After saying good-bye to our Beach Chalet at Rota we set off to explore Portugal for a few days. None of us know too much about this country so we are keen to find out more.

We had to retrace our route a little back towards Seville but decided to navigate around this huge city rather than ride through it. We followed the freeway towards Huelva (Greg says it must be a hell-of-a place) and then crossed the border into Portugal. We had to stop to enter our credit card and vehicle number plate at the toll gate but soon discovered that the cameras were forward facing so our rear only number plate was not recorded - guess we won't be paying too many automatic tolls!

One of the first things we discovered about Portugal was that housing is usually single storey, pastel coloured stucco and you can have any colour roof you want - as long as it is orange. We rode on to Albufeira, on the south coast of Portugal, our destination for the night.

Hotel Luna da Oura turned out to be very luxurious - indoor and outdoor pools, jacuzzi, restaurant, bar and even a beauty salon. After a swim in both pools and a spa Greg retired to our room for a nap while Kerrie went off and indulged herself with a manicure and pedicure.

Albufeira is obviously a mecca for British tourists. All menus and signage is in English as well as Portuguese and almost every eatery offers a full English Breakfast. There were many sunburnt Brits around our pool.

Our ride next day was only a short one to Lisbon. We crossed the Ponte Vasco da Gama, a bridge almost 12km long that traverses the Tagus River which has broadened into a bay before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. The city was shrowded in fog/smog as we rode in and the traffic was heavy. We are staying in another apartment near the main part of the city. The bikes are parked in the street behind our apartment as our street was far too steep to ride down to find closer parking.

We started off our day in Lisbon by walking along the waterfront towards Arco da Rua Augusta where we discovered the Eurovision Village set up. Around the fence was a history of winners of the famous song contest. We purchased tickets for the Hop-On-Hop-Off Yellow bus tour and set off to see the city in style.

One trip around the entire bus route took two hours and the commentary was very informative. First we visited Praca da Figueira - a large square in the centre of Lisbon featuring a statue of King John 1 - this square is the starting point of many tours of the city whether by bus, taxi or Tuk Tuk. Next was Marques de Pombal Square, a large roundabout with a column dedicated to the 1st Marquess of Pombal. Avenue Jose Pombal was also named after him and contains all the high end retailers such as Prada. At the end of the avenue is Parque Eduardo VII named after King Edward VII from the UK who visited Portugal in 1902. The Basilica de Estrela is built in teh Baroque/Neo Classical style and was completed in 1790. We drove under the Ponte 25 de Abril and thought we were in San Francisco. The Torre de Belem dates back to 1520 and was part of the Tagus defence system. Further up the road we saw the Padrao dos Descobrimentos which depicts a ship and sailors to remember the ships that departed Lisbon to explore and trade with India and the Orient during the 15th and 16th centuries.

After completing our tour of the city we went walking. We decided to visit the Elevador de Santa Justa which we had been told about on the bus tour. We lined up for 2 hours for the privelege of going up to the top of the tower for a view of the city. If we could turn back time........ we wouldn't have bothered as we discovered we could have walked up some steps to get exactly the same views! We were now ready for a sit down. We decided to treat ourselves to a Darcy Dinner - dessert only! The Gofres (waffles) were delicious and Kerrie washed hers down with a glass of Mateus Rose. We walked back to our apartment for an early night before setting out tomorrow to see a bit more of Portugal.