Holy Crap!

Dateline, Lourdes, France

This is not meant to offend any of my friends and family that have deep religious beliefs.  Most of you know what a heathen I am and some of you still love me despite this fact.  However, I think all of you would choke on your communion wafers to see what religious tourism has come to in this town.

There are blocks and blocks of this crap.  I have finally found a place that gives Venice a run for its money on tourist tackiness. It is such a shame, IN MY OPINION, to prey on people that have come here as a last resort, to try to find supposed healing powers in the water and to sell every conceivable form of religious artifact and water container you could possibly imagine.  But, they obviously have customers to buy what looks like a hospital male urinal and fill it with water from the fountain; miles of rosary beads and crosses, plastic figurines of Saint Bernadette and the Virgin and the most incongruous of all, the "Provisions de Voyage", which is mostly beer, wine, sausage and cheese!

On another note, it is very green in this area, with rushing rivers of lime filled waters.  That is the positive spin I am trying to place on the fact that it has been cold, wet and raining for the entire week.  We are in the beautiful town of Argeles-Gazotte at the base of the Tourmelet,  Abisque and Hautecam, 3 of the iconic climbs in the Tour de France, and climbs that we have done in the past.  We have even gone out and ridden in the rain, but coming down those cols in the cold and wet is not something we enjoy. 

Fresh snow....

Biking culture here

So, while we can't ride too much, we make pilgrimages to the boulangerie, patisserie, weekly market and local bike shops. We have been eating our way through the pain tradionale, chevre, pain au chocolate and enjoying way too much cafe au lait and les vins regionale.... And to keep myself and those poor defensless
neighbors amused, I try to talk to them in French.  We did have a very lovely exchange last evening.  They are in their 70's, speak no English, and loved sharing their love of the surrounding area with me.  I thought my head was going to explode from the strain I was putting on my few remaining brain cells as I tried to convey my thoughts and understand what they were saying; all in French.  Ziggy, as always, is the universal icebreaker and conversation starter.  Merci, Zigs.

For all of my biking friends, this really is a fantastic place to test your limits.  And for the hikers, they have so many miles of trails to explore, you could hike for weeks before you would have to retrace a step.  I would guess there is also a lot of fishing, but right now the waters are too high to allow for that.  And there is always that religious tourism available.....
Check out our beautiful spot.... www.bonrepos.com

Hasta Luego, Espana... Bon Jour la France!

We have spent the past week in the beautiful Picos de Europa park, in Cangas de Onis, Spain.  This area, Asturias, is noted for its wonderful cheese and milk products, sidra (cider) and of course, pork.  The lovely green farm and pasture land has a stunning backdrop of the snow capped Picos.  It really is a remarkable area!

This scene was repeated everywhere!

It must have been an awesome parking experience to warrant a souvenir!

The area is also know for its wonderful recreation.  There are 2 rivers for fishing, canoeing, kayaking and swimming in the warmer months.  It is only 25 miles from the Atlantic, so the climate is fairly mild, and the valleys are at low elevation, and the peaks climb to over 8,000'.  There are many hiking trails in the parks and lots of bike riders trying to scale 2 of the most difficult climbs in Spain.  The area is very sparsely populated and looks a great deal like Austria at times.  Small villages dot the area, and the "big" town of Cagnas was probably about 5,000 people.  But in that small town there were more restaurants and shops selling the foods of the area than I have ever seen.  The other interesting business model of the area is Rural Turismo.  We stayed in one ourselves, and it was a lovely little apartment on a farm.  In the tiny village next to us, which consisted of about 15 homes, there was one bar/restaurant and about 5 Rural Turismos.  That was the case everywhere.  We just could not imagine what the area must be like during the summer months when all of these places would be full.

The roads were pretty quiet this time of year, but I did a little tailgaiting.

Our new friends at the cafe where we got our

 internet fix

We did some sightseeing when the weather was
not suitable for cycling.  One day we went to the
famous prehistoric cave paintings.  The entire talk was in Spanish, of course, so we got very little out of it, but he did translate two phrases for us:
Three meters.  and 20 million..... We are guessing size and age....

Checking out the high peaks

We are now in Bayonne, France.  A beautiful town just north of Saint Jean de Luz and Biarritz. Tomorrow we head to the Pyrennes.

Oporto and beyond!

I am in love with Portugal.  The people, the food, the sights and the entire "off the beaten track" of it. We left our little slice of heaven in the Alentejo and headed north and west about 3 hours.  We stayed in a great little apartment in Porto for 3 nights while we took in the sights, tasted some port and again tried to blend into the local culture.  Porto is also under siege by tourists like Paris, but not as many Americans.  Mostly French and Scandinavians.  Very interesting city with a rich history, but after 3 days we were ready to head to the quiet places again.  We drove an hour north to a beautiful beach town, called Afife.  Just north of Viana de Castillo, which is another lovely historical town complete with beautiful beaches and an active arts and tourist scene.  One thing that has dominated our time here in Afife is the wind.  It has been incessant until today, when it finally died down, and the weather heated up about 20 degrees.  I can tell summer would be tough in Portugal for this heat phobic gal.

Ziggy has discovered the beach.  And she loves it!  This is one of the most beautiful stretches of beach I have ever been on.  My pictures cannot do it justice.

We have been riding our bikes every day; battling the wind in one direction, and loving the tailwinds in the other!  Yesterday we did a longer ride, and decided to stop for a bit of lunch.  Normally we stop for a tosta and a coke, but this time we landed in an authentic restaurant which was doing an amazing lunch business.  No English, no menu, just rattled off the 4 dishes available.  I had seen the fish go by, and it was fried, which doesn't go well with another 15 miles of riding, so when I heard the word for chicken, I nodded yes.  I asked for only 1 entree for the 2 of us, as the portions were huge!  This is what we ended up with....

Firstly, it was all chicken gizzards, so a total fail for me, but also 2 huge servings of rice, fried potatoes, veggies, salad.  Everyone else at the restaurant was also consuming a bottle or two of wine or a beer.  BTW, grand total with a Coke was e15.  Too bad I didn't like it too much.

And finally, my mother Ruthmary has met her match.  This woman has been hoeing this field for the past 3 days.  This morning she was out there before 8 a.m, and last night she was there until after 8 p.m. This is another thing I love about Portugal; all the small farms that dot the side of the road, no matter where you are.  Even community gardens in the heart of the city.  What makes it even more amazing is how cheap

vegetables already are in the grocery store.  It must just be in their blood!

A few more pictures from Porto....

Lunch by the river.

Art is a big part of the culture in Porto. A phone booth...

The Porto trolly

Cyclepaths

This has been such a wonderful 2 weeks of cycling and exploring the slow lane in this part of the world.  If you ever want to take 7-10 days to just relax, cycle, hike, wine taste and explore, then you have to visit this area.  It is so off the beaten track that most of the towns we enter into GPS can't be found.  Today we were on our bikes for over 13 miles before we met a car. 

Imagine everything you love about cycling in Sonoma, Napa, Monterey and the Sierras; challenging climbs, beautiful views, pleasant temps.... then REALLY use your imagination and have the roads be smooth, zero traffic and a place to find a drink and a snack every 10k, and you have made it to the Alentejo. 
Today we stopped about 5k from "home", and split a coke and a "tosta", all for 2.85e.  Not going to happen at Jimtown store....

The colors of Portugal are white, gold and blue.  Every building is whitewashed (no paint) then trimmed in gold, and then the blue and white Azulejos that adorn every home and business.

Casa, sweet casa

We have also done some sightseeing off the bikes.  We spent an afternoon trying to find the very famous menhir found outside of Balletos. Just FYI, we drove around for over an hour in search of it, and voila, in all of its glory...

Is is the biggest one on the Iberian peninsula.....

A few final shots of our rides around this area this week.

Painted bridges

Marble everywhere!

Just, ahhhhh

Cork trees

We are headed to Porto for 3 nights tomorrow.

Later.....

Stopping to smell the Roses....

A double rosebud. In our backyard in Ramila, Portugal.

Tomorrow Larry and I will celebrate 34 years of relative wedded bliss.  As all couples, we have had our good days and our bad ones, but on the whole, we have been very even keel. I can't imagine who else would have put up with me for all of these years!

The past 10 days in this area of Portugal have been so beautiful.  I can see why so many foreigners have chosen to make this area their home.  From the artist up the street who swears the light here is different than any on earth, or the woman next door who loves the flowers and the sweet sounds of the birds, to us; who just love the quiet roads and the beautiful contrasts of the old rocks with the amazing wildflowers that are everywhere.

The national plant of spring in Portugal should be the Scotch Broom.  It covers vast areas, and is in full bloom right now.  Wild lavender, white cistus, red poppies and buttercups complete the color palate.  With the sweet smell of lemon trees scattered throughout, it is a sensory overload at times.

Fresh water out of the spring at the end of our driveway. 

We have made several journeys to our favorite destination, Castillo do Vide.  It is about 15k from here, and with the circuitous route we have devised, it is about a 30 mile round trip ride with lots of rollers.  Add in  a stop for a Coca Lite and a "tosta", it is the perfect day for us old folks.

Relaxing in Castillo do Vida during our ride.  I packed a back pack with shoes, bike lock and my hat so we could sightsee.

May each of you find some springtime peace, love and happiness like Larry and I have.