Tuesday - August 2

It's lovely and sunny and warm here in Faro, on the southern tip of Portugal.  Our day intransit yesterday, was interesting since we decided to change destinations during the day.  When we realized you couldn't get anywhere from Beja, Bruce managed to schmmooz a refund and we booked tickets to Faro. We crossed this huge bridge (cars on top), it's 300 meters in the air across the ocean.  Amazing!   The train ride was about 4 hours, with lots of stops - but it's quite roomy and comfortable.  (Ok, there was one screaming child, but what could they do - she wouldn't stop!!!).  We played lots of crib and Tazia's 'card war game'.  I don't think I got the rules, right, Tazia, but we had some good laughs.  We woke up this morning and took a good look at our hotel room - definitely retro 70's - you could tell by the 11" tube TV and green colored furniture.  It's clean, though - no little creatures about.  Bruce and I decided to explore the 'old city of Faro'.  We paid a small fee to go into this church that was built in the 1700's.  We walked up to the bell tower and Bruce just had to 'dong the bell'!!  He's lucky he didn't get arrested!  We parted company after awhile; me to take a boat tour and Bruce decided to try and find the bus station and get things organized for tomorrow.  The boat ride was nice - the guide spoke Spanish, English, Italian and of course Portuguese.  I actually understood some of the Spanish - that was rewarding.  We reconnected at 1 (he'd gotten lost) and I needed help  getting back as well. The streets here are so winding and it's easy to loose any sense of direction.   Lunch at a local restaurant was delicious.  We each had about the equivalent of 2 tomatoes garnishing our meal, and they were scrumptious; garden ripened I'm sure!  Yum! Yum.  Tomatoes and onions - what could be better? After a lovely rest, we're off again to see what else this old town can offer us.  If you want to go to the beach, you have to take a ferry - so we're passing on that.  You'll see our 'bones church' picture on a separate blog.  The rest of the day was spent reading, wandering, and just relaxing.  I checked out Canada's website for Morocco and we're going to try and arrange a day trip with a group.  Today we're off to Spain, Sevila for a few days.  We'll check into Gibraltor from their as well. 

Church of the Bones

We went to see this church yesterday afternoon! I had to pay 1E to see this chapel, built completely from the bones taken from a local cemetary, sometime in the 1700's! It's quite astounding! If you zoom in you can see the details and also the woman to the far right who is continuing to expose the bones, with a brush and tiny pick.

Sunday - July 31st

What a hot day!  We can’t believe we’re saying that, after all the cold, wet weather we had in the last 10 days.  It just goes to show that we’re never happy with the weather!  The hop-on, hop-off ride was very, very hot.  We had to put on lotion and wear hats, and finally went to the lower level, once my camera battery died.  Overall, our impression of this city is that it’s very old, quite run-down, with spectacular buildings and architecture.  Everything is so old.  I think they could have a reconstruction project for the next 25 years and never catch up.  There was an earthquake here in 1755, for 6 minutes with a huge tsunami, which killed 40,000 people and wiped out the entire city centre.  The expo city is also amazing.  We got off a few times and had lunch at the Hard Rock Café.  We rode up a high, very steep hill on a tram that squeaked and groaned and as we went down; we thought:  ‘if the brakes ever went on this – hello heaven!’   Of course, you’d think after all the exercise we’ve done, that we’d actually walk up and down – you’ re wrong!  Our knees are just getting used to walking again.  We noticed immediately, that the prices are closer to Canadian prices here – coffee is only 1E, instead of 2.5E.  That’s pretty much our gauge, coffee and water.  So after sweating off a few cups of water on our city tour, we went back to the hotel to R & R, then went for a bite of supper and out to a movie:  Larry Crowne.  It was very good and LOL, it was in English with Portuguese subtitles.  Once again, just about everyone speaks English, or at least enough to help us find or do anything we need. 

Today it’s off to Beja.  Why Beja?  Well, it’s about ½ ways to Seville; so we decided to break up the train trip and stop there for a day or two. We’ve booked one night, but if we like it we’ll stay two nights. We went to trip advisor and found a hotel, #1 on its website for only 43E with breakfast, wi-fi included.  The exchange rate is about 40-43% on the Euro.  (I’ve taken that from what Visa is charging us).  We’ll try to make some phone calls today from Beja, using Skype.  We’re off shortly to take the Metro to our train station (20 min) and then a 4 hour train ride to Beja.  The trains in Europe are very comfortable, and roomy!

Ps – you know you’re in Portugal when there are cooked baby pig heads in the deli counter!

The final day, then off to Lisbon

We spent the last evening on board our barge, packing and resting.  Some people went on a guided tour, but we were really tired out from the day.  We got a hold of Teresa at work and that cheered us up.  It was sort of interesting that no one on the tour wanted to exchange email addresses or even last names.  We were only acquaintances and didn't really become friends.  We tried to open up spiritual conversations, but there were no takers.  When chatting with our guide, she said that the oldest person on this 312 km ride was a 89 year old German man.  We decided that it seems that people who are over 50 are doing these cycling tours. On Saturday morning we walked over to the train station (15 min) and then took the train to the airport, where we waited for about 4 hours (there was a time change we weren't aware of), we played cards, slept and walked about.  We realized why our flight was so cheap - Transavia doesn't even give you a drink of water for free - it's 3E!!!  And everything you buy is instant, including the coffee!  The hotel we chose from trip advisor was great; near a big shopping centre and the Metro.  All we did the first day is take care of laundry (paid 7E) and rested and relaxed. 

Day 10 – sail from Utrecht to Breukelen (Brooklyn) then cycle to Amsterdam

We started out our day in Breukelen.  Apparently it’s the original Brooklyn and the one in NY was named after this one.  The Dutch traded Brooklyn to the British for Cape Town.  We crossed the original Brooklyn Bridge, a tiny little bridge that opens for boats to pass through.  A man uses a fishing pole with a small wooden shoe attached to swing out to the boats so they can pay their toll.

The bicycle traffic was pretty heavy today.  Lots of bike tours as one gets closer to Amsterdam.  There are round-abouts for bikes, special traffic lights for bicycles and the bikes get more time than people to cross.  Did I tell you about our bikes?  They’re high efficiency bikes, and the gear system is excellent.  Apart from the ‘seats’, the bikes are amazing.  When I choose my new bike in September I’ll have a better idea of what I want.  Also, I forgot to mention all the hand signals that our guide uses, plus the messages that need to be passed on ‘down the line’; for instance: “pole!”  This is the little dividing pole at intersections to keep cars out.  We thought it was a little redundant until Els told us about the accident last year, when a woman was so busy looking around she didn’t see it and broke three bones in her leg!  OK, so we’ll pass the message on!  A fist opening and closing means slow down and then a closed fist (raised arm of course), means we’re stopping.  The other verbal message to pass along is ‘no priority’, which means:  ‘check before you cross the street, don’t just follow blindly’.  Some cars are good about stopping and waiting, and others are impatient.  Small motorcycles are also allowed on the bike paths.   

Today was only 52 kms, and the morning was the hardest time for me.  We had a headwind of about 25-30 km.  After a nice latte at noon, I felt refreshed and the afternoon went by quickly.  But our butts were totally numb by the end of the day. 

We cycled along waterways all day – it was lovely.  We stopped for a few pictures and also for a cheese making tour.  It was a real farm, with all the smells and cows.  The calves are taken away from the mother after just a couple of days, and bottle fed because they need the mother’s milk.  We got to sample many different kinds of cheeses and learned how to properly store and cut it.  This of course is based on the type of cheese that has a ‘skin’.  Apparently it should be stored with the bread, not in a fridge.  We told her that wouldn’t work in our central heated homes.

One of the women organized the card and ‘tip’ for the staff here.  Tonight we’re in Amsterdam and will do a little walk around.  Tomorrow, right after breakfast we’ll walk to the train station (30 min) and then take the train to the airport.  Lisbon here we come!  I think we’re ready for heat.

Day 9 – Gorimchen to Vienan, then sail to Utrecht

It was another lovely day of cycling.  We started out in fog for the first hour.  It was about 16 degrees when we headed out.  Through the day the weather improved and by noon it was HOT.  Today we cycled through large farms, orchards and estates. The fruit trees made me think of the time Jesus said he would take off any branch that didn’t bear fruit.  The trees are tall and lean and LOADED with fruit.  In fact you see more fruit than foliage.   There were so many sheep farms and so many beautiful horses.  Lots of different kinds, but they all look well cared for.  The 55 km were much easier than the 35 yesterday; we had the wind behind us and we made more stops to sightsee. 

Here in Vienan we saw a real stork. It’s pouring rain right now; we made it back to the boat just before this storm started. We can’t believe that tomorrow is our last day of cycling and then Saturday we’re off to Lisbon.  We thought we’d only stay one night, but we think we might stay for two – get cleaned up, find a church and decide where we want to go next.  I want to find a massage therapist.

Carolyn, I’m using every tip and exercise you ever taught me and it’s really helping.  I feel very fit and capable. 

We went into Utrecht last night and walked around for a few hours.  The church bells ring every ¼ hour, 24/7, much to the delight of the people who live there!!!!  It’s a ‘dirty’ town, 200,000 – lots of graffiti and things are not so well kept as we’ve seen in the countryside.  It’s also a university town, so crowds of young people everywhere. 

FYI speed bumps are called drempels here.  Go Figure!  It certainly makes us think about the Rempels a lot.

Also, the Dutch language is very easy to figure out, when it’s written.  For instance our ‘good day’, is ‘goed dag’ in Dutch, which is ‘guten tag’ in German.  So, my Germanic roots are finally useful.  But not when it’s spoken.  Then I don’t have a clue.    

  

Day 8- Wilmstad to Gorimchen (pn Hhorkim)

What an interesting day!  I was the ‘sweeper’ (the rear guard), and what a workout!  You’re not supposed to leave anyone behind, but people want to stop for various reasons, to pee, to take off their jacket, to put on their jacket and then you have to go three times as fast to catch up.  Plus we had a head wind all day, about 25 km/hr.  Our guide was getting quite frustrated today b/c there was a lot of complaining and whining.  At one point we (myself and two ladies who were exhausted) were at least a km behind the main group.  I of course couldn’t leave them.  So, finally Els, our guide put the slow ones near the front, right behind her.  We had to make a 4 o’clock ferry.  We used the ferry 3 times today.  The ferry boat is equipped with a little ramp to cycle the bikes up and down.  Coming off one ferry, we saw two women who must have been at least 70.  Everyone cycles here.   

 Once again we cycled through pristine countryside and farms.  The Dutch are very clean and tidy people; their lawns look like they’ve been manicured with scissors.  The thatched roofs look sculpted and the farms are immaculate. 

There are lots of cows, sheep and horses.  Let me describe two different kinds of cows I saw.  One cow has the rear end of a pig, the head of a cow, the shoulders of a bull and an elongated body.  It must be bred for meat, but it is the oddest looking thing.  Yesterday there was a cow that was chocolate brown front and back with a two-foot white band around the middle.  But at least it looked like a cow.  

I don’t think there is any low fat anything here in the Netherlands.  The milk and yoghurt is all very creamy.  They love to use butter for all their cooking.  Delicious!  And the breads are yummy.  Fortunately we’re doing a lot of cycling.  Today we cycled only 35 km but tomorrow the plan is to cycle 55, then the barge will sail to Utrecht, after that there is only one day to get to Amsterdam.  We can’t believe we’ve already been away for one week.

Today was the first evening that we had nice weather.  We had dessert up on the deck and everyone’s spirits improved considerably.  We saw a ‘boat’ coming down the canal; it was made out of a wood pallet anchored onto 3 surf boards with a small 9hp motor.  There was a leather couch, plants and some kind of locker.  He came to the edge, picked up some friends, a pizza and took off again!  Apparently this is quite common here.