We're home safe and sound from Portugal and Spain - after cycling about 600 km. We did have quite a challenge getting our bikes on the train from Beja to Lisbon - finally confirming that Portugal is not set up for cycling. We have been spoiled in other countries, particularly France and Germany. We had checked the web site and been told that if we disassembled and bagged up our bikes we could put them on the train - the day we showed up the ticket agent tried to tell us the bikes couldn't go on! Thankfully the guys on the train were much more accommodating. But the whole process was challenging. We had a last day in Lisbon - went back to a Napalese place for food, we are so spoiled in Canada with the ethnic diversity we enjoy, particularly in food - we needed something else for our tastebuds! The temperatures were so different - Beja was 30 degrees, Lisbon was only 22 on the coast. We had definitely cycled into the hotzone. Up on Friday at 4:45 to get to the airport. Flew from Lisbon to Portugal to Frankfurt, then decided to chance the flight to Ottawa as it looked better then Toronto - we just squeezed on. Then jogged for the 5pm flight out to Toronto. Home and doing laundry by 7pm.

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money, then take half the cloths and twice the money. - Susan Heller

This couldn't be more true - especially when you're on a bike! BUT never travel without a book - I hadn't brought one, to save on space and weight and was regretting it - we picked up some at a used book store.

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow - Lin Yutang.

So true!! Going to stay in town for a bit (at least long enough to do some research for my next adventure...). Scott is off to the cottage to do some art.

Here's the link for the pictures from our cycling through Portugal and Spain - enjoy!

Pictures Cycling Portugal & Spain

The internet cafe is a dying breed in Europe... most people have their own computers here so places provide wi-fi access, but very few places have computers to use - which explains long gaps in my writing. Not that we would want to be lugging a computer with us on the bikes. We have been averaging about 60 km per day, with one long day of over 80 km as we pulled into a little town made over by the 198th anniversary (reenactment) of a famous battle, which caused us to push on (into a headwind no less).
Our route has taken us from Lisbon - Setubal - Vendas Novas - Evora - (Arraiolos) Estremoz - Elvas - (crossed into Spain) Badajoz - Merida - Valverde de Leganes - (back into Portugal) Mourao - Moura (where we are today). We plan to go onto to Serpa and then Beja (nice easy 30km days to wrap up), and take a train back to Libon to end our trip and fly out by the 22nd.
Cycling has been much nicer as we got away from the busy areas and onto nice country roads. Friendly people in little villages want to find out where we are from and what we are doing cycling - not seen here a lot. Lots of good coffee on the way (gellau in Portugal, cafe con leche in Spain) in little cafes and bars. Vineyards and olive groves for miles and miles with rolling hills beyond (and we have made peace with many of those hills! There is no flat area in this area of Portugal). Golden wheat fields, silvery olives, dark green grape vines, fields of purple wild flowers, white daisies, fragrant yellow bushes, purple lilac, and fields of bright red poppies (one of my favourites). Lots of song birds. People honking and waving to cheer us on - which surprisingly does help (just dont do it close behind!). Very hot sun at times, but still breezy and very cool nights - this area is arrid and on the edge of desert - weve seen very few rivers. Enjoying good food, cheap red wine and strong coffee - one good thing about cycling so much we enjoy the consuming and yet seem to be losing lots of weight! We have stayed in everything from roadside truck stop type accomodations to grand old hotels with high ceilings and tiled walls - its pretty quiet here right now so we have seen few other tourists - may be why we are geting lots of attention. People have helped us all over find places to stay.
We have been in bars watching football (soccer games) and lots of bullfighting going on right now - it is the kick off to the season and it is huge here - while I do not like the brutality of the fighting, and the Spanish fights show the kill - I can appreciate it for its grace and bravado - and I love it when the bull gets his due...several of the fighters have been gored and sent to hospital - one for the bulls! Very dramatic and exciting - without any injury the evening just doesnt seem complete for the audiences. Portuguese fights are very different and involve more action on horseback and men throwing themselves on the bull - not the traditional style we would moist be familiar with - most fights are braodcasting from Madrid.
Off to explore Moura - its castles and and cafes!

A ship is safe in harbour, but
thats not what ships are for. - William Shed

Buenos Dias - we crossed the border into Spain today and found out where all the sunshine is kept! Suddenly there are cycling paths everywhere, cafes, etc. And the fashion savvy picks up dramatically! Amazing the difference between cultures. We went from Evora to Elvas, which was another lovely walled city. We stayed in a cozy hotel by the aquaduct, and spent time wandering the cobbled city and castles. Elvas has the most well preserved military developments from the Moors (8th century) and the early europeans (through the 15th C) - it is less then 15 km from the Spanish border, so it has seen some action. The people in the little villages we cycle thorugh are so friendly and helpful and like to try and find out about us as we pass through. We are really liking being in Spain and will ikely spend some days cycling through the countryside here. Have to run, tapas to eat, museums to see!

Day late, but hard to keep track of a calendar... HAPPY MOTHERs DAY - to my mum (love you lots), and Joanne, and all my friends and family reading this who are mothers... I have the greatest admiration for all of you (and awe for what you do everyday when I can barely manage myself... and a bit of happy-felt envy)
Another grey day, but we will be staying in Evora to take a break and explore the town, hope to get out to ride along the aqquaduct if the weather cooperates.
Cycling hasnt been all bad (OK Im mellowing or just forgetting...) - people regularly honked and waved to gave us encouragement... we did see some very pretty countryside... and people have certainly tried to be helpful getting us back on track - but you can tell they arent used to cyclists when they give you directions onto a major highway (think 401 around Kingston!).
Last evening was lovely, though cold. We saw some beautiful churches and roman ruins. One had peacocks sitting all over it which really added to the overall impression of grandeur (though for birds that arent supposed to fly Im still not sure how they got up to the top arches).

I have not sought during my life to
amass wealth and to adorn my body, buut I have sought to adorn my soul with the jewels of wisdom, patience, and above all with a love of liberty
- Socrates

OK...so I am willing to give everything a second and third try... definately what is needed in the case of cycling in Portugal. I think our mistake was trying to cycle out of Lisbon- we should have grabbed a train east or south to get us out of the populated area. We should have known when we saw only 3 cyclists the whole time we were in Lisbon that its not popular for a reason! We took a ferry across to the peninsula just south of Lisbon and started to head down the coast - what we learned is that small quiet roads dont go anywhere...which had us back on busy highways. We ended the night at Setebal, amd with all of our winding and getting lost we did over 60km on what was supposed to be oureassy start day! Portugal is all hills - ALL hills! Long slow never ending hills - which all seem to go up and never down! Our second day we got stuck in a small town with one hotel - a 4 star very expensive hotel! Wierd... Today we cycled in hours of rain... but we must have been imagining it because we were told it never rains here and if it does it just spits for a bit (this was constant blowing rain). Anyway we are in Evora and it is lovely so it may win us back...

Three days into cycling and if you asked my opinion about cycling in Portugal, I would say DONT DO IT!!!!!
OK, lets back up a bit...
We spent our last day in the Lisbon area in Sintra. We took the regional train, which took about 45 minutes. Lovely little town with lots of palaces, pretty parks (with lots of song birds), winding cobbled streets, castles on hills, etc. You could spend days in the area exploring. We hiked up to the castle ruin, 1200 metres straight up! Great fun being able to run around the walls, in NA they would have this all cordoned off for safety, here its go at your own risk. Fabulous views into the hills and valleys.
Will write more about our cycling adventures later as we are going to grab the little bit of sunshine of today and explore Evora...

Guess I came out here to see
some stuff for myself... I mean, why leave the telling up to everybody else? -
Ani DiFranco

Lisbon is like a contradiction to Japan! It is loud, dirty, gritty, old and aged in areas, no-glitz, etc - and it is all part of its charm! The Portugese are so full of life and love of people and food. It is so different from our life, people grow up in the same neighbourhood and all know each other. We have just been enjoying the simple time of getting lost in winding streets, sitting in cafes and pastry shops to enjoy a good coffee, wandering in parks to enjoy the shade from the unseasonable heat, and eating some wonderful meals in tiny, simple restaurants. No agenda, no special plans. We did go up the hill to see the castle, it has some spectacular views of the city. We have been exploring all sorts of neighbourhoods on subway, buses, trams and mostly by foot (boy, do you feel the cobblestones by the end of the end of the day!). Off to get lost again and discover another great place to eat...
Any suggestions from anybody for places to see in the south of Portugal - we will be riding out towards Setebal to start, then along the west coast, to the south (avoiding Faro, etc), and then up into the central/east area, back across to Lisbon... Suggestions and favourites welcome!!

Bom Dia! Hello from Lisbon, Portugal! Pretty crazy...we have now almost travelled around the globe, but doing it the long way by doubling back on ourselves! We got on a flight from Toronto on Sunday night at 5:30pm, it was pretty tight - again, think the flu may have worked in our favour so we could get on. Did a change in Frankfurt to fly to Lisbon - Frankfurt is one of the longest terminals - we must have walked over 3 km to get to our gate - they are all in a straight line. Pretty tired as our body clocks are now completely off, I have no idea what time I am on!
The plan is to spend until Friday here in Lisboa and then get on some bikes and spend 2 weeks cycling through Portugal. Off to bed, even though it is 6:30pm here, we can't stay awake another minute. Due to our strange travelling habits and using credit cards in 3 cities/countries/continents within 72 hours, Scott's card got shut down - all good now and fixed :)

Here's the link for the photos. Click on details to see my notes or watch as a slideshow. Enjoy!

Japan photos

I am a new day rising

I'm a brand new sky to hang the stars upon tonight

I am a little divided

Do I stay or run away, and leave it all behind

- Foofighters

Back in Toronto, and totally messed up for time! Scott was able to sleep on the plane, I couldn't. So he was up until 3AM, then I got up and he went to bed - feels like we are on shifts!

Ladies - if you want to travel somewhere alone, Japan is the place to do it. Have never felt to so safe. And it is easy to get around and everybody is so helpful. There are also special rooms at hotels for women, as well as cars on trains, seats in buses, booths in internets, etc. Unfortunately it is based on old customs in Japan, but it can work to your advantage if you are travelling alone.

We tried to find bikes to rent in Osaka but no luck so we picked up day passes for the subway - more simple system like Toronto vs Tokyo's amazing one. We were seeing the city on April 29th, Showa Day (the birthday of Emperor Showa), it is part of the Golden Week holidays - a full week of holidays that carry into first week of May. The downtown was deserted. Walked through the Tennoji park area, where the zoo, gardens and museums are located - but all behind high walls and fences - the first time we had seen this in Japan. Weaved through Tomeji Nanasaka, seven slopes of the Uemachi plateau, takes you through residential areas, temples and shrines. Jumped over to the Osaka-jo (castle). You get a great view from the 8th floor of the tower, across the city, then visit the museum as you work your way down to the ground. Famous for a collection of painted screens depicting battles from the Civil War era (1400s and 1500s) - the era of samurai and ninjas.

Then a quick walk through the Kita business area, typical downtown, but they have made the walkway along the canal very nice. Osaka used to be filled with canals (referred to as the Venice of the East), but most are filled in. Went by the National Museum of Art, a beautiful modern building of twisted metal that looks somewhat like a sail (or bunny ears from another angle, but that just doesn't seem as romantic!). Not interested in the collection showing, but spent some time in the book shop and library. The galleries tend to have great collections of books that you can sit down and look at, and members can borrow.

Out to the Bay area, a modern amusement type area and developed water front. Famous for the enormous Tempozan Harbour ferris wheel - 112m high and 100m across. While not the largest in the world, it is among the top 5. There is also a new aquarium (Kaiyukan) housed in a blue and red building, shaped like a butterfly, and covered with mosaics of fish; and a modern art museum, Suntory Museum Temporan, housed in a modern new building. Scott and I spilt up here - he went to the museum and I went to the aquarium. While the aquarium is expensive (2000 yen) it was worth every penny! You wind down several levels, past 14 huge tanks, depicting different aquatic environments from around the globe in the "Ring of Life" (Japan Forest, Aleutian Islands, Monterey Bay, Gulf of Panama, Ecuador Rain Forest, Antarctica, Tasman Sea, Great Barrier Reef, Pacific Ocean, Seto Inland Sea, Kelp Forest, Coast of Chile, Cook Strait and Japan Deeps). It was fascinating. Saw otters, sea otters, seals, sloths, penguins, dolphins, all sorts of exotic fish, whale sharks, manta rays, octopi, sea turtles, giant spider crabs and jelly fish - just to name a few. I'm such a geek! Scott didn't have a great experience at the museum/gallery - the collection he was hoping to see was not available (we weren't having much luck with galleries in Japan), but they gave him his money back when he mentioned what he came to see. He ended up in a local bar "chatting" with some locals (he speaks no Japanese, and they spoke only a dozen words of English)! I met up with him and we spent some time getting to know the people - lots of laughing as we worked to understand and be understood. The one  guy kept buying Scott some Schochu (think rice whisky), and his glass was never empty - he was pretty happy! They ended up trading hats by the end of the evening.

We took a bus back to Tokyo, about 8 hours - stopping at least 3 times for stretch breaks and food. Lots of green tea plantation on the south side of the island. We stayed out by the airport in Narita.

Some advantages and disadvantages to the current "swine flu" - the plane was initially oversold by 60 seats - we got on, so many people must have cancelled - but we were delayed 3 hours as the Japanese did a thorough check of all passengers before letting them deplane. So home by 7PM May 1st - we have gained a day, but I sot here at 5AM Toronto time writing...

Watch for picture link coming soon...