Porto to Lisbon by train

November 23, 2024

We were happy we weren't going to be riding south when we saw the wind forecast for today.

Definitely not a good day to be riding down the coast.

We had plenty of time to pack up and ride to the station for our mid-day train. We ate our granola and yogurt, finished our cartons of juice, and walked to a new-looking café in Praça de Lisboa, essentially across the street from the Clérigos tower. We went there because it was open on a Sunday morning (though it hadn't opened until 9) but the coffee was very good.

Writing this now, I'm kicking myself for not exploring the park part of Praça de Lisboa a bit more, though it certainly caught our eyes when we first rode past it on our way to the apartment from the station and every time we walked by. You see, Praça de Lisboa was once a public market, then a paved square, and now it's an outdoor shopping centre with an olive grove green roof.

Photo taken from http://archquisition.blogspot.com/2014/02/praca-de-lisboapasseio-dos-clerigos.html. I think this photo was taken from the Clérigos tower. The olive trees are bigger now.

After our coffee, we still had time to walk over the upper level of Ponte Dom Luís I. I regretted not bringing my camera, but did the best job I could with my phone.

The riverfront of Vila Nova de Gaia is quiet on this Sunday morning.

This side of the river is quiet too. We had lunch at the little bar/restaurant with the black tables two days ago. The yellow and red boat don't seem to move; I've seen them in other people's photos.

Playing with selfies. It was quite windy on the bridge but not so much in the narrow streets of the city.

We returned to our apartment, stopping to buy sandwiches for the trip at the café where we'd had coffee, and got on our bikes to ride to the station.

Given the number of one-way streets, the route was pretty direct, but with enough turns that we were glad I'd created a route on RWGPS. We only missed one turn, right near the start, and not by much.

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We got to the station in plenty of time for our train, almost an hour. We dawdled around, I went across the street to get pastries to supplement our lunch, and then the platform was posted.

We are always amused by the short logs from European logging operations. We are never amused by the big clearcuts at home.

It was cool and windy on the platform and threatening to rain, so we were happy when the empty train arrived to load up and start the trip. We'd be riding it to its terminus.

We crossed the Douro on the new rail bridge, Ponte de São João, with a nice view downstream of the Eiffel-designed old rail bridge, Ponte Dona Maria Pia. The Ponte do Infante in the background carries vehicular traffic while the sixth bridge of Porto carries the A20 and is further upstream.

The trip was uneventful, no drama getting our bikes on or off. The drama was provided by the windy ride from Santa Apolónia station to our hotel. Once we turned away from the river and the wind, we encountered street closures. The streets in the Baixa district that weren't already pedestrian-only were so tonight. We weren't sure why, but suspected it might have to do with lighting up all those Christmas decorations over the streets. I think this Sunday is the beginning of Advent in the Catholic calendar.

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The hotel was expecting us. We took our bikes up to our room, collected our cases, and stuffed them in too. It was a bit cramped, but we got our bikes packed and left no mess. Al decided to have a shower before we went out for dinner. He opened the half-French-door window in the bathroom for ventilation and while he was in there, the rainstorm hit. It was coming down even harder than that previous day in Lisbon and presumably put a damper on whatever celebrations were going on outside. It also flooded into the bathroom before he could close the window. We will be requesting fresh towels tomorrow!

We opted to go for ramen tonight. Conveniently, there was a highly-rated ramen restaurant close by, in case the skies opened again.

A different kind of atmosphere! The food was very good. We are both having Super Bock Stout with our meals; the beer selection in Portugal is very lacking compared to home and this is our favourite, even though it may not be the best pairing with our meals.

We took a digestive stroll after dinner but then the rain started again so we headed back for an early night.

Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles)
Total: 758 km (471 miles)

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