May 11, 2023: Porto to Lisbon by train

May 11, 2023

Santa Apolónia on a steel ribbon

If you zoom into Porto or Lisbon to get up close you can see my local routing.

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AS Lisboa, € 65 no breakfast

The sad thing about leaving your accommodations before breakfast, is that you leave without having had breakfast. This was the case today. I probably didn't have to, but it would have been razor thin.

I had just stepped off of the train with my bike in hand and was loading on the bags and gear as the rest of the passengers were disembarking from the train and heading past the idling train to the foyer then out into the streets of Lisbon -- Lisbon, Portugal

My train idling in Santa Apolónia station a few minutes after I had packed the bike and was rolling it to the street. -- Lisbon, Portugal

I love the colour of the station's façade. -- Lisbon, Portugal

The Praça do Comércio is a large, harbour-facing plaza in Portugal's capital, Lisbon, and is one of the largest in Portugal. -- Lisbon, Portugal

The AS Lisboa hotel on Avenida Almirante Reis sits over the Alameda metro stop which is on the line straight to the airport. This makes it very easy to get there with my bike box. It is also walkable to the city centre. -- Lisbon, Portugal

Pookie and a bit of a view out to Alameda park from my hotel room. -- Lisbon, Portugal

I hadn't taken many trip shots of Pookie... so here is an extra one. -- Lisbon, Portugal

Yet another group of university students gathering on a nice evening at Alameda park. -- Lisbon, Portugal

An AP of the Alameda Park fountain. I wonder if this photo would be a no-no in 'that' certain jurisdiction of the world for being shirtless. -- Lisbon, Portugal

Alameda park from above the fountains. That is the same group of students from the earlier photo. -- Lisbon, Portugal

I don't really know my flowering shrubs but these were all around the Alameda fountains and were beautiful. -- Lisbon, Portugal

The young couple I approached to ask about their uniforms. He is studying physics; she is studying sports/physiology. (I received permission to post this photo from both of them.) -- Lisbon, Portugal

This place wasn't serving breakfast til 8 am and I had a few kilometres to ride to catch an 837 am train for which I already had a reserved ticket for me and my bike (bike reservation required on the IC from Porto to Lisbon. With me being the super-cautious paranoid type, I wanted to be there really early to figure the lay of the land and the track - the train would be on one of the 17 lines available.

The ride to the station was a little circuitous since of all days, today the GPS was going to be a bit wonky - maybe it was wanting some baked goodies, too. It was a nice cool morning and as I rode along the sun slowly peeked its way through the trees overhanging my route. Since yesterday's routing had been done for a pedestrian today's was very different, but again, it led me through some streets of very old, and very typical Portuguese buildings, often fully tile-covered. At least on the street-facing walls.

I got to the Porto-Campanha station between 7 and 730 am, and with loads of spare time, I waited for train #730 to show up on the monitor. While I waited, I continued to read my Jeffrey Archer, and actually finished yet another of his Clifton series. About twenty minutes before train time up popped the listing, showing track #8. I used the handy-dandy elevator to descend to the underground concourse (the bike JUST fit in) then another one to rise up to the track level. Then waited with the throngs of people. Of course, I was not sure where car #21 would stop so I had to be ready to dash to the right one when it arrived while skirting around people yet not take so much time that I'd miss the train. Yup, I was edgy.

Then the departure time of 837 am came and went... no train. So much for the train sitting there for ten or fifteen minutes while I laboured to get onboard. Finally, about five minutes late, there it was coming down the line and sliding into the station. Luck! Car 21 was right in front of me and the bike symbol was right there in front of me. I stood the bike up on its rear wheel, bags and all, and rolled it through the narrow door, having to twist by handlebars a bit since I have the rather wide Jones bars on the bike (long story, but they are very comfy for touring).

Just inside the door was the bike hook so I hung up the bike and breathed out a big sigh of relief, then I was able to take my time to remove my bags and make my way to seat 17 (the assigned seat when you have a bike on thei train). I flipped my bags onto the overhead shelf after pulling out my blog tech then sat down to enjoy the view as the train left the station then crossed the high steel bridge across the Douro. For a while the track followed alongside my ocean-side view from last year when I cycled EV1 but eventually was inland and the next visible water would be the upper estuary of the Tagus as it arrived to Lisbon.

The wifi on the train was crappy so I switched on my data so was able to blog, communicate and read online throughout most of the train ride. Having left a bit late, the arrival to Lisbon-Santa Apolónia station was a bit late, but it didn't really matter to me. I'd made it.

Disembarking from the train was a reverse of what I'd done in Porto. I held the bike on its rear wheel and rolled it off with a twist to get through the door, then away from the train to let others off. At leisure I set my gear back up on the bike, donned my helmet, sunglasses, mirrors, jacket and gloves, then walked out of the station.

Just outside of the station there was a lot of construction going on - on roads, buildings - and I would find this the same all over the city. Maybe after the covid mess they are trying to catch up on things left undone for so long.

Initially I was going to head straight for my hotel, but instead headed toward Praça do Comércio, what I see as the 'entrance' to the city. I took my time, I looked around, I took photos, I stood amazed by the number of tourists. Eventually I rode through the cobbled Baixa streets then set my GPS to the hotel and rode the way up Avenida Almirante Reis until I arrived at the hotel. Though enough traffic, there is a nice bike path ride up the middle of the street adjacent to the centre median. I think I was the only tourist as most were e-bikes doing Uber food deliveries. Lots of them.

Happy to be to this hotel due to the Metro line to the airport being right underneath, I rolled the bike into the lobby, but was told the room was not quite ready for me though I could leave my bike and gear if I wished. It was easier to keep the bike so I just rolled out to the Alameda park which is right across the road from the hotel where I found some food booths selling a number of things so I got some shawarma, fries and salad. Very mediocre.

By the time I was done it was 2 pm and my room was ready. They had no problem with me bringing my bike up to the room and had no problem that a big bike box would be arriving for me some time mid afternoon. Everything about this place is super. Whenever I have come to Lisbon and NOT stayed here I have regretted it.

I have to admit that once in the room I settled down 'for a minute' to read and fell asleep for more than a minute. When I woke up I had a message from my friend that he had dropped off the bike box so I went down to retrieve it and lug it up to the room. There was a task for tonight or tomorrow. But I had it.

I didn't want to go too far for supper so went to a Nepalese place on the other side of the Alameda park where I had a delicious lamb curry... and a Sumol, of course. Dessert was a Milka from the supermarket up the street (toward the Roma Hotel) and I also picked up a roll of plastic wrap (yes, the food wrapping stuff) to bundle up the bike once the straps were secured with everything inside.

As the sun was setting and the evening getting a soft glow, I went around the Alameda park for some APs. While there I noticed another group of enrobed university students, so I went over to one couple and asked. They said this is their school uniform - they don't necessarily always wear it to school but they can, and it seems that with session out they dress in their finest and go out en masse with their friends/classes. In their cases, she is studying sports physiology and he is studying physics.

With the wind building and it feeling quite cool outside, I decided to come 'home' and read more Archer. That did not last long.

Today's ride: 10 km (6 miles)
Total: 496 km (308 miles)

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