When I think of Portugal, I see beautiful tile and narrow cobblestone streets; I hear music on every corner and friendly laughter; I taste port wine, flavourful fish and the glorious pastel de nata. And I feel the air on my skin as I ride my bike through the countryside on the ecopistas – the dedicated bike pathways made from decommissioned railway lines that weave their way through the eucalyptus and cork forests and beside the villages perched on the hillsides.
Last May, my husband and I arranged a month-long cycle holiday through Portugal with an amazing company called A2Z Portugal. They specialize in walking and biking holidays in Portugal, and they were phenomenal to work with. We simply told them the routes we wanted to ride and the date we wanted to start, and they handled the rest. They booked all the hotels and arranged transport and luggage transfer. They also provided 24/7 support, which we used three times. Once when my husband became ill, once when we needed a bike repair and once when we had an issue with our train reservation to the next town. They were always there to help, always surpassing our expectations, and it made all the difference.
We started our holiday in Lisbon, where we spent three nights, so we could have a couple of days to explore this gorgeous city. After many hours of walking the steep cobblestoned streets of Lisbon, we were more than ready to start our ride. We brought our own bikes, so A2Z arranged for the hotel in Lisbon to hold our bike transport bags while we were on our tour. After waving goodbye to our bike bags, we enjoyed a private transfer to the starting point of our first loop, the Atlantic Ring Route. This route is an excellent sampler, suitable for anyone comfortable on a bike. Many people who ride this route use ebikes, which are available for rent from A2Z. However, an analog bike is great too, as the route is fairly flat and much of it is on dedicated pathways or farm tracks.
Our route was prepopulated on an app called Ride with GPS. Every morning, we would drop off our luggage, grab our bikes from the secure bike storage area, and then fire up the app to get our turn-by-turn directions, taking us right to the front door of our next hotel. Honestly, this was one of my favourite parts of the cycling holiday. I just loved that we could not get lost. We could always see that we were following the route, and if we did take a wrong turn – it happened once or twice – the app would make a sad noise to let us know.
After we completed the Atlantic Ring Route, we rolled right into the second loop, the Historical Villages of Portugal. This route was more difficult as it contained more climbing and generally more difficult biking. The route encompasses several of the fortified medieval towns on the border between Portugal and Spain. The villages are beautiful, and the castles and fortifications are so interesting – but they are all at the top of a steep hill. Despite the climbing, we saw so many incredible things on this route. I loved the fortified villages. Sometimes we explored a couple each day.
After we concluded our second loop, we travelled by train back to Lisbon so we could put our bikes in the bike bags and leave them in the hotel until we returned for our flight home. We rented a car to drive up to Porto, and we very much enjoyed the freedom the car afforded. It was so nice to grab some snacks from the local store and then find a lovely viewpoint to have lunch. We followed the map and stopped at places we thought looked interesting. Eventually made it to Porto, where we returned the car and found our hotel, a lovely apartment-style hotel room right near the Douro River in an area of Porto called Ribeira.
Porto is probably one of my favourite cities. We had the best time simply walking around. There were so many things to see. The music buskers were simply phenomenal, and the views from the Dom Luis bridge were breathtaking. We watched the sunset from the Jardim do Morro, and we walked along the Douro until it emptied into the ocean. We toured the port warehouses, and we conducted our own pastel de nata tasting contest. What’s a pastel de nata, you ask? It’s an egg custard tart, and I think they taste like heaven.
Biking through Portugal is, in my opinion, the absolute best way to see the real country. I’m a big fan of slow travel and what it allows a traveller to experience – smelling the eucalyptus forests, seeing the oranges in the trees, stopping to pet the friendly cats, rolling through the tiny villages rarely visited by tourists, and stopping for a beer in the many small cafes along the way. We saw so many surprising things – like the massive stork nests, the cork forests, the railway tunnels, and the local swimming holes. My personal favourite moment occurred when we were resting at one of the many local cafes. Eventually, we heard the clip clop of an approaching donkey cart. Well, actually, first we saw the locals running ahead of the donkey cart – alerting the vehicle drivers so they could carefully move out of the way. This actually made us sit up and take notice. This donkey was clearly beloved. We watched the donkey cart and driver slowly make their way past the cafe and disappear around the corner. The world seemed to suddenly slow down as we all watched the donkey cart go by. Lots of locals waved, smiled, and said hello as the duo made their way past. After they passed, the bartender explained to me that, sadly, this was the very last working donkey in the village. He explained that donkeys used to be the ‘poor man’s motor’. Specifically, until they were replaced by more modern modes of transport, the donkey was the main mode of transportation for farm goods, firewood and milling products. In that moment, it was not difficult to imagine how the village used to be, when the main type of transport was the humble donkey.
Would I go to Portugal again? Absolutely! Would I cycle through Portugal again? One hundred percent. In fact, when we were finished cycling, we both realized that we would happily keep cycling for another month if we could. Instead, we had to settle for the promise of another trip to Portugal, hopefully not too long in the future.
