November 21, 2024
Évora to Porto
Mostly on trains
Not much to say. We rode from our hotel to the station in Évora, got our bikes on and off the train without too much difficulty (the train started in Évora and ended, we think, at Lisboa Oriente, where we had almost an hour to make our connection. Entering Lisbon, the train crossed the Ponte 25 de Abril and we appreciated just how huge that bridge is.
Getting on the second train to Porto was more challenging, mostly because everyone with seats in car 24 (and enormous suitcases) wanted to get on through the door next to the bike storage. Then they block access for everyone else as they attempt to stow their bags on the luggage racks, these being bags far to large to fit on the shelf above the seats. Also, unlike in the previous train, the bike area was designed for bikes to be hung and there wasn’t room to leave them horizontal.
Then the tedium of the train journey. Eventually, we arrived in Porto and the real challenge—riding 3.5 km through this city to our apartment. We were very glad of having the route as a red line on the map screen of our Garmins. RWGPS plotted a good route, without any steep climbs in this notoriously hilly city. We did walk some of it; the combination of traffic, wet cobbles, and trolley tracks was just too many hazardous factors at once.
Today's ride: 6 km (4 miles)
Total: 753 km (468 miles)
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