We started the day with a visit to Continente. This is one of the major grocery chains, along with Intermarche and Pingo Doce. Stopping at Continente would always be an adventure, because of the many treats that lie within. And though I am stationed outside with the bikes, there is fun to be had there as well.
First was a giggle from the strange devotion of the Portuguese to codfish in all its forms. On the main door we see some kind of dried cod portrayal, and beyond that door, something of more interest to me, a selection of bicycles. They all seemed pretty nice to me, and none was over €300.
But the most usual activity when stationed outside a grocery is fielding the Usual Questions. This time by standing there I attracted Miguel. A father of four boys aged about 1 to 7 years old, he had developed an interest in taking them cycling. He had just completed the first outing with them, going on the Ecopista do Dao, which is a 49 km rail trail south of Viseu.
This of course spawned a discussion of which trailer type accessories are best for taking children of various sizes and ages. Miguel also said he would be interested in bringing the kids cycling to Canada, and so on and so forth.
When Dodie came out of the store, she joined in the discussion, and I did not even get to see what goodies we had acquired until later. Among the more exciting of these was not even (exactly) edible, being European toothpaste, based on lemon oil, mint, and eucalyptus.
When we at last set off, we followed a scheme to get some respite from the 18 wheelers that we felt might still be found on N2. While N2 is a "yellow" road in this area, we chose a "white" one. This turned out to be a really good move. The route began with an underpass that we were sure would trim any big trucks to size, whether for height or width, and it seemed to work!
We were very interested to next come to a very large cork processing plant, with about 1/2 km of cork stacks stored in its yard. With a view to how little bark comes from a single tree, and that every nine years, this cork storage represented thousands and thousands of trees, and really a lot of harvesting work.
Not far beyond the cork plant, we took our turn onto the true little white road that was the target for our ride. This began a truly idyllic float through a natural environment that was beautiful, interesting, and fragrant too, because of the prevalence of Eucalyptus over much of the distance.
The plant is large among industries we have seen here. The company name is Arnorim Florestal. According to their web site, they are the largest cork processors in the world.
Here is a bit that puzzled us at first, but thanks to Dodie's powers of observation, we have it (mostly) figured out. We begin with the trees you see in the foreground in the photo just below. They have dark lower leaves and silvery upper ones. Whatever they are, the farmers here are serious about them, as you can see from the extensive planting.
This photo kind of solves the mystery - the trees are baby Eucalyptus. They have dark lower leaves, light ones higher, and then ones of totally different shape at the top.
Kelly IniguezCan you smell them as you pass by, or do the leaves need to be crushed to release the scent? Reply to this comment 1 year ago
Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Kelly IniguezIf they are growing thickly there is a scent of Eucalyptus in the air. It is sort of like cycling through a cough drop. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
We had been riding high on a ridge, but our road dipped down into the town of Vale de Mos. The photo has the dual function of showing a pickup loaded with cork, and showing the road and town a bit.
At the top of the hill out of the village was the cemetary. We were impressed that most every grave was decorated. This could be always, or it could be especially at Easter, Dodie speculated.
Now we were high on a ridge again, and it felt great being in the open, and mostly on the flat. But this was not to last, as we soon descended to the major Tagus River, which runs at the base of the town and fort of Abrantes.
Now that we have been in Abrantes, we can recognize a lot that was in the distant shot above. From the distance we also took a shot at what we presumed to be the castle. We were right, and eventually ended spending a lot of time in that little white and orange chapel, amazingly high (and a long walk) above the river.
When we reached the river and the bridge to the Abrantes side, we diverted to the river side to find a picnic spot. There were spots, but they were all taken, since it was the lunch hour. But I looked ahead and spottee a huge circus canopy like structure, with lots of shade underneath it. It turned out to be part of a restaurant, but now it was Dodie that found a public bench, still in the shade of the canopy. Score!
From our bench under the canopy we could look out to the river, and Abrantes.
Something that we had carried along from breakfast was a homemade looking filled bun. I tried to feed half to Dodie, but while at first we thought it contained a fish paste, it turned out to be a meat paste. Neither worked for her. I recorded the bun here because as a clearly unique product I don't expect to see another one again. Dodie is cheering this in the background.
We crossed the river and pushed the bikes up toward the town. Looking back, we could easily see the bridge, as well as the tent-like restaurant shelter we had used.
Our spot in Abrantes is the youth hostel, or youth hostile, as Dodie's sister calls them. The Portuguese name is Pousada de Juventude. Ok, fine. We had been concerned because in Booking they specified a check in time of 6:00 p.m. I phoned last night, but the phone line and language barrier made it impossible to know if they were really serious about that. They weren't. At two, we were able to put our bikes in a storage room and our gear in our actual room. That allowed us to head off walking, to find the town and the castle.
The town and castle were up hills that were lots more than we would have preferred, but we persisted. The whole "exercise" was over 10 km of walking and 257 meters of climbing.
Our walk up to the town and then the fort of Abrantes.
I snapped this shot in the church, before being approached by some official seeming man who pointed out that no photos are permitted. Impatient these days with such nonsense, I asked him to explain why. He said for security reasons. I replied "You mean you think, for example, that my photo will help me place my bomb?" "Yes", he replied, but I think this was mainly language barrier. Clearly I will place my bomb according to other criteria.
Dodie thinks this could be a holdover from when flash photography could harm paintings. I think maybe they do not want me using photos for postcards or documentaries, without royalties. But mainly it's just plain stupid.
We reached the castle, at last, and used the convenient steps to storm the inside. Some info panels give relevant background, with one of the main points being that the thing was built in the 12th century. Since then, there is obviously a long history, as shown on the long info board. There is way too much info on this, except to note that it is long!
Within the castle walls there is a chapel or church called Church of Santa Maria do Castelo. This was built in 1215 but got destroyed by earthquake and was rebuilt in the 15th century. It became a burial spot for members of the powerful Almeida family, who occupy some of the side niches in the walls. The church is run as a kind of museum, and featured a nice slide show about the exploits of that Almeida family. We were impressed by the way wood flooring helped to protect the original stone, and by the tile work, that also featured in the slide show.
