Well, we're here. I'm feeling discombobulated. My body still thinks it's in Edmonton and jet lag will take a bit of adjusting. I, finally, got to sleep at around 9:30 last night - it's Friday morning here - only to wake at 3:30 and not return to sleep. The sleep I did get felt like it was the first in three days. Tuesday night in Edmonton was a write off as I fretted about the travel going smoothly. Wednesday night we were over the Atlantic - 6 hours from Toronto to Lisbon - the best I could hope for was probably about 4 hours sleep which didn't seem to come...let's return to the start for a moment.
We arrived at the airport to check in two hours before our flight to Toronto. I hadn't been able to check in online, and, sure enough, at the desk we encountered issues checking in. They could see our flight from Edmonton to Toronto, and the flight from Amsterdam to Lisbon, but not the leg between Toronto and Amsterdam. They couldn't print baggage tags for checked luggage, or boarding passes for Toronto to Amsterdam. The clerk had never encountered the issue before. After consulting a supervisor she called a person in Toronto. She spoke with them and handed the phone to me. Somewhere in the computer between Air France, KLM and Westjet was the information they needed. It took about 20 minutes, standing at the desk, watching as people behind us came and went delivering their bags, but luggage tags we printed and boarding passes delivered. On to security.
Usually at security it's one of my bags that is going to receive secondary inspection. My camera will be tested for chemical residues, the mess of electronic cords to charge cell phones, garmins or ipads will be a problem...This trip I went through smoothly. Didn't even have to remove my belt. Sandy on the other hand had a change purse with Euro coins. Somehow that can't be indentified and they have to inspect it directly. A small inconvenience, but irksome nonetheless.
On the plane, believe it or not all went well...although they wouldn't stop feeding us. We had breakfast at the airport, lunch an hour later somewhere over Saskatchewan, dinner four hours later over the Gaspe Peninsula. Dinner felt like a time warp. We'd been in the Gaspe only three weeks ago, and KLM fed me Tourtierre on the way to Amsterdam. Three hours later I was getting breakfast before we landed in Amsterdam at 6 am local time; midnight in Toronto. Really, the flight was good. I really enjoy flying in a 787. Large windows. Upgraded ventilation systems. It's a comfortable plane to fly in. Three hours in Amsterdam, and three hours flying and we were arriving in Lisbon. Border control was in Amsterdam and felt inconsequential. The agent flipped through our passports; stamped them; and handed them back without a word - we were in Europe. I thanked him and got a look that said, "for what?" and we passed onto a new continent once more.
In Lisbon the line up for a taxi was long. It wound around like a snake through barriers intended to keep the cue orderly. There were a LOT of people - tourists, students, business people. Tourism has returned. Taxi to the hotel and they took our bags telling us our room would be ready at 2 pm. It was noon. I was tired, but waling was next on the agenda. We found our way to the Cathedral. Bought Pilgrim passports for 2 Euros each. Spoke with an Australlian woman there to get a passport stamped about the French Camino, and our respective plans for this trip. She would begin walking today. She wasn't going all the way to Santiago this trip; but would do most of the route and return another time to complete it. She seemed astonished that we would be cycling, and we discussed the differences. We're not going to be as challenged this time around. Our individual daily distances are smaller. There is less elevation change than what our Australian friend called "the hard route" - the French Camino.
Back to the hotel and our luggage was in our room. The rental bikes had arrived but needed to be unpacked and some minor assembly. We pulled the boxes into the street. Our hotel is in the middle of the tourist district on roads closed to vehicles. Lots our tourists going by. Men on the street inviting you to eat at thir establishment - including the hotel's restaurant alongside where we were unpacking and assembling the bikes. Cobblestones beneath us. Sandy held the boxes and we lifted the bikes out. Handlebars needed to be turned and tightened. Peddles installed (we bring our own). Connections for our Garmins to attach. The Garmins provide navigation, and record information about our trip. Heart rate, ddistance, cadence, an estimate of the power we generate along the way. On the seat post we have lights with radar that warns us of cars coming from behind along the way.
Once the tasks of preparing the bikes was complete we needed to prepare our luggage. Thankfully everything had arrived with us. Through two of the worst airports in the world for misplaced luggage this year - Toronto and Amsterdam - our bags had come off the same plane we arrived on. They needed some sorting. The items carried on the plane moved around and our clothes set out for our first day of riding. Between my exhaustion there were constant questions of "where is...", and "how are you dealing with..." Small things that disappear easily in the morass of items to be found and put where they belong. Items going in luggage to be transferred; others to carry on the bike in panniers set out.
Finally, a short nap. It felt very short and Sandy was waking me. We were having dinner with Jeff Rock who is walking the Camino as we ride. You'll hear lots of "Jeff" as we travel. He's planning to walk similar distances to what we will be riding. His hostel last night is about nine kilometers from our hotel. As I write this morning his plan was to be well underway walking towards Villa Frana de Xira where we will spend our first night on the Camino. We'll be in a hotel; Jeff is planning to be in a hostel. He's planning stops in Fatima and changes to the route along the way. We have rest days built in. At the moment our respective goals have us arriving in Santiago on October 11th - we don't have much choice, our hotels are booked and paid for; Jeff is flying by the seat of his pants and hoping that the hostels along the way will be there and available when he arrived. Two very different approaches to the Camino. I'm sure the tales will be tall, and the adventures plentiful.
Dinner was good. Cataplana for Sandy. It's a fish stew in a copper pot. In more rural areas it comes with lots of fish - our first experience of it was in Nazarre with Tillie and Sig Jensen about four years ago prior to riding through the Algarve. We'd taken a tour to Batalha and Fatima, went to Nazarre for lunch, and then down to visit the medieval town of Obidos. We'd been back to Batalha, and near Nazarre in April. Sandy got her Cataplana on our last night in Foz do Arelho then. I had octopus with rice; Jeff had Salmon with rice. Great conversation. Jeff has just been in Germany and at the World Council of Churches assembly in Munich (?). We talked about those and the recent change in Jeff's relationship status - excited for him as his "new" partner moves from Alberta later this year having accepted the key "RING" recently.
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