Wine County

The terrain is quite hilly and the roads are quite narrow. After a few kilometres we found our way into a nice two lane highway, IC5, that led us over the hils and back into the Douro River valley and through the town of Pinhao. Our destination that day was Casa Cimeira, located 5K from Pinhao along N222 then about 5K on a steep winding road up the side of the river valley.

Casa Cimeira is a small "hotel" (6 or 7 rooms) located on a winery overlooking the river and many other wineries. We knew nothing about Casa Cimeira before booking it because it looked nice and was half way between Zamora and Porto (in travel time). Some time you luck in. This was one of those occasions!

We arrived at Casa Cimeira mid afternoon. Miguel, the owner greeted us and made space for us to park beside his moto. He showed us around the common area, pool, bar etc. and then poured each a large glass of his port and instructed us to relax while he prepared the room. A nice start to our stay... but it got better.

Our "room" was a suite with bedroom, siting room and a huge bathroom. Very comfortable. After a refreshing shower we found some chairs in the shade by the pool and chatted with other guests. As I mentioned Casa Cimeira is located on a small winery but it is not isolated from other residences. The wineries are small, some only a few acres in size and there are house also built along the road. Never the less, it would be difficult to go out for dinner. No problem, Miguel and his family prepare a meal for the guests every night.

We were instructed to show up in the bar for cocktails and nibblies at 5:30. Here we could socialize until dinner was ready. Miguel served white port along with the appetizers. Linda and I started chatting with a young lady, Stephanie, who was French but lived in Italy and worked in Switzerland. She and her husband are owners a Moto Guzzi and had recently returned from a trip though Norway, so we had a common interest.

When dinner was ready we all (14 of us) moved into the dining room. We sat at a long wide table filled with a variety of plates, foods and bottles of wine. We were served a fabulous 3 course meal before returning to the bar for after dinner brandy.

The meal was a huge highlight of the trip so far. The guests were from Italy, Sweden, France, Australia, England and Canada. The conversation around the table fluctuated between English, French and Italian with a smattering of Portuguese. I was amazed, with my old French and more recent Spanish studies, that I could understand parts of the conversation in both French and Italian.

Breakfast was also provide in the morning. Both meals were prepared by Miguel and his family with loving attention to detail. Before leaving we traded contact info with Stephanie and are hoping to see her again in Canada or Italy.

We didn't ask how much dinner and breakfast would cost. There really wasn't a comfortable choice. The room rate was 70 Euros. Dinner, including all the drinks, appetizers and wine was 20 Euros each. Excellent value!

I wish that I had taken some photos of Casa Cimeira and the dinner. There are lots of photos on Trip Advisorif you are interested.

Porto

Our ride into Porto was interesting. We opted to avoid the toll roads in favour of the secondary highways. Several roads follow the Douro river to Porto but there are two secondary highway, one on the north side of the river and the other on the south side. To call either of these roads a "highway" would be a rather large exaggeration.

I had planned to take N222, the southern route, but after speaking to some other MC riders I decided on N108 on the north side. I was told the N222 was very curvy and terribly slow. They told me that the N108 was a better choice. The distance from Casa Cimeira to Porto is about 135K. Even on the "better" road it took us almost 4 hours to reach our destination. Albeit, some of this time was spent following Mr. Garmin around in circles, trying to find the access road to our accommodation. After the third false GPS location, a phone call to the owner got us down the correct road, hardly wide enough for a car.

Luis was waiting for us, helped with a parking spot and showed us into our suite. We had rented an airbnb suite for the 2 nights we stayed in Porto. The suite was in a new building, built on the ruins of an older building, on the edge of the old port area. Called Oscar's Place after Oscar the lamp.

Meet Oscar...

Other than the difficulty finding it, Oscar's Place is great. Luis and Christina are wonderful hosts. The location is within easy walking distance of the main tourist attractions in Porto. The buildings contain 3 suites with ample common area. Also there is small yard with a beautiful garden overlooking the river. Highly recommended.

Linda standing in the main access road to Oscar's Place

Oscar's entrance is the red door on the last building on the left.

This was my parking spot on the sidewalk.

For Harry Potter fans, this is the book store in which J.K. Rowling had worked. It is said to have inspired her with it's design and interior space. Also the student at the university, located a few metres to left of this photo wear black gowns and these too were an influential inspiration. Or so the story goes... believe it or not.

There is generally a line up to get into the shop. The price of entry is 4 euro.

Livraria Lello - Porto

As I mentioned our suite was a little bit of the beaten path and as luck would have it the other suite in our accommodation was occupied by a gal (another Linda) from Calgary, traveling solo. She arrived a few hours after us. Linda and I had had enough time wander around and get our bearings before Linda 2 arrived. It was just getting dark when we were just heading out for dinner so we invited Linda 2 to join us. We found a nice little cafe close by and enjoyed nice meal.

The next day we wandered around the city centre. We didn't go in the book store. In fact we didn't go to any of the main tourist attractions. The city was super busy. There were tour groups all over the place almost tripping over each other, with line ups for the main attractions. Porto is nice place though. The people are friendly, especially the waiters that we met. They all spoke English but put up with my halting attempts at Portuguese and helped with my pronunciation.

When we were at Casa Cimeira in the wine district, one of our fellow guests told us about a restaurant that was recommend to him. A slightly out of the way tapas bar down a side street behind the railway station. He told us that it was filled with mostly locals and that a reservation was needed. While I was working on some modifications to the bike, Linda searched out the "Tapabento - Bar Restaurant" and made a reservation. She made the reservation for 3 and we asked Linda 2 to join us. I have to admit that was very good!

Our selection of tapas. I can't remember what they were called. One is a cheese plate the other a tuna and bacon plate, a salad and one other item. I aslo had a bowl of soup and we shared a bottle of wine.

From Porto we followed the Atlantic coast south. We had booked an apartment for 3 nights on the south coast of Portugal, in the Algarve district, in the the village of Burgau. This gave us 6 days to travel 650K from Porto to Burgau. Our average distance per day worked out be 130K or about 2 1/2 hours riding time. Each day we would plan our next days route and destination, then look on line at the accommodation options. For one or two nights stops we used booking.com to make reservations. For longer stays we used Airbnb or Homeaway (VRBO).

Aveiro

Our first stop was in the city of Aveiro only 80K south of Porto. Aveiro is situate on the coast in a low lying area not much above sea level. Canals running though the town are filled with colourful tour boats. It was much more tranquil location than central Porto.

We found a cute little guest house here called Casa do Cais. It is a house that operates like a mini hotel. The guests each have their own room with en-suite and share the common space. The owner / operator lives off site and you call him when you arrive. He comes over to show you around help get you settled.

Aveiro is know as the "Venice of Portugal"

Casa do Cais is the green tile fronted building.


The inside of the main floor of Casa do Cais. This photo was taken from the door to our room looking forward through the kitchen area and the living area to the entrance.

Obligatory Selfie

Here are a couple of examples of Portuguese architecture. The tile fronts on these building are very common and quite attractive.

NAZARE

Nazare is popular beach town know for it's enormous waves. The world record for largest surfed waves was set in Nazare, 28.3 metres crest to trough. While we were there there weren't any waves like this. It does have a huge beach which at this time of year, was almost deserted. The temperatures, along the Atlantic coast, are cooler than the inland temperature. Still, the midday temps were in the low 20s.

There are a variety of beach towns along the coast between Porto and Lisbon. One could spend quite a bit of time exploring these beach towns. We decide to stop in an inland town the following night. Many people with whom we had chatted spoke highly of Sintra so we decided to check it out.

Sunset from a beach strip cafe

The next morning clouds had moved in as went for our morning stroll.

Sintra

Sintra is a region of Portugal. It is located west-north-west of Lisbon. The city of Sintra is one of three cities in the region. It is considered to be part of the Portuguese Riviera. It is hilly terrain and it is dotted with palaces ans castles, old and new. Word has it that Madonna recently bought a house in Sintra.

We stayed in beautiful old house in the centre of Sintra's historic area. Casa daVila 1C (as it is listed in Booking.com) When we arrived there was a note beside the door to call Dulce. She arrived in seconds and gave us a tour of the property and our room. We had decide to stay in Sintra for two nights. We were a day ahead of schedule for our Algarve booking but also Sintra is a good walking town. Mostly all up and down, but nice paths and trails.

On our second day in Sintra we hiked, just over an hour, up paths and trails to the old Moor fortress. It was a good idea to get an early start. Even walking up we beat the tour bus and were the first into the castle. It was very nice to be ahead of the crowds, especially o the narrow castle walk ways and towers.

If you are coming to Portugal, put Sintra on your list. The only problem with Sintra is the volume of tourists. I'm aware of the irony of this comment, but it is crazy busy in all the main tourist areas that we have visited. Dulce, the owner of the house we rented a room from, told us that this year, tourism has been overwhelming. She and others we talked to blamed instability in other tourist areas that had driven more tourists to Portugal. I don't know if this is true or not but one thing is very evident to us... Most of the travellers are mobile baby-boomers who have the money, time and health to travel... and that number is increasing.

Fortunately there are still some under-publicized locations that are not so busy. I guess it depends what you are looking for as a traveller. If you want to see the popular sites, it is hard to avoid the crowds.

The narrow road to the bike parking

Casa da Vila

Looking down on old town Sintra from the castle

Inside the castle walls looking east.

Inside the castle walls looking west.


Pena National Palace on the top rung.

Vila Nova de Milfonte

After our visit to Sintra we decided to look for a more "out of the way" place. Milfonte was our choice. A small beach town part way between Sintra and Burgau. We picked out a cheap guest house on Booking.com and wandered down the back roads to Milfonte.

Our instructions were to register at a sister hotel near the beach, pick up the key, then go back a kilometre to their guest house. When we reached the hotel, it looked like a better location, so we asked if they had a room. The young gal at the desk was very helpful. She explained that there was one small room but we could have it for the same price as the guest house. (E38) We took her up on the offer.

It didn't take long for us to figure out that Vila Nova de Milfonte was a charming little town that match our style of travel. Located on the wide mouth of the Rio Mira, it has a good selection of beaches and surf break. A good selection of restaurants and stores. Inexpensive accommodation and a variety of outdoor activities. The hotel had bikes, surfboards, kayaks and paddle boards for rent.

We could see ourselves spending more time in Vila Nova de Milfonte. A mix of younger and older travellers is important to us. This mix gives the town a much different feel than themore popular tourist areas we had just visited.

Looking back from the point. This beach in the river lagoon. The ocean waves break outside the mouth of the river.

This sculpture is pretty cool. It sets the tone of town.

It says....

"This is not Sintra!"

Another shot of the lagoon beach with the town in the background.

How long did it take to build all these balance rock structures? all above the high water mark

The Algarve and the Village of Burgau

The Algarve district is the popular beach area that runs the length of the southern coast of Portugal. We chose the small town of Burgau, located almost at the far western end of the Algarve. From the town to the south-western point of Portugal is all park land. The coast is mainly cliffs with small beaches dispersed along the coast. There are trails along the cliffs that can be used on foot, horse or bicycle, that links the towns and beaches.

Also the weather along the southern coast is generally a few degrees warmer than the western Atlantic coast so the beach season is a little longer. Below are a couple of shots of Burgau from the cliff on both sides of town. As you can see, it is not very big but there is a good selections of stores and restaurants. We rented a 2 bedroom condo from Homeaway and stay here for 3 nights.

Each morning we walked the trails along the cliffs to the next town or beach. Going east the trails were a bit more level. Really only one good hill to go over. In the other direction it was almost continuously up and down.

Each day we managed to make it to this beach bar for Sangria and chips.

We enjoyed our time at this little town as well. Laid back, not crowded and friendly.

A closer look at the beach.


Security and safety are paramount.

Cool way to decorate the garage wall.

On to Olvera with a stop in San Juan del Puerto

Burgau was our last stop in Portugal. Now we are heading off on a 2 day ride to Olvera, Cadiz. In Olvera we have rented a house for a month and we are looking forward to our stay.

On the toll roads this would be a 4 hour drive but we have been avoiding the toll roads. On this trip we want to stay on the roads that take us though the communities, so a 4 hour drive takes twice the time. We booked a hotel in San Juan del Puerto, a small town in the suburbs of Huelva a few kilometres past the halfway point.

It is always different when you stay in a town that is not used to seeing tourists. We are easily recognized as someone that is not local but if you say hello or good afternoon in the native language you generally receive a smile and a return good day. The other thing that you notice is the price difference. Everything is cheaper.

We stopped for lunch in the town of Tavira, Portugal. This is a coastal tourist town, not far from the Spanish border. From our short break, it looked like a nice place. A good part about travelling by motorcycle is the ability to park just about anywhere the bike will fit. In this case we pulled up on the side walk between some barricades and parked behind the BMW. We left the helmets and jackets with the bike and went to the cafe for lunch. At first we didn't lock the helmets and jackets but locals approached us and suggested that we lock them or take them with us. We brought a couple of light weight cable locks for these occasions.

The final days ride to Olvera was only 2 1/2 hours in total. We stayed in San Juan for the morning and hit the road around noon. Most of this leg was ridden on 4 and 2 lane highways. We passed through the outskirts of Seville, so the roads were very busy.

Our plan was to stop for lunch / dinner before every thing closes at 2 pm. As luck would have it no restaurants appeared on our route. Then I remembered that we had eaten at the abandoned railway station in Puerto Serrano last year when we bicycled on the Via Verde rail trail. The restaurant there is open all day for passing cyclist. This town was on our route so we detoured into town and found the station. We were finishing up a nice meal when a friend from Olvera, who has a bicycle tour company, showed up with some clients. We had already been in contact with Geoff to rent some bikes. I was nice chance encounter.

Arriving in Olvera, we found our way up to the top of the hill where our rental house is located. Our rental, Casa Resolana, is located in the area of town that would, at one time, have been within the walled area of the castle. Some parts of the walls can still be seen. The streets are too narrow for cars but we were able to get the bike to the house.

It was nice to unpack and get settled, then wander downtown and pickup a few groceries. We will spend a few days getting organized.

Location of Olvera is indicated by the red pointer.

We have rented Casa Resolana for one month. We chose Olvera as our base location for few reasons. Olvera is located almost dead centre of Andalucia with easy access to variety of interesting locations and activities.

Front our rooftop patio we are looking into the mountains of Sierra de Grazalema national park.
The Mediterranean coast and Jerez are only an 1hour and a half by car. Cordoba not much further and Sevilla just over and hour away.

The weather here is perfect at this time of year. The forecast for the next two weeks is sunny, with high temperature between 22 and 26.

Sunset

Olvera is located on a the Via Verde de las Sierras. This is an abandoned rail line turned into walking / bicycling trail.

Olvera is not too touristy. There is a small expat community here and we have met a few of them, Canadian, Belgians, Swedes,Scots & Brits last year and enjoyed their company.

We plan to use the motorcycle for day trips and an overnight trip or two. Thursday we are going to explore parts of the nation park and overnight in Ronda before returning to Olvera on another route.

Sunrise

These photos on the right were taken from the patio the night we arrived and the next morning. Right now we are in Central European Central Time, one hour later than GMT. Sunset is about 8:00 and sunrise is 8:15.

Morning temperatures between 14 and 17.