From Caldas da Rainha to Óbidos a ride with scenic views that made me forget that I have 99 pages to write until I finish my thesis and reminded me that I have to buy myself a bike (# 36 on my list).
Sergio, a rider habitué, kindly organized the whole thing: a train ride to Caldas da Rainha, from where we parted to São Martinho do Porto (Portugal’s tinny tiny version of Rio de Janeiro) and stopped to go fossil hunting; then all up hill (very painful) following an amazing downhill (very pleasant) until Foz do Arelho; a small inconvenient detour of 5 riders, Pedro and myself included; a smooth ride around the Óbidos lagoon discussing my near future; to finish off, some more ups and downs until Óbidos.
Óbidos has this annual International Chocolate Festival and Sunday was the last day. So you can imagine families hurdling themselves into a small medieval village and not mind paying 7€ for an entrance.
After going for a drink and relaxing a bit from the trip, we let the festival close down and everyone leave and that’s when we decided to go have a sneak peak at what had been the chocolate fever festival. We got so lucky: since the vendors were closing down and beginning to pack up, we decided to start asking for free samples and they started offering us all the chocolate we wanted! Soooo gooood!!
And what did I learn from all of this?
One: I need to exercise more.
Two: always visit a chocolate festival right after it closes!!
PS: Thank you Sergio for sharing your photos :)
Espectacular!! Eu desde que cheguei da Inglaterra (lá usava a minha practicamente todos os dias) estou com vontade de comprar a bicicleta. E quanto mais perto temos a primavera, mais vontade tenho de o fazer (ó pá, este português meu está mesmo mau hoje).
ReplyDeletelindas fotos. da-me um pouquinho de inveja (da boa) =)
beijocas
Flavio