Estrada Nacional 2

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Chaves

   Chaves has been a border town for two thousand years, and it still has the look of one. It lies in the broad Tâmega valley in northern Portugal, a few kilometres from Spain, with a Roman bridge over the river, Trajan's Bridge, built in the first century and still carrying foot traffic. The Romans came for the hot springs, which they called Aquae Flaviae, after the emperor Flavius Vespasian, and the water that rises in the town at over seventy degrees is still used in the spa today.

   Read the complete Chaves write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Chaves is where the day begins. Next is Peso da Regua.

2. 2. Peso da Regua

   Régua sits on the south bank of the Douro river, a working town of about five thousand people, and it is the capital of the oldest demarcated wine region in the world. In 1756 the Marquis of Pombal, the chief minister of Portugal, set the borders of the Port wine district to protect quality and prices, and the steep schist hillsides terraced with vines around the town have been cultivated for centuries. The landscape, with stone walls rising in steps from the river, was listed by UNESCO in 2001 as an example of a cultural landscape shaped by human labour, and it is one of the most beautiful in Europe.

   Read the complete Peso da Regua write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Peso da Regua comes up about 90 km into the recorded legs. Next is Viseu.

3. 3. Viseu

   Viseu sits on a granite plateau in the middle of northern Portugal, and for a rider on the Estrada Nacional 2 it makes a natural halfway point between the Douro and the Tagus. It is a handsome, orderly city of about twenty-six thousand within its core, with a cathedral square, a medieval centre of granite houses, and a long reputation for good living. The city is the capital of the Dão wine region, whose reds, based on the Touriga Nacional grape, are some of the most elegant in Portugal, and the vineyards lie on the sheltered slopes around it, protected by mountains from the Atlantic rain.

   Read the complete Viseu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 161 km into the recorded legs you reach Viseu. Next is Coimbra.

4. 4. Coimbra

   Coimbra is a hill town that happens to hold one of the oldest universities in Europe. The old city climbs up from the Mondego river in a tangle of steep, cobbled lanes, with the university buildings at the summit, and in the evenings the sound of fado drifts down from taverns and small squares. The Coimbra version of fado is different from the Lisbon one, sung traditionally by men, often students in black capes, and tied to serenades beneath windows.

   Read the complete Coimbra write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Coimbra, about halfway. Next is Abrantes.

5. 5. Abrantes

   Abrantes stands on a hill above the Tagus, the longest river in the Iberian peninsula, at the point where the water leaves the rocky uplands and enters the wide plains of the Ribatejo. It is a town of about thirteen thousand people, built around a ruined castle with a long view over the river, and it was an important fortress guarding the route from Lisbon to Spain for centuries. In 1807, Napoleon's general Junot, who led the first French invasion of Portugal, took the town, and Napoleon rewarded him with the title Duke of Abrantes.

   Read the complete Abrantes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Abrantes sits at 949 km, about halfway. Next is Evora.

6. 6. Evora

   Alentejo is the part of Portugal that looks as if someone had ironed it. South and east of the Tagus, the land rolls out in low swells of wheat, olive and cork oak, with white villages on the hills and storks nesting on the chimneys, and Évora sits in the middle of it, about 130 kilometres east of Lisbon. It is a walled city of some fifty-five thousand, and for riders it is the natural pause in a long day of empty road.

   Read the complete Evora write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Evora comes up about 490 km into the recorded legs. Next is Faro.

7. 7. Faro

   Faro is the capital of the Algarve and the southern end of Portugal's long road, though the people who land here usually head straight for the beaches. The town sits on a lagoon, the Ria Formosa, a protected area of sandbanks, salt marshes and channels that shelters flamingos, spoonbills and a very rich shoreline. Boats run out to the barrier islands, where long empty beaches face the open Atlantic. The old town, inside a medieval wall, has narrow cobbled streets, a cathedral built partly on the site of a mosque, and a pleasant marina.

   Read the complete Faro write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Faro closes the day.