It was tough waking up with our 5:50am alarm clock today. We were both still quite tired from yesterday’s big push. But with the end nearly in sight, we managed to set off by 7:10am, just before sunrise. The day started off fast, with flats and cool temperatures, but we slowed down as the hills came.
Coffee and pastries was at 25km in a tiny cafe where everyone who entered took a big long stare at us. Interestingly people seem to speak English much better here than in Spain, so we were still able to get by ordering in English. It was pretty along the coastline today and we saw a huge surf scene, with hundreds of surfers out, surf shops along the streets, and lots of surf marketing. Around 52km, after lots of climbing, we arrived in Sintra, a common day trip destination from Lisbon, with historic palaces, a fort, and walls. We didn’t go to the monuments themselves, since they were higher up the hill and we were looking forward to our hotel in Cascais.
We descended down to Cascais, which felt like the descent we did into Nice two years ago. The closer we got to the water, the ritzier the streets, buildings, and atmosphere became, until we were biking down palm tree lined boulevards flanked by fancy hotels. We arrived at our fancy hotel, made our Lidl mortadella, cheese, and tomato sandwiches and ate them alongside the champagne and chocolate covered strawberries the hotel gifted us.
We spent the afternoon relaxing, swimming in the pool, and cooking fresh tortellini with primavera sauce.
