The Final Numbers

And, here are the finals numbers from the 2022 Portugal Motorcycle Adventure:

• Motorcycles in the group: 6 (two 1250GS, one 850GS, one 800GS, one 1100RT, one 1200GSA) 

• Distance covered: 3,500 km

• Highest elevation:  6,500 ft (Serra de Estrela)

• Lowest elevation: 0 ft

• Best walled cities:  2 (Obidos and Marvao)

• Best hotel: Pousada at Viana do Castelo

• Best seafood: Vieira de Leiria 

• Best cape: Sagres

• Best beach: Arrabida

• National parks visited: 1

• Number of police encounters:: 0

• Number of accidents: 0

• Number of flat tires: 1

• Memorable road: N222

Fado and Farewell

After breakfast at the great Pousada inside Obidos, we rode our motorcycles through the cobblestone streets and out of the walls of the walled city to head to Lisbon.

We returned our motorcycles, checked in at our hotel, had lunch and our deep-and-painful COVID tests.  All negative ... we are clear to fly back to the USA.

We walked down to town, had gelato, visited some stores, and met up with Andy after we split 3-days ago.  

At night, we went to a great Fado show at the well respected O Faia.  Great music, great singers, great 12-string Portuguese guitar, great food, great service and our last dinner together as a group. It was great meeting Paola, Armando's wife, who joined us for dinner.

Wow. What an amazing 10-day adventure in an amazing country this has been. We are leaving with a broader view of the world, expanded hearts, greater love for our fellow humans, and happier than when we arrived.

Farewell Portugal. We will be back.

Our breakfast area at the Pousada in Obidos

Made it to Lisbon - charging stuff at Starbucks

Great mosaic pattern on the floor at Rossio Square

Back to the famous Rua Augusta in Lisbon

Artistic ceramics of Portugal

Andy and I having coffee in the big Prasa do Comercio chilling

On our way to the old part of Lisbon for dinner and Fado

Arriving at O Faia for Fado and food

Fado at its best - a great voice, great Portuguese 12-string guitar, great food

Our final dinner (and Fado show) together - Armando's wife Paola joined us

Best Fish and the Biggest Waves In The World

We had a nice breakfast in the big room at our Pousada in Viana do Castelo.  Lots of fog and torrential rain outside.  The forecast called for improving conditions later in the morning so we took it easy and did not leave until 10:30am.  The sky was already clearing with just a very light drizzle. 

We headed south following the coast and, yes, we avoided the rain all day!  A miracle. Our first stop was Aveiro, a quaint town by the sea with canals and colorful boats taking tourists around.  The sun was already out so we enjoyed a nice morning break there ... and we tried their local thing: Ovos Moles ... an egg based sweet center with a thin bread wrapper.

Our second stop was in Vieira de Leiria for lunch.  We indeed had the most amazing seafood of the trip at a restaurant on the beach.  We had 3 big robalos cooked on the coals with just salt, great jumbo shrimp, and clams. Very fresh and a feast indeed. 

Our third stop was Nazare.  Home of the tallest waves in the world and a surfing Mecca.  This is the place where a record 100ft wave was successfully ridden by Garrett McNanamara recently.  Lots of people, hippies, tourists, vendors, travelers, and surfing vibes. 

We finally made it to Obidos, a big walled city with lots of history and our destination for the night. We manage to ride our motorcycles into the walled area, through the narrow streets, dodging people, going down narrow and very steep alleys with steps!  Challenging, interesting, fun ... but we did make it to our Pousada.

Obidos is an ancient walled city that had its origins as a Roman settlement a long time ago.  We walked on top of the wall around the city ... very high, no railings, great views, inside and outside the wall ... and definitely not for the faint hearted. Walked around, visited shops, and had dinner, including one of their local things: Ginja de Obidos (a small cup made out of chocolate and filled with cherry liquor).

Tomorrow, we head back to Lisbon to return our motorcycles and to the end of our trip.  What an amazing adventure around an entire country.

Our first stop of the morning for coffee in Aveiro

The famous Ovos Moles de Aveiro - Interesting

The best sea food of the trip in Vieira de Leiria - Robalo, shrimp, clams

The view from our restaurant on the beach in Vieira de Leiria

Nazare, the place of the 100ft waves - surfing Mecca

The view of the light house of Nazare right in front of where the giant waves break

The explorers in Nazare

Awesome new age/haunting music by this nature-performer in Nazare

The view from my room in Obidos, the walled city

The main street in Obidos

One of several 16th century churches in Obidos

The inside of a church that has been converted to a bookstore

Walking the wall around Obidos - no railings, very spooky

The view of the walled city of Obidos from one of the towers

A panoramic view of Obidos from the wall

A view of John, Charles and Bob from the top of the wall

Celebrating a great ride with a typical Ginja de Obidos - cherry liquor in a cup of chocolate

A view of the Main Street in Obidos at night after the crowds have left

The One and Only Parque Nacional Peneda-Geres

We had breakfast on the balcony of our Pousada enjoying the scenery again.  We left the hotel and headed to the only National Park in Portugal, the Peneda-Geres National park.

It was a morning of mountains, curves, forests, and incredible views of the surrounding mountains, valleys, rivers, and lakes. Pure zen and the best way to start a new day. 

A song I was listening while riding through all this incredible nature seem to be speaking to the moment ... "I am in this world for just a moment, what an incredible coincidence that all these things are here with me also, in this very moment ... especially when so many centuries have past, so many worlds have existed, with so much space in the universe ... what an incredible coincidence, we are all here and now" 

Throughout our travels in Portugal, water seems to be low in all the reservoirs, rivers, lakes, and damns. In some areas, critically low, almost all the way down.  It made me think about what a country like Portugal, or the world for that matter, will turn into if water becomes a precious scarce commodity. Not a good scenario.

We stopped at the famous Santuario de Peneda inside the national park to see the church.  Apparently, Our Lady of the Snows showed up here in the Middle Ages and now is a big pilgrimage site for people around the region and from Galicia, Spain.  It has a massive staircase that leads to the church from far away, a granite rock behind, and a waterfall.  Magical.

After exiting the National Park, we decide to head to Viana do Castelo, our destination for the day, as soon as possible as rain was coming over the mountains.

Viana de Castelo is a port city with a beautiful hill overlooking the city below.  At the top of the hill is the Santuario do Sagrado Corasao de Jesus and our Pousada.  A beautiful setting.

After checking in, we decided to go visit the church and go down the mountain to see the city.  We also climbed the highest tower of the church in a very narrow staircase for a 360 view of all our surroundings. 

On our way down the mountain, we met some people from Galicia, Spain, who gave us some masks so we could board the funicular that goes down to the town below.  They were telling me about the magnificent beaches in the islands of Cies and Ons off the coast of Galicia as a place to visit next. Interesting.

We walked around town for a while and had dinner back up the hill at our hotel in the main grand room.  Very old world.

The view as we left our hotel this morning towards the Peneda-Geres National Park

The Santuario de Peneda inside the National Park

A view of the staircase from Armando's drone

The view from our Pousada at Viana do Castelo overlooking the city below

The Santuario do Sagrado Corasao de Jesus at the top of the hill

The view from the balcony of our hotel with the Santuario in the back

The view from my room

Inside the Santuario

The view of our hotel from the highest tower in the Santuario

Climbing to the top of the Santuario

Taking the funicular down to the city below

My friends from Galicia

The train station in Viana do Castelo in town

In front of the train station

The main avenue in Viana do Castelo

A display of flowers by the shore

Porto, Bocca, and the Birth of Portugal

We took the whole morning to go explore Porto after breakfast at the hotel.  We walked around the big sights ... train station, churches, government buildings, parks, statues, fountains, and markets. 

The train station had this amazing Portuguese mosaic murals. The Church of San Francisco, a UNESCO world heritage site, had this extremely intricate and busy baroque decorations and carvings.  The famous Livraria Tello, with its Art Deco wood carvings inside, had a huge line of tourists outside trying to get in.  Tourists visit, and check off their lists, places like this, travelers on the other hand have no plans so they can discover and be surprised.

Porto has a very different vibe than Lisbon.  More exciting, more energy, more people ... it felt like a happy place. 

We had lunch at the aptly named Bocca restaurant located where the Douro River meets the ocean. Some BMW riders from Porto joined us.  Also, the father of a rider we met in Dallas going around the world on a Honda Monkey motorcycle. Small world.

After lunch we headed to Guimaraes, the north place of Portugal as a country, the older in Europe.  Once there we visited the family vineyard of the wife of one of the BMW riders from Porto.  A great experience.  Th house had been in her family since the 13th century.  It is now a successful winery and a Quinta with 10 rooms.

We sat in the balcony and had some of the vineyards' wine.  We also had a tour of the house with incredible rooms and frescos on the wall depicting places from around the world.  

A great visit to remind us of how time is so much bigger than us, how things around us have been, and are, and still will be, while we the people come and go.

After a brief visit to the Castle of Guimaraes and the Palace of the Duques of Bragansa, we headed to our hotel in the mountains for the night.  A nice spirited ride before settling for the night at the well known Pousada Canada-Geres.

We had a great dinner overlooking the valley and the Cavado river below.

On a walkabout around Porto before our departure - City Hall in the background

The Porto train station and its mosaics

A nice coffee shop in Porto by Hungry Biker

The famous Livraria Lello - the line is looong

More interesting sights in Porto

Igleja de Sao Francisco with very busy Baroque decorations everywhere

Some of the carvings inn Igleja de Sao Francisco

The family winery of our Porto motorcycle rider friends 

Some of the interiors of the Quinta with their amazing frescoes on the walls

On the balcony with Maria and her sousing having some local wine 

The castle and the Palace of the Duques de Bragansa at Grimaraes

The main room inside the Palace

The dining room in the palace

The view from our dinner table at out hotel for the night in Geres