Vila Nova De Milfontes to Zambujeira

Oct 6 2023

Zambujeira accommodations: Ondazul

Day 1 biking! But first, an amazing breakfast at the hippie hostel, Selina Milfontes

Scrambled eggs & toast, yoghurt with fresh fruit, freshly squeezed orange juice, tea and coffee. Note the sweaters -- it was cool in the morning, but not for long

We stuffed the enormous panniers and got our bikes out of lock-up. Rode without panniers down to the waterfront, where there was a flat area to ride around to figure out the gears.

Panniers loaded, we almost started up the hill from the hostel, and my rear rack, with panniers, collapsed, dumping the panniers on the ground while my water bottle went rolling down the hill. A hostel worker appeared like Glinda the Good Witch with tools. He fixed the rack, which had come loose from its moorings. I hope this incident is not indicative of what’s to come. But in case of trouble, the Portuguese are more than kind and generous.

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Our magic mechanic

I had downloaded some offline navigation onto my phone, but couldn’t find it once we left the hostel, so went with Google (of course), live version, taking it in legs because it wouldn’t take us where we wanted to go if we just input Zambujeira. The first part of the journey was flawless, taking us across the river and up the opposing slope on a wide but little-trafficked highway with a wide, wide shoulder.

Shortly, we took a turnoff to a paved country road, where we cruised by lots of hoop houses (like greenhouses, but made for shade) and sweet potato fields and workers planting seedlings in the burning sun.

Stopped for lunch in a minuscule town where we paid way too much for a salad. We then began  about 6 km of gravel road, which I’d thought would be fine, but wasn’t really. It cuts the speed in half, and ups the attention factor. In the video below there's a shot of the washboard, with Elly ahead. Note to selves: no more gravel!

Zambujeira is another sweet little town on a spectacular coast. We watched the sunset from the cliffs, then went for what was the best dinner so far on this trip — shrimp tacos. This was billed as a starter, but turned out to be just the right amount of food in a land where meals are surprisingly expensive, but big enough for two.

Roadside laundry

Zambujeira shoreline. That striking boulder looks small in photos, huge in person.

Zambujeira phone call.

Front yard olive tree

Cliffside vegetation

The beach at Zambujeira, which we didn't have time to get down to. Note surfers.

This succulent is everywhere.

Sun on Zamujeira

Zambujeira cliffs

Most of the people watching the sunset were Portuguese