From Lagos to the east we find several villages which stand for mass tourism in Portugal as no other: Albufeira, Portimao or Faro are the beach tourism destinations on the portuguese main land. Since the highway charges a toll, all the traffic returned to the city centers and turned the national road into a traffic jam. Not the best conditions for bike touring, what is why we decide to skip the south cost. Early in the morning we catch the train in Lagos. After a few hours, with a change in Faro, we reach Castro Marim on the spanish border.
In Castro Marim, only 70 km from Faro starts an extraordinary
route for easy bike touring. Along Rio Guardiana a diverse cultural
landscapes with charming little villages and fertile fields
charactarise the landscape. Several indicated, but unpaved roads lead
us deep through the lonesome landscape along the river and also the
roads, beside of the main road, are low frequented. Now, at the very
end of the summer all the roads are ours and even in the high season
it's not to compare with the roads along coast. Alcutim, with the
it's twin town on the spanish side of the river and Mertola, enclosed
by a city wall are the cultural highlights and invite for some smooth
days far away from the tourism boom along the coast.When the bush-covered hills of the Algarve ends, the Alentejo waits with wine yards and the heat of the interior. Long straight roads bring us quickly through the flat landscape to Beja, the regional center for the vaste lonesome of the southeastern Alentejo. With a pretty castle, a car free historic center and it's small and curvy alleys it's worthy to see. But for us the most important is the train station. Beside of the route to Faro, this is the second train which goes down to the south of Portugal.
Train connections from Beja to Lisbon are quite quick and cheap (approx 10,-). Depend on the time different connection trains are to take. The trains in Beja are regional trains, no restrictions for bike transportation exist. Depend on the connection trains this maybe different after changing the train.
