It’s been 73 days and 2,057 miles (3,343KM) since we pushed off from Morlaix, France and arriving in Lisbon. We had a few extended off-bike periods in Madrid and Seville, as well as quite a few rest days along the way. We probably averaged about 35-40 miles a day when cycling.
Arriving in Lisbon is kind of poetic since this is where we started our adventure on March 1, 2022 some 584 days ago. We stopped in Lisbon on our way to Tenerife, knowing very little about what we were going to do or places we might visit in the unknown amount of time we had before Carolyn’s house would be rebuilt. We would figure it out along the way.
In Lisbon, we’ll pack up bikes and gear and fly first to Madrid and then home the next day on a flight we booked when we were cycling in Cambodia. That feels a bit weird, to be honest.
Our last day’s ride into Lisbon was pretty nice in the morning with some beautiful views and big hills and pretty traffic-y/urban in the afternoon. We were both ready to be done for a bit. We have not taken a rest day since we left Albufeira and both Chris and I are ready for some rest.
The road leaving Setübal was nice, and the views of the sea were lovely. There was not much traffic. We encountered a blocked tunnel somewhere along the way and wondered if we could/should pass. Just then a few mountain bikers rolled up on the other side of the barrier and just hopped their bikes over so we just did the same, first taking off our panniers.
About a mile later, there was another blocked tunnel and we did the same routine, and then continued up the road. There was a big hill coming, and we encountered a couple guys that we had met the previous day at the top, who are also ending their bike adventure in Lisbon.
We intended to ride the coast the entire way around to Lisbon, but ran into some dirt roads and decided we just didn’t have the oomph to deal with them and so we did a shortcut along the quite busy road that would take us to the port where we would take a ferry across to Lisbon. Bikes are free!
Arriving to Lisbon was familiar since we came through the train station right at the ferry landing multiple times and strolled the streets at the famous market there. We stupidly rode up a horrendously steep hill before Chris had the wise suggestion to just take big streets to our hotel which proved much easier.
We had reservations at Estrela da Bica, our favorite restaurant from our last trip and so we took an Uber there, had cocktails along the way and then a really fine dinner in this creative restaurant situated just a few steps from the last apartment we stayed in.
We still have a couple days in Lisbon, finding bike boxes and a suitcase to transport gear in, and also to see some things we missed last time.
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