Biking near Lisbon - Portugal

Lisbon is crossed by the river Tagus. One can't imagine the city without thinking about the river as well.

But, like being part of the city it acts also like a barrier, not very often we think about the other side, with the exception of those that live there and have to cross the river to Lisbon to work.

For those who live in Lisbon, like myself, we look to the river and what do we see? "The other side" … well not just the other side of the river, you have to say it like with Darth Vader voice … yes you get it right.

In fact for most of us we just don't think much about it.

But … I started to wonder what if I design a bike trail connecting two of the several ferries that crosses the river to the "other side"?

Well, one of the ferry goes to a place called Montijo and another ferry connects Lisbon to Barreiro.

So I did it.

I started to investigate single dirt trails, way from the roads as much as possible and closer to the river banks.

The result was a 38 Km trail, very beautiful, pretty flat and with a lot of interesting and unexpected nice views over Lisbon.

After doing it with customers I also did a small video to share here.

Enjoy the ride.

David Monteiro

Location: Montijo, Portugal

Around Montemor-o-Novo

Location: https://www.google.com/maps/place/C%C3%A2mara+Municipal+De+Montemor-o-novo/@38.6469065,-8.2187081,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xa99d050cc1c377a2

At Montemor-o-Novo we can find a beautiful 13Km bicycle path.

Not difficult to find, it crosses the narrow river using an old train bridge and goes into the country fields.

Around Montemor-o-Novo you will find a few elements that are characteristic of the Alentejo region such as the wheat fields with lonely cork trees here and there.

I usually take my guests for a ride on of the beaten trails crossing a village where we can taste some migas, a typical dish base on the local bread, garlic and coriander. Here you have an option of riding for 40Km (25mi) or 55Km (34mi) using hybrid or mountain bike.

Join me for a ride.

David Monteiro

Portugal as touristic destination

As a touristic destination Portugal is well known for its summer área at the south of the country, the Algarve region.

More recently the Portuguese government started to do an important investment defining and preparing bike lanes or, as we call them in Portuguese, “ciclovias”.

Now a days you can find excellent paved bike lanes, easy dirt roads and quite scenic secondary roads that have almost no traffic.

Crossing from the north to the south of the country you will find a quite diverse culture, very welcoming people, impressive History, tasty food and wonderful wine.

Give it a try.

David Monteiro

Cape São Vicente - Algarve, Portugal

Location: Cabo de São Vicente, Portugal

I felt the need of recording this wonderful moment when I was just about finish crossing all Algarve biking mostly along the coastal line.

A very pleasant tour with 226Km (+/-140mi) of secondary roads, some dirt roads and also crossing some small fishing villages.

This time I did it in 4 days but it can be done in more days in case one wants to be more relaxed and enjoy the landscape or spend some time having a drink somewhere nice.

The route is mostly flat. All the Algarve region is knowned to be quite flat with some exceptions, naturally.

David Monteiro