The big fear is always getting out of big cities alive. Traffic in Lisbon can be madding, but with planning, it can work and it did for us. We Toslid through rush hour traffic, fortunately going in the wrong direction, across the three mile bridge and were on our way early. Our only stop is the Monte de Ravassqueira Winery. This is a very young winery owned by very rich people who like to have play things. The 7,000 acres were bought in 1943 for hunting animals while the rest of the world were hunting each other. I the 60's the father decided he wanted to be the champion carriage racer and began breeding horses and in ten years had won the competition and sold off all his stock.
Around 2000 the decided that wine is cool now and planted grapes. So what will they do next kale?
This old wagon is worth $1,000,000! It was owned by Buggati of the car fame
Walt pays close attention to Mario whenever he starts talking about wine!
They use daily satellite photos to grow good grapes
This is a sat photo of one of the fields. From it they will go into the field and pick grapes off of individual vines for the premium wines.
The "stomping" tanks
New barrels being readied for use
watching wine being made
this is a very sad picture since we were on scooters we did not get to empty the five bottles of wine on the table!!!
From there we rode on to Evora and our fantastic little hotel the Noble House. A little happy hour together and we were all off once again in a different direction.
Day 2 Evora
Today we got a lazy start. Bill is a little under the weather so we let him sleep in and then hit the road around 10. I absolutely beautiful day to ride. Just a little chill in the air, enough for a light coat, and clear blue sky. We were making a large loop in to Spain and back. We stopped along the way to see OS, and if I ever solve the photo problem, you will get to see it too. The big excitement was me running out of fuel. My gas gauge is covered with the GPS mount that I need since I have been leader of the crew since we started years ago. Despite trying to pass this duty off, I am still at the front. Anyway, our planned gas stop had recently shuttered but we thought I had enough to travel the 20 miles to the next station. We were wrong. I flamed out in the country and pushed a few hundred yards to get it off the road. Walt, also low on fuel, continued on to town while Bill, Sarah and I sat and enjoyed the countryside. In a little over a half hour Walt was back, but not before messaging "what road are you on". Technology is great as I Whatsapp'ed him our google map location. Gassed up we headed for Elvas where we topped all the scooters and rode just out of town to an old fort. There are many of these around but we chose this one as it is highest up.
the sign cautions that there are no handles or lawyers to sue for you
if you fall off.
Bill not taking a chance with the no handrails
Walt to the rescue with the fuel
the next fort high on the hill
view from the fort
Was getting late, around 2, and we had a vote, eat in Elvas or go to Spain. Spain won. We crossed the Guadiana river into Badajoz Spain. Trying to shave a little time off I cut through the edge of the town and missed all the restaurants. After a navigation stop, we decided the next restaurant would be the lunch stop. The restaurant was named the Corazon de Jesus, or Heart of Jesus. It was just a little road house but with cold cold beers and and good food. We got some Calamari sandwiches and one "menu" that was salad, beef and potatoes and coffee.
Back on the road we had a great ride through twisty little roads of hill and dale. My day of scooter frustrations was not over yet. My oil light came on about 40 kms from home. This called for pulling off and checking the oil which was no easy fete as some strapping young man had tightened the dip stick. Walter used enginuity to conquer the problem. I had plenty of oil, so we road on the few miles to the next town. I contacted our fearless leader and he said "oh yea, we have had that happen before. It is not oil problem light it is a oil change lite." Thanks for telling us that now. We saddled up and headed on into town arriving after 6:30. It was a great day.
Day 3 Evora
Today we headed for the Portugues stone hinge. This rocks were discovered in the 60's and date back
From there we headed to the Gin distillery about an hour and half away. The ride was nice through almost unoccupied county side. The weather was nice except the 20 mph winds that kept hitting us.
We came into the nice little town of Portel and decided to stop for lunch. The tiny restaurant was packed. Others at the table ordered small items like salad and quail eggs, but I knew this was an opportunity to experience real food and I ordered the stewed rabbit. It came in a big pot and the others were pleased as they all dove in my food. Sadly we left about a third of it there. By now it was late afternoon and we were a little tired of getting beat by the wind, so we turned north and headed for the hotel.
Day 5-7 Castelo Branco
On Friday the 13th we made our way north to Castel Branco. The winds today were again very strong and we took a group vote when we stopped for our morning expresso. Press on our tourist route or make a beeline for the hotel. Everyone voted to press on. So we saddled up and headed up into Sara de Mande national park and some of the best riding so far. Outside of this area is semi-arid but as we crossed over the mountain into the fertile valley everything turned green. Nice long vistas, easy curvy roads and lots of green. We all hated to drive out of the valley but we had to press on.
The next couple of days were just long rides out of town. First day we went east to Monsanto and of course I found some exciting riding, by accident, down a rutted dirt road. One great thing about riding with Walt and Bill is they don't care. I just lead and they just follow.
In Monsanto is a small hill town built around boulders. As we were walking past an older man setting with a middle age man setting with child, the middle man said "vespa" in reference to my T-shirt. I stopped and started a conversation telling him I had four vespa's and he replied "I have ten". I immediately sat down with him.and started to talk about our mutually shared passion. All of his are "classic" meaning two stroke shifty's as we call them. He invited us all to follow him to see the one he had locally. The rest were at the family home in Lisbon. We had a great visit. He is a local restaurant owner and he and his family own a brewery. We love the little things like this that pop up in our travels.
Joao and Bill talk Vespas
We headed back down the mountain in search of a nice little country restaurant. The one we found did not seem to be serving but the owner, setting on the large veranda, told us to go on in. As you walk in there is just a bar, but then we spotted a couple of doors and went through them. Behind those doors was a large room looking like a banquet hall with all the long tables set and there were about 3 small groups of 3 or 4 people at various tables. The very nice english speaking waitress sat us at a large table and explained the menu. By the time we left the restaurant was just about full.
that is us at the very end of the table
this is the owner and he did a lot for us including worrying about us
leaving stuff on our scooters.
We were headed for Spain, but Bill being the eternal optimist had not brought rain gear and there were rainy looking clouds in that direction. We headed that way but turned south before we got to Spain and circled back to the hotel arriving about and hour and half later. We were fortunate as we just had a few drops. Other riders were not so lucky.
We ride separate from the big pack, being the elitist we are accused of being, so we missed the excitement of the day. One scooter had a flat tire. Not a big deal unless you are in rural Portugal on a Sunday. They sent our multi-language speaker, but not Portuguese, off in search of help. He found some people having a Sunday BBQ at a garage looking place and got a tire plug from them. Back at the bike, Warren inserted the plug. Now, they needed air. Warren took off again with little luck until he spied a Chinese store that was open. They are like the dollar store on a much lower level. Not only were they open, they had a tire pump. Back the bike once again, they pumped up the tire and were on their way.
The next day we road through the mountains. The roads were great and with just the right curves but the scenery was less than inspiring. Almost all the mountains had been clear cut and being planted in eucalyptus. To me it was down right ugley. The highlight was seeing about 100 50cc motorcycles and scooters riding a rally. We had stopped for our morning coffee and when we left Sarah could not find her glasses so we turned and went back. In the tiny round about in the middle of the town was a guy on a vintage vespa and yellow vest. He told us to wait ten minutes and these machines would come smoking through town. We met them again on the other side of the mountain.
Combria Sept 16
We packed our bags and headed north for Combria over much of the same roads we road yesterday.
Bills big 300cc Honda scooter, that is different from all the rest, has been acting up the last couple of days and today it got worse. It just shuts off when it feels like it. He is carrying his wife Sarah on the back, so his is bigger than ours and has a more valuable passenger than us. We pulled off for a mid morning coffee break and a group meeting on the what to do about his scooter as it is getting worse. We discussed everything from calling for the support truck, just leaving it or pressing on. We voted for the press on plan but head directly for the next hotel. We also put him in the lead so we would know when it quit. He usually rides in the last slot and we had been stopping and waiting in anticipation if he would catch up.
In the next town we came upon the major group of our riders and support truck. We discussed the situation with Roland, our fearless leader, and we decided to hand Bill off to them since the support truck was following them and Walter and I hit the road. We found a few beautiful little side roads to enjoy, but nothing like France or Italy. Both groups arrived at the hotel at the same time. Instead of standing in line to be told the room would not be ready until 3, I went to the bar had a beer and a great soup and sandwich for lunch. Finished, I walked across the lobby, got my key and luggage and went to my room.
My last visit to Combria, which was just a day stop, I did not enjoy it. My opinion has changed now. It is great little town with the second oldest university in Europe on top of the hill over the town. The people are great as in every town I have visited. Walt did meet one person that was not happy with him but had to do with Walt riding his scooter the wrong way on a one way street or some such. We engaged several university students in conversation and they were all friendly and eager to help or explain whatever we wanted.
I took a day off and wondered around the town and took care of logistics of our ongoing travel. Short one hotel, we are booked through 5 Oct. Rental car, train, and hotels are booked.
Last night Walt and I walked around town and found a little tiny bar with outside tables and drank Vino Verde and had a great charcuterie platter. It was a great platter of cheese and sausage and I am sorry I did not take a picture. Just trust me Frank, you enjoyed it. John, I am sorry we did not order for you.
One day we rode up to the Bucaco Palace. It is located on the site of a ancient covenant that had magnificent gardens and the original plan was to build a palace for the Queen Pia in the late 1800's. Subsequent "political troubles", which I think means they chopped their heads off, had the hotel converted into a luxury hotel and was built in 1888 to 1903. A very stunning place. On guests are allowed inside so I marched right and looked around until kind Bill confessed when just spoken to by a staffer and we were out on our ear.
pictur
There were some steep rides
The palace
Sarah getting a lift
Walt stressed from the riding
To Porto Sept 19-22
Bill was back in our group as they had taken his scooter to the dealer and though he could find nothing wrong but a lose battery cable, the scooter had performed perfectly yesterday. Wandering the back roads into the hills the temperatures began to get cool. Walt and I had layered up but Bill not.Somewhere along the road we stopped and Bill put on Walts rain gear and that made a difference.
The scenery was a little better with areas of mountains that had not been clear cut like most of the mountains we had ridden in. About noon, I began looking for a coffee stop. They are few and far between in this area and the few we did pass were closed. We were passing through a small village and out of the corner of my eye I caught what looked like a cafe. Several tables behind an enclosed glass area. No sign or indication that there was a cafe but I stopped and approached the older man standing in front and through sign language he confirmed that they did serve coffee and then he turned and marched back in and stood behind a bar, that I could now see, and awaited our orders. We dismounted and took off our gear and went into a very old bar, but neat and clean. Coffee's drunk, we headed for the door when the owner came up to shake our hands. This small gesture lead to a great day. Though neither could speak the others language and immediate bound was made between the riders and this man and his wife who came out to meet us. Standing outside we admired his perfectly restored thirty year old Peugeot 504. He told lots of tales about the car of which we got almost zero of. Then he told us he had an older one, forty years old, and lead us back into his building to what we thought was the garage. Inside was two cars, one being the old Peugeot, a motorcycle and lots of just "stuff".
Looking around we noticed a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. We learned that ten years ago it was a bar and dance hall and as we began to look around we saw it. There was a bar, mirrors all over the walls, lots of colored lights on the ceiling. He held up the finger indicating "just a moment", he walked over to a raised area that we now recognized as a DJ both and started turning on lights. Pretty soon it was all lite up with the whirling disco ball and all. I looked around waiting for John Travolta to jump out any minute.
Gathered around the 40 year old Peugeot
Note the disco king in the right side
In modern times have started asking permission to take some photos. Many people in the city are declining but in no facebook environs people are still honored to have their picture taken.
Rejoining our wifes, Walt and decided to turn in our bikes early. We hopped on the freeway and zoomed across the Doro river making a big U to get back to the drop off location. The GPS said exit in 1500 meters and the turn was in 1500 meters. However, the exit was to our left oas I whizzed by it. Mrs. Garmin recalculated a rescue route and in just ten extra minutes we were at the drop point. We were in a pretty isolated location and when we called for a Uber we were not sure how long we would wait or if there was even one around. Not to worry the Uber was there in five minutes and we were on our way. I am a big Uber fan now for many reasons.
The next two days were spent wondering the old town of Porto. It was not what it was cracked up to be for me as there were wall to wall tourist. Vicki liked Porto better then me, but she had also stayed a week right in the middle of the old town in an apartment. I prefer Lisbon. There are a lot of tourist but they are spread out over a bigger area.
Sunday it poured but we went with Helen and Walter touring anyway and got soaked. We loved it.
The train station with lots of tile art. Tile art is what is most famous in Porto
Even the McDonalds is artsy. That is all originalceiling from the 1700's
Lots of automatic kiosks to order a Big Mac. We did not eat here
We said our goodbyes to all our friends at happy hour at the bar. It has been fun being with all of them the last two weeks but I am ready to move on to some independent travle.
The palace
