Life's a Stitch

We indulged in our pastel nata (Portuguese egg tarts, literal translation = cream pastry) breakfast.

Afterwards we Ubered to Lisbon’s cruise ship terminal. We are sailing on a budget line (NCL) and every step of the process is slow compared to other companies. It took 90 minutes to check in with preferred access. 

It’s a brand new ship with an elegant modern feel. The cabins are quite nice.

Greg and I did significant city walking including a bit of shopping, a visit to the Christmas Market and a trek uphill to a viewpoint.

Day 2 started with a magnificent sunrise.

C woke up with a significantly swollen ankle from a slip at our previous hotel. There was no twist, or fall, just a hard knock against the wall so he was out for the count today. The room steward brought him a bag of ice and C spent the day with his foot up.

Walking to the train station we passed to art installations in progress, one of sand one of stone.

Taking the train to the suburb of Belem, Ellen, Greg and I went on a pastel nata crawl. First stop was Pasteis de Belem, one of the originals, using the same recipe since 1837. 

We crossed the street to try them at Manteigaria.

They may look similar, but the clear winner was Pasteis de Belem. A step above any I’ve had in the past. The crust was extra crispy, even the bottom, and the custard was less sweet, a relief from several desserts we’ve had here that contain sweetened condensed milk. With added cinnamon it tasted just like my grandmother’s custard.

Our mission accomplished, we boarded the train back to the center of Lisbon. It’s hard to believe this city has a population of 545,000, it feels much larger. 

E and G headed back to the ship and I had my own adventure, first stopping in an exceptional art supply shop. Willpower prevailed and I didn’t buy a thing. As if I need anything anyway. 

Next stop was Rei do Bachalao (Bacalao King) for a delicious Pastéis de Bacalhau, a potato and salt cod fritter.

I was not expecting to like it as my past experience was the fishy smelling salt cod my grandmother would cook in Puerto Rican and and overly salty, also fishy version we had on a previous trip to Portugal. A friend explained that neither had been soaked properly. I found it interesting the Romans preserved cod through salt drying in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

After a bit of Christmas shopping it was time to return to the ship. One hour after the end of the port strike tonight we will start our six days at sea.

The trekking party is over for now. It was an exhausting day although no walking was involved. It was time to return to Lisbon to return the car and spend a night prior to boarding the ship. The drive was nerve wracking on Portugal’s version of the autobahn. Our brains having been used to travelling at the speed of snails on the trail were assaulted with cars in the fast lane some passing at 145+kph. We passed an unfortunate accident in the opposite direction involving a bus and a rolled over car, no doubt travelling at high speed.

The landscape didn’t change much over the course of the trip, fields and hills dotted with groves of low trees,  but we passed an area of stork nests on power poles. It looked like a stork condo – each of those dark spots being a nest.

I, as navigator, was frustrated when we got to the city and exit names/numbers did not match what the gps was telling us. We made it back to our cheap and cheerful Ibis Hotel after many twists and turns in hilly Lisbon. 

E and I indulged in lunch with white wine while the guys re-entered the fray to return the car. We relaxed by booking a daylong tour to Sines for our unexpected extra day in Lisbon, but at dinner we learned that it too, was cancelled due to issues around the port strike.

We walked to a nearby take away chiaroscuro for dinner. While it cooked we had drinks and appies at a restaurant down the block while watching junior football on the ever present sports TV that accompanies dining in Portugal. The owner/chef recommended fresh goat cheese (mild as boccancini) with pumpkin jam and bread to go with our olives, that in Portugal are served in sufficient quantities to count as a serving of veggies. We were burned again by ordering a bottle of the house wine, forgetting that it doesn’t mean the least expensive.

Our main course was half a chicken, a rack of ribs (called a piano of meat) and two large sausages to share. Sold by weight it came to e15.50, a delicious bargain.

We were all ready for bed at an early hour, with visions of the Ibis’s breakfast hot pastel nata towers dancing in our heads. Stay tuned for our impromptu adventure in Lisbon.

OK, I lied. Greg and I added more to the total by walking to and joining the trail close to where the rain stopped C and I the day of our arrival in Lagos.

What a pleasant walk it was, primarily on boardwalk that took us past the lighthouse and all the way to our Air b&b.

The four of us drove to Silves for an adequate, but carb filled menu do dia lunch and a visit to the castle. Parking was sparse. We walked from the base of the town way up to the castle, located at a high point for defensive advantage, making it difficult to attack. The position also provides a wide view of the surrounding area and approaching enemies.

Tomorrow we’re off to Lisbon, one night in a hotel and two on the ship as there is a rotating port strike that requires us to stay an extra night for lack of pilot availability.

A photo from yesterday, last minute pack adjustments on the beach, typical of every day.

We were falling short of our 100k goal so this morning’s mission was to wrap it up by walking to the beginning/ending point of the Fisherman’s Trail of the Rota Vicentina. We found the official location at the Lagos train station. Greg took our photo as we pointed to our starting and finishing points. 

Ours wasn’t a straight line, though. We did 3 circular routes, 1 segment on the Historic Trail and the rest on the Fisherman’s Trail. Today we hit the 100k mark and more, so I’m happy.

We had a quiet afternoon doing laundry and relaxing, then walked most of it again. We had our second dinner at Pinao Restaurant and Bar. The best Cataplana so far. The restaurant has a Nepalese bent with spice level options. The medium was perfect for us. They keep comping us port after dinner.

Good strategy to keep us coming back. That and excellent food and service.

I can stop counting our distance now, but there will be plenty of walking to come on this trip and I will be posting, especially since we were notified of a change in our ship’s itinerary that puts us in Lisbon for three nights. Looking at day hikes right now.

We checked out of the pensao and drove through the countryside to Burgau. If you know me, you know I like tree tunnel pictures as much as I like lone tree photos. 

Burgau had a small beach nestled between two rocky cliffs.

Up we went in cobblestones to the clay then rock trails above the village.

In the distance we saw where a slide had taken out part of the cliff (blue arrow). Next to it dirt paths laced their way up (green arrow). There’s no way that’s the path so close to an unstable area, I thought. Think again. Those dirt paths were in our immediate future. 

Tre trail became more rocky and this was our descent. We didn’t notice the blue and green “x” symbol at the bottom indicating we had taken the wrong way. 

We stopped for lunch in the town of Luz.

Then the weather shifted to cold, grey and windy, looking like rain. We looked up the Google maps walking directions that would avoid the possibility of wet clay cliff paths and started up the cobblestones. 

By the time we made it to the top the weather cleared and there was a trail entrance. More steep rocky terrain requiring calculating each step. We looked back from whence we came.

The scenery completely changed at the top with a pine grove then peppercorn shrubs growing off a reasonable dirt trail. 

Descending into Lagos was reasonable, but it started raining. We gave up with 40 minutes to go and was rescued by Greg. 

We had requested early check-in at our air b&b, which was granted, however we waited in the car for over an hour and a half for the code to arrive. Just as we turned it into a party with a drink of choice for each, of course the code came.

The apartment is a bit dated, but a good size for the four of us. The only drawback being a heavy vanilla/floral scent.

We walked to a burger and fish bar, five minutes away: Pinhao. Entering we weren’t optimistic, but whoa, it was amazing. Staff and food were right up there. Dinner for four came to e80.

The rest of our schedule is to be decided before we head to Lisbon on the 27th for our transatlantic cruise.

Followed our usual routine: breakfast at 8:15 on the trail at 9:00. Walking out of the village, we heard a metallic sound thinking it was related to the natural springs we were passing. The volume increased and I thought we were heading right into a stampede of cattle with cowbells. We saw the source to our right, feeding cows. Our morning symphony, dubbed by C, “The Cowrol of the Bells.”

It was uphill from there. I still don’t understand the reality of the elevation gain as opposed to the trail guides.

It was a magical walk in the cork tree forest.

There were still remnants from last week’s storm and flooding.

Back down on level land we encountered the largest cork tree yet, with an interesting sky.

After 5k we were approaching Bordeira again to head to the second circular routes.

Crossing the highway, a short distance down the trail we heard more cowbells, described by SIL KC, when he saw the video, as haunting and happy. He knows as he worked making cheese in the Swiss Alps.

The route edged along the pasture for quite awhile, then rounded a corner for an uphill climb. We walked through eucalyptus forest, some still in bloom.

There were a couple of spots where the trail markers were hard to find. It was helpful having three sets of eyes at three heights to spot them.

These goats escaped their fence:

The sheep not so brave:

None of us remembers going downhill enough to justify the steep long shale incline toward the end of hike.

We’re staying in one bedroom apartments at Pensao das Dunas in Carrapateira. Pretty on the outside, a little tired inside.

At e80 per night it was the most expensive accommodation on the trail. The apartment was advertised as having a kitchen and we bought groceries accordingly, but we found the kitchens didn’t have ovens or a toaster and nothing more than salt. And they came with an overwhelming supply of ants. One staff member told us it was a first while the other told us it can be expected in a country house. I did manage to make dinner, Pork piccata, broccoli, and mashed potatoes, using the microwave rack as a masher.

If you are planning on staying here also note there are no bathroom amenities other than hand soap and although no hairdryer in our unit, I borrowed one from E’s.

Looking forward to moving on to Lagos tomorrow.

Greg joined us today on our circular route trek.

It was a morning of varied walking surfaces:

Deep sand:

Uneven rocks:

Boardwalk:

And dirt roads:

The scenery lived up to its reputation:

Rounding the final curve we saw our trail marker in the right place to guide us back to our village of Carrapateira in the distance:

We had a relaxing  afternoon doing not much of anything followed by dinner at O Pontal (translates to The Point). Yesterday’s lunch there was reasonable and impressive so we decided to give it a go for dinner.

We had tomahawk steak for four, a great choice.

Tomorrow we have one more day of circular trekking before moving on toward Lagos.

Last night we stayed at “Al.Floral” Guest House in Aljezur. A lot of thought was put into the building’s theme, each room named for a wild flower. Ours was translated to lemon verbena with the accompanying tea provided.

My only issue with the room was it was described as having garden view. Sure, there was a strip of green space across the street, but between our window and the “park” was a busy, noisy road and a row of pull in parked cars. It did calm down at night, so sleeping was not a problem.

The four of us drove to our next stop at Carrapateira, about a half hour away. European rental cars are small and all our luggage and backpacks filled it, so we headed to our accommodation, Pensao das Dunas, to unload. 

Greg and I returned to Aljezur for the task of major grocery shopping as for the next six nights we have cooking facilities. The road is narrow and curvy and the locals are obviously used to it, ignoring speed limits and passing zones. We had to veer to the side of the road to avoid being hit head on by a car passing on a curve.

We made it to the grocery store in one piece. The shopping carts at Intermarche were huge. 

It was a good thing they were on four spinner wheels like luggage.

This morning my Fitbit had this message.

I succeeded with a cardio load of 2. Although it was a rest day, I still managed 10,000 steps. I guess that’s no comparison to yesterday’s 36,000.

Last night we headed to the third restaurant recommended by our host, Retiro do Adelino, for traditional Portuguese fare. We shared cataplana for two: a tomato based stew of huge prawns, clams, seabass, white potatoes and sweet potatoes. 

We are in sweet potato country complete with a sweet potato museum and festival that we’ll just miss at the end of November. And they had our new favourite Vicentina white wine for e12 for the bottle, a new low price. We’ve seen it priced up to e24!

Back at the room we packed and confirmed our route for the morning.

Breakfast was leftover pizza, the last of our prosciutto, and melon. Really, the cold pizza and prosciutto is the same as a ham and cheese sandwich with tomato, although not nearly as appetizing in presentation.

We headed out of town up the steep cobblestone road. Chuck stopped at the windmill for a boot adjustment.

We decided on the Historic Route today as it was a few km shorter than the Fisherman’s Route and it would give us a change in scenery. That’s if you don’t get lost.

We walked through farmland with hills in the distance on one side. All went well until the 1.75 hour mark when the road split in two, not a trail marker to be found. It was 50/50 and we chose the wrong 50. We didn’t see a marker again until we hit the town of Rogil, where we knew the two routes joined. 

We stopped at a cafe and shared a suckling pig empanada and a delicious mini lemon cheesecake. Their coffee was outstanding and they had decaf, not something you always find when travelling in other countries.

The next hour was on a scrubby dirt road with occasional glimpses of the ocean, then past a campground with sites surrounded by eucalyptus and a grove of those broccoli pines across the road. 

We were in the hills along the coast.

Close to our destination there was a steep downhill

followed by an equally steep cobblestone street up, then down again.

There hasn’t been any wildlife other than birds and a dead bat, but we met the requisite trail cat and dog coming into Aljezur.

Here we met C’s sister and her husband who will be on the transatlantic cruise with us back to North America.

Overall a great day of hiking, I’d rate it an average terrain of 2/5, true to the guide. It took us six hours including lost time and an hour for lunch. The previous long day, with the scrambling and slightly less distance, took seven hours and a half hour for lunch! Tomorrow is a rest day. 

We woke up in pretty good shape this morning thanks to a hot shower and good night’s sleep. I was surprised that my feet showed no evidence of yesterday’s over use.

This was one of those stops where we stayed for two nights, a great option avoiding the daily reloading of the packs. The Rota Vicentina has options. Rather than hiking point-to-point, you can do up to 24 circular routes along the way or mix up the two. Yesterday being such an intense day, we elected to walk around town then to the coast and back, part of a circle route, about a three hour walk.

First we had backpack food in the room for breakfast. I carry my favourite French instant decaf with me and there was tea in the room. We walked to town to find the ATM and the bakery for a pastel nata, our favourite Portuguese custard tart for added energy 😉. We ran into Lisa, from Germany (now living in Madrid) as well as David from Toronto, both of whom we met on the trail yesterday. We are quite the attraction on this hike, being in our 70’s 🙀, two of the oldest hikers. Lisa told her parents there were two their age on the walk and they wanted to see our picture! We agreed to a selfie.

Today’s walk was all paved and along a road with the exception of about 2k each way where you’re walking through a farmer’s field. 

The beach was the classic rugged  coastline variety. 

This beach has two sides, this one is the ocean facing side. The opposite side faces a river resulting in calmer, warmer water, but swimming wasn’t on our agenda.

While walking we saw the trail we descended yesterday slicing through the hillside on the other side of the river.

We headed back to town for a pizza lunch and back to the room for a quiet afternoon.