Portugal: Biking Day 2, Batalha to Pedro de Moel

 Portugal: Biking Day 2
Batalha to Pedro de Moel, 27 miles

Today we made it to the coast!

After another wonderful European hotel breakfast (why are those just the best -- plus we were now entering get-as-many-calories-into-me-as-possible mode with long bike rides, they made us so hungry), we headed off toward the coast. 

This was quite a rainy bike day at parts, and we had to get creative with finding shelters because we were riding through wide open countryside for a lot of it. We rode through Leira and walked through the Castle there. 

When we made it to the coast it was SO WINDY and knocked me right over haha. It was pretty incredible to see the big waves and rough coastline there. The town was pretty sleepy when we were at our hungriest (Portuguese people like to eat dinner about 7 or 8 at night and most restaurants don't even open until around then after closing for a break after lunch.)  I think my personality might be tied directly to how fed I am, which is unsettling, but we made it through the low points :)

The monastery courtyard was looking so pretty after some rainfall.

Check out this little pancake maker.
Just push a button and it comes right out after a bit.

Cobblestones are not our preferred bike riding ground.
We were surprised at how often we were riding along with cars in Portugal. In the Netherlands we were on bike paths almost the entire time, but that's the Netherlands! Drivers in Portugal were super nice though.

Tile on my brain all through this trip knowing we're about to demo our whole main bathroom.
I just love that intricate patterns were happening as long as people lived in these places!

Castle views

Stadium picture for Westin

Rainy time... right before SUPER rainy time.

To the coast!

This tree grew into the road, so, it's just not a road anymore :)

Had to touch the ocean!
Especially since nothing was open in town and I needed big distractions from hunger haha.

Fueling up at breakfast the next day.
Chocolate croissants, always. Eggs with roasted tomatoes and bacon and mushrooms, always.
Plus lots of other delicious things!