Training Log Archive: Bash

Last day in Portugal - a train trip to Sintra, where the former royal family and other wealthy people had their country palaces and mansions. Logged about half. The GPS track shows our circuitous and hilly route.

The Pena Palace in Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. However, I'd read many complaints online about the crowds, and quite a few people suggested skipping the palace interior for that reason. Tourists need to book a time slot in advance and I noticed that the first time slot was too early for the public bus circuit that stops at the major sites in Sintra. If 'Bent and I left for the Lisbon Rossio train station at 6:40 am then hiked up the mountain to the Palace, we could be the first people in the Palace today. Our plan worked!

It was a long climb but very pretty.







The Palace is at the very top of the mountain. Our hike was in the forest. This photo was taken from the Moorish Castle later on.



At last it appeared.



We followed an audio tour inside. The castle is considered to be a great work of Romanticism. We got different views from the terraces.





It is surrounded by a huge, gorgeous, hilly park. We could have spent half a day or more exploring, but we took relatively direct routes through.



After hiking downhill and back uphill, our next stop was the Moorish Castle, first built over 1,000 years ago. There are some archaeological exhibits and ongoing excavations but the main activity was walking on top of its walls. They climb and descend the mountain so this involved lots of steps and beautiful views.









Then we hiked down to the town centre of Sintra for lunch. Once again, an orienteering map proved to be the easiest way to navigate through the complex areas.



After lunch, we visited the quirky Quinta da Regaleira - another UNESCO World Heritage Site. I'd read that the palace was OK but the surrounding park was amazing, so we spent our time outside with an audio tour that delighted in sending us up and down hills multiple times.

There were trees, fountains, little lakes and waterfalls, grottoes and tunnels, towers and stone walls, winding pathways and stone staircases, a chapel, statues and much more.











The most popular attraction is the Initiation Well. The owner who designed the park was a Freemason, amongst other interests. They believe that candidates were blindfolded and sent down the stairs to the bottom of the 27 m well. From there, they had to make their way through a system of dark grottoes and tunnels to find the light. There were odd corners where we used our headlamps. Tunnels underly much of the park. (Can you imagine the navigation event we could hold here?)







Then we took the train back to Lisbon for our final dinner before flying home - the dinner that gave 'Bent horrible food poisoning and almost prevented us from catching our flight. Five days later, he still doesn't feel perfect but he's back to eating real food.

Otherwise, it was a fun trip and great to visit my brother.

Day 2 around Lisbon

Once again, Apple Watch says 'Bent and I walked a long distance so I'm logging some of it. We went first to the Tower of Belém, a fortification built along the Tagus River in the early 1500s. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site seen as a symbol of Portugal's maritime and colonial power in that era. Fleets of ships would officially depart from or return to Lisbon here. Senior officers would be welcomed by the royal family before and after a voyage.





Here's where the king would meet with a ship's officers.





Then we walked to the Monument of the Discoveries. Portugal is very proud of its great historic navigators who found routes to places like Brazil and India. They tend to use the word "discoveries" for places where people were already living happily when the Portuguese arrived. That term may not be accurate but there sure were some terrific navigators.



Behind the Monument, there is a huge compass rose made of coloured stones.



In the middle is a map of the world. Unfortunately, everyone wants to stand on or near Portugal for their social media shot so it's impossible to photograph the whole map.



Then we joined the 1-hour line-up for the Jerónimos Monastery, which took the entire 16th century to build. It shares UNESCO World Heritage Site status with the Belém Tower. Amongst other things, the monks provided assistance to seafarers in transit. The architecture is highly ornate and intricate. The cost must have been insane. It was funded by taxes on goods brought back from India and Africa.



The cloister is almost unbelievably ornate.











To continue the nautical theme, we went to the Maritime Museum managed by the Navy. They've honoured their best navigators from history with statues and stories. Imagine a room like this with Hammer, Bob, AdventureGirl!, Ted de St. Croix, Emily Kemp, etc.



This map shows the routes discovered by Portuguese explorers, mostly in the 1400s and 1500s. If you look closely at a large version of this photo, you'll see that Vasco de Gama had a little trouble finding the route around Cape Horn when he led the first voyage to India. It's OK, Vasco. We've all been there.



Pirates would sometimes steal a ship’s cargo and “quality navigators”.

Here's one of the colourful maps they drew in the 1500s.



It was another cool museum that finished with a big hangar full of boats and helicopters.



I was pleased that the gift shop sold compasses - although a little different from ours.



They also sold sextants and other nav tools used in past centuries.





You have to love a place that loves navigation!

From there, we navigated to Niva Cremateria Gelateria for gelato recommended by the Gadjanskis then rode the entire line of the famous vintage Tram 28 - up, down and around steep hills, curves and narrow streets. No one picked our pockets, which is apparently a common pastime on that tram, so we counted it as a success.

Day 1 of Lisbon Sightseeing - Apple Watch says I walked 15 km with a good amount of climb so I'll log some of it.

Here's a typical uphill street in Lisbon's Alfama district east of our apartment.



In addition to the steep streets, pedestrians have the option of using steep staircases.



Once again, I'd found an orienteering map of this area, which added some fun. Also, it was easier to follow than any other map we had, including Google Maps.



'Bent is a big fan of fish, including sardines. Portugal is famous for different varieties of high quality canned fish. He was in heaven in this shop.



We started the day by following an audio tour around Castelo Sao Jorge. It's a major Lisbon landmark on a hilltop, and it was on my orienteering map. Racing there would be *very* complicated! Walls, different levels, stairs going in different directions, distinct trees and peacocks (unmapped).



There's a great view of the city from up there.



On two occasions, our audio tour tried to steer us in directions that have been blocked off since the tour was created. The O map was helpful there since we could see where we needed to go and needed another route choice.

We headed out of the Castelo and did some random exploration of the Alfama neighbourhood. We had no particular destination - just wanted to look around on a beautiful day.



'Bent took the map and led us to a couple of controls. Lots of steps!



We stumbled onto the National Pantheon, a huge former church that contains tombs of some famous Portuguese people. The large, colourful paintings were part of an art exhibit.



We climbed many flights of stairs to get to its upper terrace, where once again we had a great view of the city and the Tagus River.





After considerable wandering, we found a nice, shady lunch place. Then we visited the National Tile Museum in a former convent. Tilework has been used for indoor and outdoor decoration in Portugal for centuries so it seemed like a good local choice in a city with lots of museums to choose from.



This is the chapel of the former convent.



This one reminded us of our dogs.



We also visited the "Interpretive Centre of the History of Cod". Yes, you read that right. It was surprisingly well done with a little Monty Python flavour to some of the videos. Because the Portuguese fish for cod near Newfoundland, we were glad to find one exhibit talking about sustainability and environmental issues. They still eat a lot of cod, which seems weird to Canadians who are accustomed to thinking of cod being scarce. But anyway...

Another travel day - Porto Covo to Lisbon by bus then by Metro to downtown Lisbon, where we walked to our apartment. I don't log training on travel days but they sure burn calories since we are getting around by foot and public transit in Portugal. We've hauled our luggage up a lot of hills and stairs.

Tonight was a surprise for 'Bent, who loves boats. We went on a Lisbon River sunset cruise on a vintage fishing boat.





Passengers were invited to recline on big cushions on top of the boat. You didn't have to ask us twice!



This is the Belém Tower where kings used to meet with ship captains as they headed off on major voyages and again when/if they returned.



This is the Monument of the Discoveries. Portugal is very proud of its history of seafaring exploration. Although they didn't actually discover places like India when they went there, they did discover routes to far-off places at a time when the Mediterranean Sea was considered the centre of the universe.



Our voyage started off with historical information in multiple languages and local Fado music. After a while, they brought out the Portuguese white wine and gradually changed the music to make it more of a party. By the end, we'd made a few new friends and done a fair bit of dancing in place, lol.



The sunset was as good as we could have hoped for and we finished just after dark. For the first time, we sat down for dinner at the respectable hour of 9:30 pm.

Today was the highlight of the Portugal part of our trip. If we go back, this is an area we'd like to explore more.

'Bent and I took an early morning bus from Porto Covo to Vila Nova de Milfontes with some local school children and commuters. Then we spent the day hiking north back to Porto Covo along part of the Rota Vicentina Fisherman's Trail. It was a remote 19 km section where we didn't see many people. The infrastructure was limited - no shops or washrooms except for the one open cafe where we stopped about 2 km from the end. We passed roads a few times and could always see civilization in the distance but mostly it felt wild. I'm logging 5.5 hours to account for stops but we were out for 7 hours.

This is part of a 226-km village-to-village hiking route. People arrive at inns each night, often with their luggage transported rather than carrying a backpack. I think there is a similar route in the Algarve farther south. If I were doing the multi-day version, I would bring a TON of sunscreen.

After hiking downhill from the bus station in Vila Nova de Milfontes, we reached the river and followed it a short distance west to the ocean.



The tide was heading out and there were cool lava formations by the sea.



Sometimes we were able to walk along the beach or on rocks. Other times we were on top of the cliffs.



The blue-green marker indicated the Fisherman's Trail. Because the Atlantic Ocean was a very useful handrail, we didn't worry too much if we lost the markers occasionally.



I have lots of photos like this and had to stop myself from taking more. In good weather, this is a stunning section of coastline.



Some of the beaches were inaccessible or very difficult to access. Some of them would have disappeared at high tide.



We spent a lot of time walking through sand so it wasn't quick - not that we were in a hurry. It was a gorgeous day and the only thing on our schedule was this hike.



There's a bird's nest on top of that pillar. 'Bent figured out the species of the bird that evening; I'll have to add that info later.



Proof I was there!





As the tide went out farther, we were able to walk through some interesting rock formations.





There were some longer beaches in the second half.





Gorgeous wildflowers grow everywhere along the coast. These photos show just a few of the types we saw.





As we got closer to Porto Covo, there were some stretches of rock - more like Ontario.



We stopped for lunch at the only open restaurant on our route, which was about 2 km from Porto Covo. Since we were almost back, we took our time, relaxed and enjoyed cold beer.

Finally, we arrived at a viewpoint where we could see the cove and our cottage on the far shore.



I was ready to put my feet up but 'Bent wanted to swim in the Atlantic first.



Great day and it made me want to do more hiking in Portugal some time!

[Added the GPS track for our hike around Porto Covo.]

Travel day. TAP Portugal allows a free stopover in Lisbon so we took advantage of that on our flight home from Malaga. Then we took a 3-hr milk run bus south to the coastal village of Porto Covo.

We’re staying in a cottage by the fishing harbour. It’s right on the Fisherman’s Trail where we plan to hike tomorrow, and it has a great patio that makes it tempting not to hike!



We’re across the bay from ‘Bent in this photo.



We went for a hike around town, including a pretty stretch along the Atlantic. I don’t know if this is just a spring phenomen but there are beautiful flowers all along the seashore.



They even cascade down the cliffs.



There are a few beaches in town.



We weren’t *just* walking; we did part of the Circuit of Physical Maintenance - a fitness route with prescribed exercises at different locations. Mostly me - ‘Bent wasn’t enthusiastic when other tourists were watching.

Dave and Tim drove us up a winding road into the mountains to the dramatically situated town of Ronda, built around a historic castle.

On the way up, we got a striking view of the Rock of Gibraltar, although it is barely visible in the photo.



There is some good hiking around this area; it would be fun to explore for a few days.









This was our last full day with the boys. They’ve been terrific hosts!

Tim drove us up to Mijas Pueblo, a village of whitewashed buildings partway up a mountainside facing the Mediterranean. It has nice views from its town park.



From the downtown square, you can see where we were going to hike up the mountain.



To get there, we climbed through the village.



There is a good network of hiking trails near town and they extend much farther beyond this map.



We started hiking steadily uphill on a good trail - dry with loose rocks. The air quality was much better today so the views were excellent. (It sounds like we hit unusual conditions; they usually have clear views.)









Partway up the mountainside, my body reminded me that I haven’t had a chance to get accustomed to heat yet this year. I slowed the pace to get my heart rate down into the aerobic zone.





It’s dry everywhere around Malaga (a long drought) and the vegetation changes as the elevation increases - like Arizona. We met almost no one on a Monday morning.



We had lunch plans in a different village so took a steep, loose trail down. Nobody slipped but poles would have been a good idea. This was a fun hike with a taste of summer weather.

Lots of walking today so I’ll log some of it. Dave and Tim took us to the town of Nerja where we walked through town, had lunch overlooking the sea and walked through the large, spectacular caves. They hold concerts in there sometimes - so cool.











Then we went for a hike on trails leading into the hills behind the caves. Unfortunately, the particulate level was high yesterday and today so the views haven’t been as good as usual - but they’re still pretty nice.







Next we went to the old town of Malaga for a walk and dinner. I’d found an orienteering map online, which gave our explorations a little more direction. Malaga has a Sprint festival so there were a number of maps online, usually showing controls and someone’s route. Fun!

‘Bent and I are in La Cala Mijas, Spain (outside Malaga) visiting my brother Dave and his partner Tim, who have a condo there.



We went for a walk from their place and along the beach to get the lay of the land. Much of our walk was along a boardwalk by the beach.





We embarrassed ourselves as usual. :)



We look forward to trying one of the fish restaurants on the beach!