{"id":1234,"date":"2022-04-14T05:19:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T05:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/cycletooth-othello\/?page_id=1234"},"modified":"2022-04-14T05:19:37","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T05:19:37","slug":"crato-to-urgueira","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/cycletooth-othello\/crato-to-urgueira\/","title":{"rendered":"Crato to Urgueira"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the Road – Distance 108km \/ 65mi | Elevation 1703m \/ 5538ft<\/h3>\n
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CHECK OUT MY RELIVE VIDEO HERE!: https:\/\/www.relive.cc\/view\/vPOpZ3p47Rq<\/a><\/p>\n

An early morning stroll around the monastery before a sumptuous breakfast with bright sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures.<\/p>\n

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A solid but beautiful morning took us into the Parque Natural da Serra de S\u00e3o Mamede and towards the twin medieval towns of Castelo de Vide and Marv\u00e3o.\u00a0 From here it was virtually all downhill to lunch in the sleepy town of Nisa, but with a few pitchy rollers, in the 13% range! – lush green hills surrounded us for much of the day and as we crossed the Tagus River you feel the terrain change – hills are coming as we headed out of the Plains into the Mountains of Portugal!<\/p>\n

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Negative Loop ? The Marvao Climb – 10km \/ 250m<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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5 up @ 8% grade and 5 down for this little extra climb – Marvao was a stunning walled village to ride up into, and the views were worth the effort, as was the espresso! The elevation map below shows just to the coffee stop at the hilltop village of Marvao which is the summit of the second big \"\"peak…a big chunk of climbing to get there from Crato!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Marvao<\/h3>\n
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The formidable castle, built into the rock at the western end of the village, dates from the end of the 13th century, but most of what you see today was built in the 17th century. The views from the battlements are staggering. There\u2019s a huge vaulted cistern (still full of water) near the entrance, and it\u2019s landscaped with hedges and flower beds. The torre de menagem (keep) has displays on the castle\u2019s history even pre-dating its 13th-century founding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The remaining 65km of the ride was mainly downhill but had a few pitchy areas and a fair amount of cobblestones, always a fun surface to ride on…not!<\/div>\n
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Another stellar picnic lunch at km 75 before we finished the day at 109km and almost 6,000 ft of climbing.<\/div>\n
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Check in at Herdade da Urgueira<\/h3>\n

This family run hotel in the country was a last minute change on the itinerary and it certainly did not disappoint. The rooms are spacious and clean and the food we were served was tasty and bountiful…and they have a great wine cellar!<\/p>\n

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\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" salad, sauteed mushrooms, chicken, steak, lava cake & ice cream!<\/p>\n

Another great day in Portugal! More big climbs to come before it is all over! Ola!<\/p>\n

a little more history…<\/p>\n

Al Mansur died in 1010 which led to the crisis in which Medina Azahara, the city palace of Abd ar-Rahman III (on the outskirst of Cordoba), was destroyed by rampaging Berbers.\u00a0 Moorish Spain deteriorated rapidly into violent turmoil.\u00a0 The caliphate ceased to exist and Al Andaluz broke up into 20 taifas and unified rule came to an end.\u00a0 Seville and Granada were the most powerful of these small kingdoms followed by Cordoba, Almeria, Zaragoza, Badajoz (just north of Zafra) and Toledo.<\/div>\n
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Along the Moorish\/Christian frontier castles had been built to protect against Arab attack leading to the area being named Castile.\u00a0 The kingdom of Leon had lead the reconquest until Al-Mansur\u2019s raid on Santiago then Navarra under Sancho III became the key force.\u00a0 Sancho gained control of Castile through marriage and placed his son Fernando on the throne.\u00a0 Fernando then occupied Le\u00f3n and became emperor of the Spains.\u00a0 Castile would now dominate the reconquest.<\/div>\n
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When Fernando I died after taking lands from Valencia to Portugal, power was split between his sons, Alfonso in Leon and Sancho in Castile.\u00a0 Sancho was served by a young knight who would become known as El Cid Campeador – ‘The Champion’ to the Christian armies he led as standard bearer and because he defeated an Arogonese knight in single combat.\u00a0 Sancho unfortunately, was murdered under suspicious circumstances – probably by his brother Alfonso who also exiled El Cid. El Cid, then somewhat surprisingly to us offered his services to the Moorish forces of Zaragoza who took him on happily and it was here he earned the Arabic honorific al-s\u012bd, which would evolve into El Cid (“the lord”). However, Iberia at this stage was a melting pot of minor powers fueding for rule so siding with Muslim lords over Christian ones, potentially did not concern him but admittedly some of his more modern admirers, El Cid is a genuine Spanish hero, gloss over this episode! Nevertheless, he was recalled by Alfonso when the Almoravid Berbers invaded from Morocco in 1086 and 8 years later he defeated the invaders and became the ruler of Valencia…<\/div>\n
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<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the Road – Distance 108km \/ 65mi | Elevation 1703m \/ 5538ft CHECK OUT MY RELIVE VIDEO HERE!: https:\/\/www.relive.cc\/view\/vPOpZ3p47Rq An early […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1234","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCrato to Urgueira - Riding on the Marrakesh Express<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/cycletooth-othello\/crato-to-urgueira\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crato to Urgueira - Riding on the Marrakesh Express\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the Road – Distance 108km \/ 65mi | Elevation 1703m \/ 5538ft CHECK OUT MY RELIVE VIDEO HERE!: https:\/\/www.relive.cc\/view\/vPOpZ3p47Rq An early […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/cycletooth-othello\/crato-to-urgueira\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Riding on the Marrakesh Express\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-14T05:19:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/cycletooth-othello\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/04\/nfGjeZ0gRyWCPQouUaJ9Sg-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"14 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/cycletooth-othello\/crato-to-urgueira\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/cycletooth-othello\/crato-to-urgueira\/\",\"name\":\"Crato to Urgueira - 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