Finisterra's 'Lisboa Melilla' is a bikepacking route and an adventure-cycling ride across Portugal (Alentejo region), Spain (Andalusia region) and Morocco (Rif Mountains). The adventure starts in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and finishes in the Spanish autonomous enclave of Melilla, located in North of Africa. It's an on-road route and ride with around 1.250KM & 18.000M of climbing. Long-distance cyclists will experience a radical sociocultural shift in just a few hundred kilometers. However, adventurers also will find also historic and cultural marks of the Islamic presence in Iberian Peninsula and colonial marks in North of Morocco. The ride starts on September 30 2023 in Setúbal (Lisbon Metropolitan Area) and finishes in the gate of Africa / / For others the gateway to Europe: Melilla.
MANIFESTO
THE SPIRIT OF THE RIDE
THE ROUTE
ALENTEJO * ANDALUSIA * RIF MOUNTAINS
REGISTRATION
REGISTRATION IS CLOSE
THE Ride
BRIEFING | SEPT. 30TH MORNING | LISBON
DEPARTURE | SEPT. 30TH AFTERNOON | SETÚBAL
TIME GOAL | OCT. 7TH NIGHT | MELILLA
STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR MIGRANTS CRISIS
According to the 'Humans Rights Watch', the "Mediterranean is the world’s deadliest migration route". Thousands of migrants are seeking for a better quality of life or simply for peace. This is what European Union can offer and 'westerners' are devaluing. Due to the increasing strict control in Eastern Mediterranean, some new Western Mediterranean routes are emerging, such the gateways to Europe of the Spanish enclaves in North of Africa. 'Lisboa Melilla' will be committed to find a way to (symbolically) support the Non Governamental Organizations focus on the well-being of this travellers and the fight against the deaths in the Mediterranean at the gates of Europe.