Hello People, hello Morocco!
Our trip to Portugal was quite spontaneous! We experienced two months filled with strong impressions and full of hospitality! We both never have been to Portugal before but we would like to come back one day.
In the beginning staying at an eco-village owned by a French couple, later a lot of dropouts from Germany and the Netherlands made us forget that we are in Portugal. High season, lots of tourism and plenty of young people travelling in old vans inspired us to do something else and to cycle through Portugal after having our first surf experiences!
Yeah, how to start? We left Spain after spending there almost 4 months! We were ready for a change, so Portugal was not so far, people told us it is less hot there and very beautiful… also my sister Leonie told us about Portugal and an eco-village near the border.
Terra Mada became our first stop, it is located at a clear lake and the people transformed a totally dry piece of land into a little flourishing autonomous paradise! Some different kind of people live there; sort of a community who shares and works on the land but also with enough privacy. It was interesting to see how everything worked; permaculture, solar systems, own water system, compost toilets, compost etc. and further you have the community and we got a small impression how and why the people live together. For me this was the most interesting part. I have deepest respect for people who manage to find an alternative way of living together in a proper system. I haven’t seen a lot communities but the thing I liked the most was the way how they accepted us and the idea about sharing! It doesn’t matter how you look like or what you are doing but more who you are.
And yes we ask ourselves a lot of times if we could imagine to life in a community… we still don’t know but we know that we would love to share a piece of land with friends or something like that…but who knows?! We left the community after spending their a couple of days with a good feeling. We liked a lot the French couple and their mind-set of the way of life.
Then we drove to the west coast, we arrived late and it was very windy and cold it was unbelievable!!! From over 40 degrees to -20 degrees…moreover the Atlantic ocean is very cold too without wet suit nearly impossible. We found a place with a lot of campers and Germans. It was nice to meet other travellers but where were the locals?! Well we spent some time at the coast surrounded by other travellers and we chilled with them, making fire in the evening etc...
There was one amazing fishermen festival in Arrifana- this was great- for 10 euros you could drink as much as you wanted and the best of all was that there were lots of barbecues full of sardines and you could eat as much as you wanted. The atmosphere was great, nice music and people and tasty fish… The next day there was also a little music festival with lots of good artists " Caravana sun" and "Frankie Chavez" we liked most.
In Arrifana we also got to know Ago and Nico two very funny and lovely persons from Argentina. With them we spend two days and later on we also met them in Odeceixe again.
After having bought two second-hand boards we tried to do some surfing ... we still learn ;) After a while of surfing and staying at the beach we got tired by the many tourists and so we left…
Somehow it is not so easy to share all our stories, thoughts and feelings on this blog because it is still the internet…. But I feel like sharing this story because it is a topic which takes part of our trip and life and people often ask us about: “Do you struggle a lot?”
Since one year we are living in our van and spending mostly every day and night together. We knew we are able to do this and it works out very well. We figured out how to live in a small space without disturbing and respecting the other one and we have the same interests(climbing, hiking, cycling, crafting…) but this can be sometimes a disadvantage too because you want to do everything together. But like this we don’t take time for ourselves- what is important- and we have to learn to do this more conscious. Before living in the van we had much more moments being alone by following our own work, interests, tasks and hobbies. Now we are sharing a lot of moments and if we don’t take our time there comes up a tension and we enjoy less the time being and doing things together. I guess that’s why we had some negative days together. So we decided peacefully what everyone wants to do. That’s why I went hiking along the beach and coast line for 4 days while Beate stayed at the beach in our van. We both had a good and relaxed time. The reunion after this few days was strong and beautiful! And a learning moment for us.
After this time we planned our cycling trip through Portugal. Spoosy an old and good friend from Leeuwarden lives in Porto with his friend Luisa, little Baby and dog and we wanted to visit them. Our idea was to go up along the coast to Porto and on the way back a bit more inland. But before that we wanted to park our van safely. Two days later we found some Dutch guys who have a splendid eco retreat called Vida Pura near to Odeceixe. We asked them if we could park our van on their land and in exchange we help them for some days when we are back- and luckily they agreed! So from there our trip started.
I was quite excited because I have never been cycled that far and long- David always encouraged me- and I also was very curious what will happen on the road. We started from Vida Pura and went up north along the coast. We spend our first night at the cliffs where David has been sleeping during his hike. This was special because we shared this place together where he has been on his own before. Moreover we found our missed fire stick in the bush there.
During our trip we had safe but also weird sleeping places. One night we put up the tent in a little beautiful bay but when we were lying in the tent going asleep we were wondering how it works with ebb and flood- quite comlicated as we learned- while the water was coming closer and closer… David was brave and his night not very relaxed because he checked every now and then if the water was coming closer. Luckily nothing happened in the end…
Another night we stopped in a village called Melides, we stayed in a park with a little waterfall and fountain and got invited of some Portuguese to have dinner with them. Self- caught fish with potatoes, pasta and melone- very tasty. Afterwards we decided to stay there and put up the tent in the grass not knowing that a few hours later this will be the party zone for young people. We listened to some good hip hop, had to think of our party weekends and shared all our party stories that night. The sleep was short and my mood to cycle the next day not the best. Mostly at the weekends we heard some music and now we know that Portuguese people like to party- especially at the weekends!!
One day we cycled along the coast and took a little ferry boat to Setubal, there we decided to go out of the city to find a nice sleeping place. At first the road went along some very beautiful but touristic beaches. We did not want to sleep there and went further. Suddenly the road became very steep- we switched between wheeling our bikes and cycling.there seemed to be no end and it was getting dark soon but there was no possible place to sleep. Dripping with sweat and out of water we finally arrived at the top. At first we did not know what to do- of going further to get water in risk of searching for a sleeping place in darkness or staying somewhere up in the mountain without water. We were destroyed after climbing up that long and just wanted to have a sleeping place as fast as possible. So we decided to stay where we were, stopped cars begging for water what worked out perfectly and put up the tent on a little hiking path we luckily found. Ready to cook we met some hikers and they told us about a very beautiful and windless place a bit more down. I could not move anymore but David ran 5 times up and down to put our stuff there. We walked like robots and we strained ourselves. But is was it worth!! We got rewarded with an amazing fire place next to huge granite blocks! We cooked on fire, David drew a peace symbol on the wall and we had a deep and calm sleep.
The next day we arrived in Lisbon…entering the city we had to take another ferry boat to cross the Rio Tejo. Wonderful city! The highest priority was repairing our bikes: Beate just had one break and I just one gear. After a little while we found an exciting shop, I was really in love with this shop! It was a second hand shop ran by a Portuguese guy who lived for 10 years in Amsterdam. We could share our passion about bikes and upcycling! This guy had so much stuff shipped from Amsterdam to Lisbon. Beate’s first words about that shop was: this could be exactly your shop, David! But also a bit hers because it was not only a second hand bike shop but there was also a small and cute restaurant inside. I could fix my gears but Beate’s break became a long long story… Finally we found a shop who had that part and who could fix it.
Next to our bike shop hopping we had a funny party night in Lisbon: we went with our bikes into the party zone of Lisbon, it became late and we still didn’t have a place to sleep. Somehow Beate talked to two German guys Andi and Frederik, very kind guys – we had good talks and laughed a lot and later on they took us to their hostel and we shared the beds! On the way to the hostel they showed us full of pride their graffiti on a legal wall of Lisbon. This was an amazing night, thank you guys! Next day we visited the museum, the centre, the market and an old factory which is now an alternative culture centre.
After three days city trip we cycled on, strait north along the coastline.
In the evenings we often ask for water if we don’t find a fountain. Ones we asked at a little farm and 10 minutes later we were sitting at a table and the woman didn’t stop serving us tasty food and wine of their garden! Afterwards we found close by a good place to put up the tent, but early in the morning we woke up because hunters where shooting exactly next to us at birds every minute. Again a weird sleeping place ;)
Another strange story: one day we needed some stuff from the Decathlon (outdoor/sport shop), accidently we passed by the trash containers and decided to have a look in… and now we are owners of an outdoor smartphone, pullover, altitude watch, fishing rod, fishing accessories and a primus cooker. The cooker was a big present because with ours we had lots of problems. Unfortunately not all you find is working because the people destroy most of the stuff with knives but if you search well you will maybe find something functioning.
Looking in the container was the same feeling we have when we dumster dive at supermarkets:
Happy and sad! Children or people make clothes under bad conditions and for nothing, resources are used and abused because western companies don’t give a shit on it and throw new and working things away. It is absolutely not fair and silly. Moreover it makes us thinking a lot about consuming, materialsim, dealing with our resources on mother earth and the throw away society. Further we think it is important to pay the real price for the things you buy!
We found a very good documentary "True cost" which explores the impact of fashion on the people and the planet. It is worth to watch it!! You can find it online for free!
Here are two documentaries!
The last night before arriving in Porto, we put up our tent in a lovely pine tree forest close to the beach. Relaxed and romantic before it became more than weird again. At 5:30 in the morning some chainsaws woke us up and then a strong vibration on the ground made me jumping out of the tent to make a signal that there are people. Men cut down a tree and it fell down just 50 meters next to our tent. After saying “olá” they directly ran like hell in their van and speeded away. Those guys were not just illegal cutting down trees but they also endangered us a lot. We needed some time to come around that day!
Finally we arrived in Porto and our friend organized a fantastic location for us! We slept in an old factory almost in the centre of Porto. A woman wo inherited this building offers this location for any art projects or concerts.. this time she gave us the possibility to sleep in this amazing building for free! We explored Porto and undertook nice things with Spoosy and Luisa!! Thanks a lot!
A very kind Portuguese couple gave us a better map and also some tips where to go in the north. The people already told us that it would be mountainous and hard with the bikes but we took the challenge ;) There was one little village called Drave, located in the mountains but we wanted to go there. In former times the village was inhabited by mining workers who walked every day a badly 8km path by foot to their work. Now the scouts bought some of the houses and they are rebuilding them. The place is amazing, stone houses hidden in the mountains and several rock pools with fresh water. There is no access by car, you just can see tracks in the rock of old carts pulled by cows.
Seems to be amazing but going there by bike was a torture. It was just steeply going up, so that we made serpentines on the road. And at least there was just a hiking path which made it terrible with our heavy loaded bikes. There was no way to cycle. So we had to wheel our bikes for some more hours. Somehow we managed and arrived there.
We met very nice scouts who showed us around at this beautiful place. By no means we did want to go back the same way. Some people told us that there is another way to go out. We carried up our luggage a very steep and stony path and then we wheeled our bikes until a certain point where the road should have become better. But the path wasn’t getting better at all. After some hours we started wheeling up the bikes in two and went down to get the other one. Like this we moved up slowly. There was no end to see. After every curve came another one but then we heard a car coming. it felt like a little fatamorgana. People in a jeep gave us a lift and saved our skin. That was great!!! We could enjoy the view arriving at the top.
During our travels by car but also by bike the tourist info was a lot of times very helpful for our travels. They have detailed maps and know the area very well. Once they informed us that there is an ecopista- an old railway which is now used as cycling path. There are not many in Portugal!! So we were excited to cycle on it!! It was very cool without any traffic and nice flat landscape. sometimes we passed the old railwaystations and had a great sleeping place at the river. Along this path and especially in the north we could harvest the whole day fruits along the road. That made us really happy! Grapes, figs, blackberries, apples, peers, cactus fruits. So tasty!! And it gave us a lot of energy to cycle on.
In the centre of Portugal are a lot of river beaches with crystal clear water and shist villages. Shist villages because this is the stone used in the construction of houses and it is abundant in the region. The houses or castles mingle seamlessly in the colours of the natural landscape. The villages are hidden in between mountain slopes and forests. There are projects to recover these villages and to maintain their rural character. We started dreaming in wonderful Candal what if….
We enjoyed central Portugal a lot and its variation of river beaches! We always had easy access to water, could wash ourselves and the places were peacefully situated in a rural area. It was often a hard climb to get there but we did not regret!!
On our way back we also had some surprising visits! Antoine and Marie Caroline from Belgium who are just married. It was a big pleasure to see you, although we have not been to your wedding!! Afterwards a friend of David and other friends were hitchhiking to us- not easy but you managed to come to the lonely lake. thanks for the nice company and tasty barbecues! We hope to see you soon.
After seeing them there came the final spurt for us. I was getting sad because of arriving soon and David was very happy being back at our van. Around nearly 100 km before our start point there was the big question what to do….30km before the arrival we recolted plenty of food from the supermarked container so we decided to cycle to the van. Our bikes felt heavy like a truck but luckily it was more going down than up this time! Ultimately we arrived that evening at Vida Pura and were welcomed very warm by the whole group!
Vida Pura works with a lot of volunteers and they are a super cool group! We stayed for three days helping in the garden with planting strawberries and harvesting tasty tomatoes etc...The place is magical- a good atmosphere created by the owners and the volunteers who are working and living there in the old farmhouse. Thanks a lot for the very tasty food and company. We felt home very fast- and I can imagine staying there for a longer time, too!
Now our stay in Portugal comes to an end because we want to go further to Morocco! We can’t wait discovering Morocco and seeing our friends: Andi, Max, Niclas and Rahel with her children who gonna spend two weeks with us.
Boa sorte