Trixie Traveler in Portugal: Bicycle the Costa Vicenta National Park

Today we are in the Algarve district of Portugal. Our ride today is 77 km. As we cycle through the Costa Vicente National Park, the scenery keeps changing. There are more and more eucalyptus trees while pine and acorn trees lessen. We stop for lunch in Igreja Nova/Aljezur. Terrain today is rolling hills some of which are quite steep so once again I am glad to be on the e-bike. I could do these hills but appreciate arriving at our destination not totally wiped out. It is a long downhill ride to our hotel/village.

Our hotel for tonight is actually a village that was abandoned and turned into a hotel. Only seven residents still remain in the village. The Pedralva Village was a pile of ruins. It used to have up to 100 villagers. Someone bought the whole village with the idea of turning it into a hotel and spent two years tracking down 220 owners and their heirs who now lived in Portugal, Germany, England and France. It took two more years to rebuild the village, keeping the original design as much as possible. It opened in 2009. How interesting is this!? We each have a house completely equipped with a kitchen. The bedroom is upstairs. (See pictures.) The village is on the side of a mountain so the streets are narrow and winding and go up.

Our leader, Surfer Luis, leads a yoga session by the pool. The evening is lovely and we all appreciate doing some stretching. Surfer Luis, the nickname we have given him since two of our leaders are named Luis. Apparently, Luis is a very common Portuguese name. Surfer Luis is a lot of fun and has an infectious laugh. He was in the Seoul Olympics in surfing. He continues to be very fit and the women in our group are having their pictures taken with him. He tells us that yoga has been his salvation in dealing with various injuries. He isn't as intellectual or knowledgeable about history as the other Luis and Philipp, but he is a nice counterpoint to their more serious natures.

We have dinner at the hotel. I am thankful that most of our meals on this trip have been served family style so you can take just what you want. There is always too much food. We have chicken for the first time with Piti Piti sauce on the side. I try just a small amount and it is so spicy hot that my mouth explodes! No more of that for me. Glad they served it on the side. I enjoy a nice visit with Philipp at dinner. We talk about future ideas for trips among other things.