We woke up to our incredible view out over the Douro River and, to get the most of the 7:30am-11:30am breakfast, showed up right at 7:30am. Breakfast was delightful, absolutely the best we’ve had. Espresso-based coffees were made to order, there were detox and fruit smoothies and juices, ginger shots, sparkling wine (!!), cooked breakfast in Dutch ovens, a good range of meats and cheeses, smoked salmon, a great muesli station (multiple kinds of nuts, yogurts, milks, seeds, chia pudding), a real honeycomb, crepes, and cakes and pastries (though not the best pastries we’ve had).
At 9am we took an intermission. Viki rested while I went to a yoga class with one other couple (AJ and Nora, from San Diego) followed by a paddleboard on the river. At 11am we got in a second round of breakfast and got sandwiches and pastries for later. We had a slow checkout from 12pm, finally setting off biking at 1pm.
The ride was only a half day today and was super hilly, with four climbs over 100m. The section by the Douro was pretty and smooth and then we switched to smaller roads that were a bit bumpy. It was quite hot and we were sweating immediately after starting (also because it was a 100m hill at 13-14% to leave the hotel).
We made it to an albergue by 6:30pm (€9 per person per night), showered, and had our sandwiches for dinner. The albergue is way in the middle of nowhere and we took a 5km detour to get here, but it was nice to have a shower and have a bed to sleep in (and now viki has the complimentary ear plugs and face mask from last night’s hotel to wear).
