It rained overnight, but the skies were starting to clear when we lift our beachfront hotel in Vila Nova de Milefontes. There was a group of hikers and another group of cyclists also heading out for the day as we loaded up the bikes for the last time.
The first two hours we road through small coastal villages to the end of the Troia Penninsula where we caught the ferry.
The Troia peninsula is basically a sandbar about 15 miles long and not quite 1 mile wide, and much of the area is a protected nature preserve.
Unfortunately, when we got closer to the ferry terminal it started to rain so we couldn't see much of anything during the short crossing to Setubal on the other side of the estuary.
We went from the quiet of the Troia peninsula to the busy city of Setubal where we stopped at the Livramento Market, a large indoor marketplace primarily dedicated to selling fresh seafood, but there are also rows of fresh fruit and vegetables, pastries, breads, and cheeses. There has been a market here for over 100 years and it's a lively place.
The rain stopped by the time we left Setubal and we rode through very hilly terrain with tight, twisting and curving roads in the Arrabida Natural Park with amazing ocean views from high above sea level.
We stopped at a viewpoint to look back out over the Troia peninsula before the fog and rain set in again as we continued to climb in elevation.
Periodically the fog would lift and we could see Lisbon off in the distance.
We curved our way down through the hills and then finished up the last few miles in the metropolitan Lisbon area, crossing the 25th of April bridge named for the 1974 revolution that led to the Portuguese democracy.
We've only been away from Lisbon for 10 days, and having spent 4 days in the city before meeting up with the motorcycle tour group, it felt familiar as we rode into the city. as we saw the Christ the King statue, picked out the arches and monuments in the old city, and looked down on the docks where we took a dolphin watching tour.
We'll spend tonight celebrating an amazing motorcycle tour through Portugal and Spain with the rest of our tour group and then fly home tomorrow. Spending time in Europe, visiting historic areas, trying local foods, attempting to say even a few words of the languages, and getting to know the other members of the group is a lot of fun and a wonderful opportunity that we cherish.
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