Entre-os-Rios – Porto
38 days ago—on April 22—I left a small Bavarian village on my bike and roughly 25 kg of luggage attached to it. I since traveled 2759 km through 5 countries—Italy, France, Monaco, Spain, Portugal—overcame an altitude of 23416 meters and had an average pace of 20.29 kph over 29 days of cycling.
![Map showing the south of Europe withroute from Verona through France and across the Iberian Peninsula painted in](https://www.alexandergoller.com/uploads/r/2022/05/whole-track-150x105@0.jpg)
From Verona through the Padan Plain across the Apennine Mountains, along the Ligurian coast. Crossing Monaco following the Côte d’Azur into the Provence, a short stint along the Canal du Midi into Pays Catalan and then to the Spanish part of Catalonia. I left the Pyrenées behind me, crossed the Ebro basin, headed into the Meseta Central via the Sistema Ibérico. I often encountered the Duero River along the windy Terras de Campos, crossed into Portugal through the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Province and followed the Douro into Porto.
![View of a village across the Douro River. Prominent modern church and houses going up the hill.](https://www.alexandergoller.com/uploads/r/2022/05/PXL_20220529_105159856-scaled-150x199@0.jpg)
![Me sitting behind my bike on the steps in front of the town hall in Porto.](https://www.alexandergoller.com/uploads/r/2022/05/PXL_20220529_123401411-scaled-150x200@0.jpg)
I made so collected so many impressions and images in my mind, heard many different languages and local dialects and was greeted with respect and hospitality everywhere I went. Even when—sometimes especially—when I did not speak the language of my hosts.
![Bike standing on stairs in front of the Super Bock Arena in Porto](https://www.alexandergoller.com/uploads/r/2022/05/PXL_20220529_115009816-scaled-150x112@0.jpg)
Being able to do this in a borderless Europe is a great privilege and an experience I will fondly look back on, for a long time.
![Strava map of ride from Entre-os-Rios to Porto](https://www.alexandergoller.com/uploads/r/2022/05/entre-os-rios-porto-150x105@0.jpg)