Upon arrival in Sagres I was glad I had spent more time in Lagos than I was going to spend here. Sagres wasn’t that interesting. In fact it reminded me a lot of Englands – which was not a bad thing but I already knew England.

To get to the most South-Western point you have to pass a fortress for which you have to pay 3 Euros. There is nothing to see inside.

A few hundred meters more and I had reached the most South-Western point of my trip. From now on I would go North.

 

My GPS said I would need another 5 hours to reach Lisbon, the capital and that meant that I just had a few minutes extra time left when I got there until most hostels would certainly not operate a reception anymore. 24 hours reception was even less common in Portugal than it was in Spain. However I again wanted to avoid camping because it takes more time and I wanted to get north as quickly as possible. So I got on my bike and headed north.

The further I got north the more the landscape changed. The vegetation looked a bit like a what I am expecting Africa, Australia or South America to look like. Maybe it was just a particular type of tree that created this appearance for me but the environment looked more tropical than the temperature (which had dropped below 20C since I headed North) suggested.

It was one of the most beautiful and unique landscapes I had seen on my trip so far. This and the fact that I had lost some time refueling made me change my mind and I decided to camp instead of rushing to Lisbon. There were lot’s of little paths leading into little patches of trees close but distant enough to be out of sight along the road. The tree patches were not very dense leaving enough space for sun to shine through on my left. The quality of the air and the suns angle made it appear a lot less intense so that it was almost possible to look directly at the huge saturated orange disc. Trying to find the ideal camp spot while enjoying the beautifully lit scenery I kept going North.

I should not have. The landscape and the vegetation changed yet again and now the road didn’t lead through flat terrain and accessible light forest patches anymore but instead I was riding little curvy roads through hilly terrain with steep inclines right next to the road. It was fascinating to see how quickly and drastically the landscape had changed many times since I entered Portugal but it was getting dark and I could have done with some boring dense forest to hide in.

By the time the sun had completely disappeared I finally accepted that I might not get to eat the delicious fresh bread and fruits I had bought for dinner watching the sun set next to my already set up tent. I took many little detours to find a camp site but they kept getting longer and longer. I just didn’t find any place to put up a tent. I wished I hadn’t been that picky earlier.

At around midnight after dozens of km of detours I finally found a little path up a hill right next to the little road I was following. I was sure it was private property but I literally didn’t see any other way. The path lead up to a little plateau from which multiple bigger paths lead in all directions. The sky was clear and the stars were shining brightly. It was a beautiful night and happy to have found such a nice spot after all I slowly began to unpack my gear and set up my tent. I ate some delicious fresh bread with ham and nectarines for dessert. There was nothing more I could have asked for.

My stomach only dropped a little bit when I saw some headlights appearing out of nowhere 30 meters from me. I hadn’t seen or heard a single vehicle in the past hours and certainly didn’t expect anybody at this remote location especially at this hour. The car approached me, got slower and came to a stop. I could not see anything with the headlights in my face. But as quickly as the car had appeared it disappeared again seemingly without anybody acknowledging my presence. Relieved and delighted about the low temperatures in Portugal I went to bed.

The next morning I got to find out where I had ended up.

It really was a great spot and I would have loved to explore the steep road further up the hill but I had to move on.

Besides, if not already upon entering the location by now at least I had to assume that this was private property plus I was pretty sure wild camping was not allowed in Portugal so I took down my tent and left the hill.

At noon the temperature was just above 25C. Portugal was much cooler than what I had expected. The reason, it’s proximity to the Atlantic Ocean.

On my way up to Lisbon I noticed a green patch along the coast on my GPS. The motorway had lead me to the center of Portugal but since I had already lost the morning by camping I decided not to take the fast highway route but a more rural one avoiding the highways but enjoying the scenery.

Just ahead of the beach there was a small village with narrow roads and lots of tourist cars trying to find their way out.

I was also just passing through but when I saw the beaches there I would have loved to spend some time there but I had to keep going.

At a supermarket where I stocked up my water supply I was once more in disbelieve how cheap frozen pizza was in Spain and Portugal. It would be 5 Pounds at least in the UK. If only I had had a portable oven. And a portable full size bed while we are at it.

The landscape was changing again. The soil was now sand. There were very inviting little paths and tracks along the road but I didn’t want to do to many detours of detours of detours.

At noon I stopped at the side of the road to eat my lunch. As always there are lots of great places to stop when you don’t need one and none when you do. The temperature had gone beyond 35C again. There was no trace of a cooler Portugal anymore.

Another stop to make sure the engine wasn’t getting too hot was a good opportunity to eat some ring cake. I had bought the ring cake because it was one of my favorite home made cakes back in Austria and because this one was very cheap at 1 Euro. Needless to say it also tasted like 1 Euro cake.

I reached Lisbon in the afternoon and started my hostel search. I had two addresses that I wanted to try. The first one was a hostel up the hill on which part of Lisbon lies.

But since it was already fully booked the German receptionist phoned another hostel to get me a place to stay.

After checking in there I ate my dinner and fell into bed immediately.