Photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirmurr/

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Porto

So we thought we would have a relaxing day. Morning swim and a 2 hours train-ride to Porto and another dip in the pool in our hotel. All went to smoke when it appeared at the train station that it is not only not allowed to take bikes in the IC train but there is a strike. So we had the choice to take four regional trains - meaning 8!!! times taking on and off the bikes the trolley and the kids to and from the train, or to lose our 68 € hotel booking in Porto. Since the ride to the station in Santarem was a serious downhill ride - there was literally no way back. Actually the trip went very well, we had quite much fun you will see from our pics in Flickr. The kids fell asleep just before taking off the last train at 8 pm, so they did not have to witness the police taking away 2 surf-kids from the train for free-riding. It locked all passengers up on the train for a good 20 minutes, so we were in the right mood to get out and realise that we cannot get out of the station without massive exercise because the lift was too small and the stairs down and up the underground were too deep. So we had to chase some local muscles to carry everything down and up to face a 5 km ride to our hotel starting with a hill. Now i will not detail our ride just mention the main highlights: we had a walking navi on the phone which i had to hold in my left hand while steering with the right - i am no good at such tricks - and riding on cobble stone roads against traffic, as driving aspects were irrelevant for a walking navi. Second highlight: we went to the wrong hotel after an hour of such ride, but luckily the correct hotel was on the same road another half an hour ride away, so at least i had no further worries that the phone dies on me before we find the place. For a change i was holding a paper map :) at 9.30 kids are in bed without any complains and now we will have a Cairpirinha in our bathroom :)

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El Camino

So finally after some years being pregnant and nursing babies we r again on the road - this time 4 of us and so we r glad to continue posting about something fun! After all we got some minites to write about our caminho while the kids sleep and we r sitting in the bathroom doing the washing in the bide :) so we started from Lisbon on the 23rd of June - relatively smoothly. The bikes with the trolley and our bags arrived to our hotel, nothing broke and apart from being ripped of by the taxi driver - which is kind of usual on our first day in a new country - we really enjoyed being again on the road. We collected our caminho passport and accidentaly the cathedral was right next to our favorite cafeteria we new from our first visit to Portugal. So we headed to the park of the nation, which is as we think the expo area with amazing urban development along the river. We had some trouble to find our way but locals go out of their way to help us. I think we r more of a tourist attraction than the locals are for us :) by the way although almost everyehere we get by with English, i am trying my Spanish which is just so funny; i speak Spanish they speak Portuguese and we understand each other but as if there was a noise in the line so about 70% goes through - good enough for us :) so back to the park - we liked it so much that we stayed there and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon with the kids running in the park, looking at each other with locals like in the zoo and visiting the oceanarium. The next day we headed to Azambuja through Vila Franca de Xira, where we spent the night in a hotel right next to the rail tracks - for Leon's greatest amazement. He is out of his mind when a train comes, only boats are equally exciting as something new. We tried to beat the walking schedule for the camino, but after the 3rd day we had to surrender. We r barely able to keep up the plan with the pedestrians because we have a good hour and a half stretch a time to ride while the kids are asleep. This we can do once after breakfast and once after lunch, but it is so baking hot during the day that it is a torture for all. Now even if we can make about 10 km an hour it is a true killer with all the luggages on one bike and the 2 kiddies on the other. Our plan to cover 40 km a day just does not work unless we put all of us through hell - which is missing the point. After all we r on vacation... Today we made 25 km but the last stretch was such a torture uphill to the hotel that it made us reconsider our plan. We r 90 km from Lisbon - right on time with the walking plan, but with this speed we would need 20 more days to make it to Santiago de Compostela - and we have only 18 left. By the way the best question so far from our lovely waiter in Vila Franca when i asked him where to get the stamp to our passports, whether i know if Santiago is in Spain :) so tomorrow we take the train to Porto and continue our pilgrimage from there. We hope there are less hills along the ocean and we can see more from this lovely country by not killing ourselves on the road.... To be continued some other evening when we do not fall asleep together with the kids - who r by the way wonderfully cheerful companions!

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