Portugal

The planning of this European adventure began over a year ago during dinner in Ojai Valley, California with friends Pam and Earle, whom we’d met while cycling in Asia. As we reminisced about our wonderful Backroads trip through Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, we decided to put another trip on the calendar. Pam and I share a passion for golf and gardening (I knew that we’d be fast friends when I first saw her email address that includes “golfngardengirl”), and high on Pam’s travel bucket list was a trip to The Netherlands during tulip season. Without hesitation, we enthusiastically agreed to join them and soon a Backroads cycling trip through the tulips was booked for the following spring.

Fast-forward six months and another trip was proposed to us- this time by our golf club, The Pulpit Club, to travel to Portugal for a week of golf. Our pals Lee and Monica quickly signed up and encouraged us to join them. The timing worked perfectly for us to bundle the two trips together and voila- we had almost three weeks of adventures planned, allowing us to escape the damp and rainy April weather at home.

We arrived in Lisbon after an uneventful overnight flight from Toronto. The customs hall was packed with hundreds of tired and rumpled travellers, many in transit because it just happened to be the start of the Easter break in Europe. After 90 minutes of winding through the crowded queue, we picked up our luggage that had already been off-loaded from the carousel and hopped in a taxi to take us to the centre of Lisbon- just in time for lunch at the hotel’s second story courtyard, in the sunshine. Lee and Monica had been enjoying Portugal already for several days and greeted us at the hotel with delicious Portuguese tarts, pasteis de nata, that they’d just purchased on their morning walking food tour. These crispy, creamy custard tarts may now be my favourite dessert!

We stayed at a lovely downtown hotel called The One Palacio da Anunciada, a sophisticated boutique hotel located in a 16^th-century palace in the heart of the city. Following a reviving lunch, we ignored our jet lag and any temptation to nap and headed out to explore the city with our friends. We wandered through Rossio Square, passed by the Lisbon Cathedral and took a group selfie in front of a wall of beautiful Portuguese tile. We walked to the port and saw two enormous passenger ships. One ship had to be at least the length of one city block and there were thousands of people on the decks waving as it started its cruise.

We stepped into Taylor’s Port Tasting Bar to avoid a passing rain-shower and sampled three different ports. We may have discovered the perfect elixir for jetlag. While wandering the tourist filled streets of Lisbon, I bought a cute dress at my favourite Spanish store, Desigual. I was delighted to find out that Desigual is also one of Monica’s favourite stores, adding to our growing list of things we have in common.  We sleepily ate a delicious dinner at Solar dos Presuntos, a four-story restaurant next to our hotel, featuring authentic Portuguese cuisine and raised a glass of Portuguese wine to celebrate the start of our trip.

The next morning, we had some time to be tourists ahead of the shuttle to our golf resort. Paul and I always seize the opportunity to put on our running shoes, walk the streets and explore the main park of cities we are visiting. We hiked up the Avenida da Liberdade, Lisbon’s version of the Champs Élysées, to a large central park called Parque Eduardo VII, reaching the highest point in the city. We took lots of pictures, admired the views, statues and the colourful and vocal peacocks, along with the busloads of tourists who skipped the uphill hike and were unloading at the top of the park.

At noon, a driver picked our foursome up for our transfer to the rolling green hills at the Penha Longa Resort, a Ritz Carleton hotel, near the town of Sintra, a 40-minute drive from Lisbon. We were dressed to play golf, just in case our room was not yet available (it wasn’t)- so serendipity kicked in and we quickly booked a tee time at the resort’s 9-hole course. After a long and snowy Canadian winter, it sure felt great to be swinging our golf clubs in the Portuguese sunshine. We walked the course, accumulating a total of 25,000 steps that day!

Our small golf group included our golf club’s Head Professional of Golf, Jamie, and the tour organizer, a fellow from Scotland named Greig. Aside from us, and Lee and Monica, there was one other couple, Chris and Danielle (non-golfer) and a fellow named Rob. With two perfect foursomes, we were a small, but enthusiastic group, excited to play some golf together.

We played all of the top golf courses in this region of Portugal and they were all unique and spectacular! The courses on our list include Comporta Dunas, Praia D’el Rey, West Cliffs, Oitavos Dunes and our hotel’s course, Penha Longa Atlantico. Several of the courses have incredible ocean views, plenty of sand dunes (providing ample opportunities to work on our sand shots) and divine coniferous forests. I kept pulling out my phone to take pictures of plant life, always fascinated by plants we do not have at home. Several balls were lost in the thickets of Hottentot fig, also known as the dreaded Ice Plant, a pretty succulent that lined the fairways at West Cliffs. The golf courses were challenging and humbling and, on some days, made even more difficult by gusty winds. My favourite of the week was Comporta Dunas, a course that was named the “World’s and Europe’s Best New Golf Course” in 2023. After seven days of incredible golf, we hoped to be tuned up and ready for our golf season when we returned home.

One day, our group took a break from the links and toured a region called The Golden Triangle. We visited the westernmost coast of mainland Europe, Cabo da Roca, on a sunny morning, and enjoyed the panoramic views of the ocean and shoreline. Next, we headed to the beautiful town of Sintra where we walked through narrow cobblestone streets and indulged in my new favourite dessert, Pasteis de Nata, fresh from the oven at a storefront with a line out the door. Paul bought a can of sardines to bring home- another Portuguese delicacy. Some of our group indulged in another treat- Ginjinha liquor served in a chocolate cup. This was one step too far for me after we were told that it tasted like cherry cough syrup, which I hate. A highlight of the day was our visit to the Quinta da Regaleira Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where we walked through a fairytale-like setting with gorgeous gardens, incredible stone passageways and winding tunnels. The Initiation Well, a gothic spiral staircase into an inverted tower well was an impressive structure and the perfect spot for a group photo. Our local guide skillfully timed our entry, so we were able to avoid any lines and big crowds. We were so pleased to see more of Portugal beyond the golf courses and can understand why Portugal is currently one of the hottest tourist destinations for Canadians.

One of the highlights of our week was our dinner at Alta Restaurante, in Lourinha, about one hour from Lisbon, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Lee organized this amazing culinary experience with Julie Marteleira, a Portuguese-Canadian who trained and worked at one of his restaurants in Toronto. Following the pandemic, Julie and her sister Jennifer, moved to their parents’ childhood hometown to pursue their dream of having their own restaurant. Alta offers modern Portuguese cuisine with a Canadian twist. The delicious lobster salad- made with fresh lobster, avocados and cashews, and elegantly served in lobster shells, provided the best mouthfuls of food of my entire trip. The freshly caught grilled fish and cod cakes were equally divine. Thank you, Lee, for organizing this amazing culinary excursion!

The weather during our week in Portugal was a mixed bag of cooler than expected temperatures and a bit of rain each day. It was warmer in Toronto than in Lisbon, as a crazy weather system hung over the region with many of the locals saying that this weather was highly unusual. Thankfully, it did not dampen the fun we had, and thankfully the sun came out when we needed it- while golfing. We had lots of raingear and warmer clothes for the next leg of our trip, so we were prepared. However, we did purchase some new golf clothes, pleased to find lovely items not found at home.

After a glorious week with our group, we raised a glass of our new favourite Portuguese wine, Palpite White Antonio Macanita, to toast our week of memorable golf experiences. We especially enjoyed our time with Lee and Monica and while getting to know them better, we have solidified our great friendship and look forward to future adventures with them.

After saying our good-byes to our group and before departing the Penha Longa Resort, Paul and I played another round of golf on the resort’s 18-hole course, then headed to Lisbon for a final night in Portugal. We stayed in Lisbon at the Four Seasons Ritz, a luxurious hotel perched above the city, with tremendous views from the rooftop. Of the two hotels that we stayed at in Lisbon, without hesitation, I would recommend The One Palacio da Anunicada for its authenticity, charm, and superior location. We left our golf clubs with the hotel’s concierge for pickup from the Ship Sticks service the next day, happy to lighten our load for the next leg of our journey. Thankfully we left Portugal just in time- ahead of a country wide blackout that last almost a week.

The Netherlands and Belgium

Following a seamless 3-hour flight from Lisbon to Amsterdam, and an easy exit from the surprisingly efficient and massive Schiphol Airport, the first thing I wanted to do as soon as we arrived at our hotel, The Conservatorium, was head out to a nearby park to stretch our weary legs and see some tulips. Tulips were the driving force behind this trip to The Netherlands in the spring, and I was ready for the flower show to begin! Spring in Amsterdam is a month ahead of Toronto, with all the trees full of leaves, bright green grass and, of course, the glorious tulips. We arrived on Easter Sunday and Vondelpark (very similar to High Park in Toronto), across the street from our hotel, had the perfect 3 km loop for us. The park was packed with families and young people enjoying the glorious weather on a holiday. I was quite surprised that tulips were not everywhere- I expected to see every home and storefront adorned with the country’s signature flower, yet we did not.  We did find a very nice floating tulip display on a pond in the park and took our first tulip selfie of the trip.

We met our friends Pam and Earle and another couple they know from home at an authentic Indonesian restaurant, Long Pura, for a delicious meal. We did our best to avoid talking about Trump and politics with our Americans friends, but not until we politely explained that Canadians love our country and do not appreciate Trump’s comments about Canada becoming the 51^st state. With that out of the way, wonderful discussions and laughter ensued.

With one full day on our own in Amsterdam, we hit the ground running the next morning, wanting to squeeze in as much as possible. We started our day at the Rijksmuseum, a stunning gallery full of well-known art including Rembrandt’s The Night Watch and Vermeer’s The Milkmaid. Next, we hopped onto a canal boat for a touristy ride along Amsterdam’s long canals. It was something we had done before yet is always a wonderful way to get an overview of the city especially on a misty morning.  As we floated through the canals, we admired the spectacular architecture of the buildings lining the waterways and were fascinated by the hundreds of houseboats parked along the canals, wondering what life would be like living on one.

The most meaningful and memorable part of our day was our visit to the Anne Frank House. I last visited this site when I was 15 and staying for a month-long visit in The Netherlands with a local family. The tour has been completely enhanced and improved since then. As we walked through the four levels of the house, we listened to headsets tell Anne Frank’s story while looking at pictures on the walls and observing preserved artifacts. One of the pictures I’d seen before at my friend Sandra dad’s funeral- he had been a classmate of Anne’s. There is a picture in the house of Anne’s class with her and Sandra’s dad sitting next to each other. Tickets to visit the Anne Frank House must be purchased months in advance and it really is something one must do when visiting this amazing city.

We met our Backroads group at the Sloterdijk train station, excited to meet our travelling companions for the week and dressed for a day of cycling. Our large group included 26 guests, 2 leaders and 2 assistant leaders and we were the only Canadians, while the rest were Americans from all corners of the USA. We never have difficulty striking up conversations with fellow travellers, with our favourite subject being travel. I always try to learn everyone’s name on the first day, a practice I learned as a teacher long ago. Remarkably there were 10 doctors in our group, so we felt we were covered if there was a medical emergency.

We shuttled to the town of Edam, a quintessentially Dutch town famous for the cheese that bears its name, with picturesque canals, 17^th century buildings, windmills and cheese markets. We enjoyed delicious apple pie (the signature dessert at many of the spots that we dined) and coffee, as our leaders gave the initial route briefing of the trip before we hopped on our bikes. We’re often asked if we bring our own bikes on these trips and the answer is no- Backroads supplies the bikes. Months ahead of the trip, we make a request for a road bike, cruising bike or an e-bike. We also specify the size of bike that we want, choosing from small, medium, large and extra large. On this particular trip, 20 out of 26 riders chose e-bikes. As long as we are able and if the terrain is not super hilly, we will continue to choose analog road bikes.

Our first morning of Dutch riding along beautifully maintained and mostly flat bike paths was glorious. The Netherlands is a cycling culture and there are bike paths everywhere. In fact, there are 35,000 km of bike paths in this country. Surprisingly, the Dutch do not wear helmets or bike gloves, and it is not unusual to own more than one bike and keep them at strategic locations for commuting.  Headwinds are common in The Netherlands, especially when cycling near the sea or alongside stretches of expansive tulip fields. Our leader called the headwinds, “The Dutch Alps”, as the heavy wind can be almost as challenging as a steep hill.

I was thrilled when we came across our first field of tulips- the blast of colour was breathtaking and magnificent, and I cried out with joy as I applied my brakes and pulled out my phone to start taking pictures! I had never really thought about it before, yet seeing these fields, I was curious about their purpose, thinking perhaps they were for cutting for bouquets. I was wrong- this is where the Dutch produce tulip bulbs across the country on over 15,000 hectares- The Netherlands is the world’s largest grower and exporter of tulip bulbs. The flowers are cut off of the tulip plants shortly after they bloom, and the plants are left to absorb sunlight (photosynthesis) during which time nutrients from the main bulb propagate new bulbs.

Paul and I lived in Ottawa for four years in our young married life and attended the incredible Canadian Tulip Festival each May. It was then that I first learned about Canada’s strong connection to The Netherlands. During the Second World War, Princess Juliana of The Netherlands, sought refuge from the Nazis in Ottawa with her young family. She gave birth to her third daughter, Princess Margriet, at the Ottawa Civic Hospital (where Ross was born), in a hospital room that was temporarily declared to be Dutch soil, so that the young princess would fully be a Dutch citizen. Canadian Forces liberated The Netherlands from the Germans to help end of the war. For every year since that time, The Netherlands have sent thousands of tulip bulbs to Canada to say thank-you and as a symbol of the friendship between the two countries.

After a brilliant first day of cycling through the tulips, along canals and through quaint villages, we stayed for one night at Landgoed Duin & Kruidberg, a restored country house located on the edge of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park. As is tradition on Backroads trips, we took some time to meet as a group and introduce ourselves, then enjoyed a delicious gourmet dinner in the hotel’s lovely dining room.

The next day, we cycled from our hotel, through lush parkland and excitedly paused to take pictures of a herd of wild horses. We cycled along the coastal dunes and beaches overlooking The North Sea. We slowed down to admire a collection of windmills, dodging busloads of tourists who were meandering along the bike paths. We ate a delicious lunch, prepared by our Backroads crew, at a tulip farm where the farmer gave us a talk on tulip bulb production. The highlight of the day was our visit to a famous botanical garden called Keukenhof, one of the world’s largest flower gardens.  We wandered through the expansive gardens and admired the display of 7 million flower bulbs at their flowering peak. Our visit was at the pinnacle of tulip season and as a result Keukenhof Gardens was packed with tourists. We took so many pictures and countless selfies, trying to capture this magical place.

Our destination for the night was The Hague, on the coast of the North Sea. The Hague is where Dutch parliament is located and home to the UN’s International Court of Justice. We stayed in a lovely hotel, called Hotel des Indes, in the heart of the city, alongside a row of embassy houses. Paul and I headed immediately to the spa for rejuvenating massages to ease our tired muscles.

The next morning, we shuttled to Kinderdijk’s UNESCO World Heritage site- the home of 19 heritage windmills.  We toured the interior of the base of a preserved windmill home, where a windmill keeper and his family once lived (not dissimilar to a lighthouse).  The weather was chilly, and heavy rain threatened, so we bundled up in our warmest gear. The weather was still clear as we cycling into Gouda, home of one of my favourite cheeses and through the town’s historic marketplace. Following a 30 km morning ride and a delicious Dutch lunch that included another slice of decadent apple pie, the skies opened up and we opted to shuttle back to our hotel in The Hague. We seized the opportunity to visit another art gallery, The Mauritshuis, and saw the famous painting, The Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Vermeer. It is an enchanting painting, made even more famous by the novel and movie, however, like the Mona Lisa, much smaller than expected. With umbrellas in hand, we took a long walk around the streets of The Hague, taking advantage of this found time in our trip.

The following day our group shuttled to the port town of Vlissingen in the province of Zeeland, then hopped on a ferry to Breskens. This was of our best days of cycling and included cycling along the shores of the North Sea where we had sunny skies and took in tremendous views of the sea and the dunes before eating a lunch of fresh mussels in the town of Sluis, then crossing the border into Belgium.

One of our cycling highlights was riding along the Damme Canal, a 6 km tree-lined cycling path that goes from the Dutch border to the town of Bruges. It was built by Napoleon Bonaparte’s army as a line of defence to help protect the French from the English Navy. Stately rows of poplar trees line the canal, planted with precision, each 5 metres apart. On this day the sun was shining, there was no wind, and the path was flat- a perfect ride! The final km of our ride was along cobblestone roads into the historical city of Bruges, to our hotel, Hotel de Tuilerieen. Bruges is known as the “Venice of the North” with medieval architecture- it felt like we were cycling into a fairy tale! Our lovely hotel room overlooked one of the many canals.

Bruges is located in northern Belgium, in a region called Flanders. Flemish, a dialect of Dutch, is spoken here. Our longest ride of the week, a 100 km Century Ride, took us through Flanders Fields, reminding us of the poem, In Flanders Fields written by Canadian John McCrae.  We rode past many monuments and historical sites all commemorating the battles of World War 1. At lunchtime I read In Flanders Fields to our all-American group and explained the Canadian significance of the region to everyone.  Poppies were not yet blooming, and we did not see Canadian graves on our route. Our Backroads team surprised all of us at a halfway point in the morning ride with fresh Belgium waffles, with whipped cream and berries, set-up up on the grounds of a castle- what a treat!

Paul and I were up for the challenge of cycling 100 km, thinking it wouldn’t be so hard with no elevation, but we were wrong. This region is known for the gusts of wind coming off the North Sea and on this day the wind was roaring and no matter which direction we were heading, we felt like we were always heading into the wind! We dug deep and completed the ride, proud of ourselves, yet completely exhausted! We couldn’t decide what parts of our bodies hurt the most following the ride: our butts, our shoulders, our legs, our arms, our hands, or our necks… it was one hell of a workout! Not bad for a couple of 58-year-olds!

Belgium is known for its beer and for our final night with the group we went to a beer tasting and broke into teams for a trivia game, that featured questions about beer and bikes. We named our team Hops and Handlebars, and we won, each of us winning a pair of cute cycling socks. We were then picked up by horse drawn carriages for a magical tour of the old town of Bruges, then delivered to our finale dinner at the hotel. What a day!

Following a final 20 km ride around Bruges on the last morning, we said farewell to our Backroads friends and hopped on a train to Brussels. We were travelling just in time, as two days later there would be a national transit strike, and we would have been stuck.

We stayed at Rocco Forte Hotel Amigo, not too far from the train station and around the corner from the famous bronze fountain, Manneken Pis. Across the cobblestone street from our hotel was a famous waffle house, Maison Dandoy, so we had no choice but to indulge in Belgian waffles one more time before returning home. With all of this cycling, we felt that we had earned these treats! I chose the Queen’s Favourite, a Belgian waffle topped with strawberries and vanilla ice cream- delicious! Paul had a waffle with caramel sauce, hazelnuts and vanilla ice cream- perhaps one step too far in richness, but darn good! We walked all over the city, seeking out the largest central park, Brussels Park, a large rectangular shaped park opposite the Belgium House of Parliament and the Royal Palace. I had to take a picture of Paul in front of a sign with his name on it and the pretty cityscape behind him. We wandered through La Grand-Place, a lively square in the heart of downtown that was alive with tourists and locals. Finally, with no more gas in the tank, we settled into some outdoor seats at a local bistrot (pub) for one last glass of Belgium beer.  

As we raised that final glass of Belgian beer, tired muscles and full hearts told the story of eighteen extraordinary days in Europe. Golf clubs and bike wheels had carried us through Portugal’s rolling courses, Holland’s tulip-painted countryside, and Belgium’s historic battlefields. We’d earned every pasteis de nata, morsel of Gouda cheese and waffle, conquered every headwind, and proved that the best adventures happen when you combine a little luxury with a lot of putting and pedalling – and do it all with friends (new and old) who share your passion for greens and gears. Now home for the summer and enjoying every minute of the glorious Canadian summer weather, we are making plans and deciding where shall we point our clubs and wheels next.

In Flanders Field

By John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

 Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

 In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

 If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

 In Flanders fields.