After spending November in Spain, we zipped through the southern coast of Portugal and arrived in our final destination, the beautiful city of Lisbon. We arrived on December 7th (2019) after cycling a further 1,900 km, bringing our grand total to 22,700 km (give or take 10%). Starting from the vibrant Barcelona, we headed west along the coast of Spain towards the end of Europe (and then a little back up).
Last league to Lisbon
For as long as we could, staying south of Europe and close to the sea would mean a delay to the inevitable winter. Overall in Spain, we had a few days of rain, and even then, it didn't compare to the coldness we'd experienced in the previous winter in Iran. Also, the terrain was different here - we didn't have to camp in the desert. Actually, we didn't get much opportunity to camp at all because we weren't so sure about the camping regulations. We tried to prepare our daily ride and managed to have a place to sleep each night. With one exception - an abandoned hotel construction site by the sea - we still had a roof over our head!
The waters in the southern coast of Portugal looked blue and fresh. But we didn't dare jump in... aah, the last time we happily jumped into the sea was on the Bulgarian's Black Sea coast in July.
As we got cycled further south along the Iberian peninsular, the remnants of the Moors' past occupation of Spain became more visible. The famous palace of Alhambra and the beautiful gardens of Seville are all attributable to them. Historically, the region changed rulers based on conquests from different religions. It's left the region with loads of buildings which has worked as a timestamp from the people that were once here. The attitude towards the weather resembled that of the drier Middle East too. When we arrived in Murcia (a city that was the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain), it had just gotten some decent rain. The river running through the city was flowing higher and higher. Our host told us that she was joking at work that if the river reaches a certain height everyone should take the day off to celebrate. For this region, great weather is when they get rain 🌧, whereas, for some of us living in a more rainy climate, a happy day is blue sky with sunshine ☀.
There were a few WarmShowers hosts we stayed with that had inspired us to rethink the way we were living. Firstly, a Dutch couple who had moved to the south of Spain to raise their boy. They live in a small village in the mountains, eat and grow organically, home school their boy and reduce their carbon footprint by having an electric vehicle and solar powers. We had various discussions about ways to live and how one could improve or better themselves. What we could both agree on was that the current way the world operates is unsustainable. Eating/growing organically - that's ideal and trending. Homeschooling because the government's curriculum is full of lies? hmm, we'll have to get back to that one. In Portugal, we stayed with a French family that had settled on a countryside farmlet. The parents were tour cycling with their young daughters and had fallen in love with Portugal and decided to settle there. They've built their home to be autonomous and as carbon neutral as they could. It was inspiring to see alternative practices being put to work.
We were super excited to arrive in Lisbon. Our friend Bia, whom we met in Bulgaria, housed us in their apartment and wanted to take us to a gay club! Well, we couldn't say no to a celebration. The last day was a short ride anyway. It was about 50 kilometres, a quick harbour crossing into Lisbon and lastly on some cobble stones streets toward our friend's home in downtown Lisbon. Five flights of stairs up, our 10+ bags and bicycles ascended and we had finally done it. Super excited. Oh boy. We can finally celebrate!
Usually, the clubs don't get going until midnight, so first, we went to the Christmas Night Market! It was a lively, cool evening. Families were flooding into the night market. We started with a liqueur shot in a chocolate cup. Chin chin! The rest was all a blur. We got home at about 4 am and slept like babies!
The last leg of trip trip felt rushed, although we are thrilled to have completed this ambitious undertaking. It is without a doubt the most adventurous thing we have done in our lives. We knew from the outset of this trip that we needed to enjoy the journey rather than focus on the destination but, as with other trips we have done, we couldn’t help but feel an emptiness when we no longer had a "next destination" to turn our handlebars towards. With our trip coming to an end, by New Years 2020 we had moved to London to settle down.
We now spend our days dreaming up our next adventures with many possibilities; staying in London permanently, moving to continental Europe to immerse in another language and culture, touring further with our bikes such as Pan-Americas or Cairo to Cape Town, or even moving back home to New Zealand. It's great to have so many possibilities and we realise there is no reason we couldn’t do each and every one of them at a leisurely pace enjoying the journey along the way.
Brought over to Hive from my [Wordpress blog](https://pedallingcontinents.wordpress.com/2020/11/06/trip-status-17-lisbon/)
