Tag-Archive for » Western Europe «

Paris!!
Wednesday, October 06th, 2010 /

Louvre

A trip around Europe is not complete without a visit to the “city of lights.” Paris is a city that takes at least 1o adjectives to describe. Not only the capital of France but also an important cultural and financial capital of Europe. A gorgeous and elegant metropolis with an admirable way of life. Chill out in one of the several outdoor cafes and let the hours melt away or go exploring in the boney underground catacombs. There are thousands of things to do in Paris as it is truly a dynamic and dazzling city. Our experience began in the dark..hobbling around the streets looking for our CS’s apartment. 1 am is never a good time to arrive at a blind date, but luckily for us our host Charlotte  was having a late jam session with a few of her friends.

Our CS Charlotte!

Her apartment was tiny! I had one of those weird embarrassing moments, when I thought I was sitting on her couch, but turned out to be her bed.. oops. Our bed actually folded up into the kitchen wall/cabinet and after seeing how the place was set up, we were pretty impressed at the use of space. Seeing people live comfortably in an area no bigger than an average size family room, opened our eyes once more to how spoiled at how much stuff and room we have at home.

Cheeese!

Another aspect of Parisian life and probably the most important, is food. The french claim to have the best cooks and cuisine in the world.. and they might be right. I’m not sure if it was the pre-Paris screening of Ratatouille, the intensity and care the our host Charlotte cooked with or if it was the dance my tastebuds were doing, but the quality/combination of flavors in nearly everything we ate in Paris was tip top! I wish I could tell you some of our favorites but french, as you might know, is not a phonetic language thus too hard for me to sound out. But trust me, the food was bomb!

Arc de Triumph!


Moulin Rouge!

Equally exciting were the sights; Arc de Triumph, The Louvre, Notre Dame, Moulin Rouge just to name a few and of course the Eiffel Tower (which is way better at night, especially on the hour). And we saw them all! Except Jim Morrisons grave :( We walked over an hour to get there and it was closedbooo! For four days Chels and I hoofed it around Paris. A few things we learned about walking the entire city:

1) Paris is beautiful, not dirty like people say.

2) The People are friendly, not rude

3) All maps are deceiving when it comes to lengths and next time wear comfortable shoes not flip flops.

Ewwww

One of the more interesting attractions that we saw were the Catacombs. We had heard that this was something different and cool to check out while in Paris and that promise was delivered and then some. Basically the catacombs are a collection of bones buried 80 meters below the streets of Paris. It contains the remains of the approximately 6 million people there was no room for in the city cemeteries, dating back to early 1800′s. You would think seeing the decomposed body parts of millions of people was weird enough but the people in charge of disposing of them, stacked them to form these perfect “bone walls” with the femur as the featured bone, and rest thrown behind. The best (or worst) part was the patterns and designs on the “bone walls”, appropriately done with skulls! It took way to long to get through the catecombs, and when we were finally spit out the end them, I was a bit queasy. Who’s hungry?! Hard to imagine that it became a tourist attraction while it was still being filled up with bones! At least we didn’t have to use a candle and follow a black line on the ceiling.

Boo!

By this point we had relocated to our other couchsurfers, Anne-Laure and Quentin who had a beautiful apartment just in the outskirts! They shared their wine and cooked us a yummy Tex-Mex dish followed by the largest array of cheese Brad and I have ever seen at someones home! We tried every single one and found that we liked the goat cheese the best (which we already knew Brad was in love with)

Crepes!!

There are so many more types of goat cheese in Europe…. the states get mostly the soft kind, but apparently there are soft, semi-soft and hard ones! :)

They also recommended a delicious local Crepe place that we would have never found otherwise! The savory one with egg and ham was Delicious!! The chocolate one didn’t compare to the crepes Gina made us at Pauleys!

Romance :)

On our last night there, Brad and I grabbed a bottle of wine and sat down in front of the Eifel Tower to watch it dazzle on the hour! It was beautiful! Nothing extraordinary as far as the light show goes, but it made for a romantic night and it was fun to see the sparkle! :)

As far as my opinion of Paris….i came to Europe with Paris low on the list of places i wanted to go, but i LOVED it!!! It’s beautiful, clean, great good, and actually very nice people (even complete strangers)! Would go back in a heartbeat!

Category: Cities, CouchSurfing, France, Paris, Western Europe  Tags: , , ,  3 Comments
Tomatina!!
Thursday, September 30th, 2010 /

Tomatina!!

According to legend the worlds biggest annual food fight got its start as a joke among friends.  To celebrate the end of the week long festival held every year in Bunol, a small group of amigos randomly started throwing  tomatoes at one another.  Add a few years, 150,000 tomatoes and 40,000 people, pack them into a rural Catalon town in Bunol, and presto….La Tomatina is born!

Since the early stages of planning for our trip Chels and I have held La Tomatina top on our list of festivals to visit.  So when our good friends from Santorini, Drew, Hannah and Racheal decided they were going to come with us, we were more than thrilled to have targets when the tomatoes started to fly!

Our Crew!


Fun!

We left the night before the festivities and took with us a crew of about 8,including Chels and I.  We cruised threw ground zero and noticed people preparing their houses with tarps and plywood.  (We heard stories about people breaking down doors and coating the insides of houses with tomatoes.)  We found some tables, settled in, caught up with our Santorini crew and played some card games till we were ready to go to bed. I made sure to give out plenty of carrots to everyone to provide SOME nutrition for the night!  Now the only problem was to find a spot to sleep.

The next hour was spent exploring the areas around Bunol for a nice pitch for our tents.  There was this nice secluded area with a night club nearby which provided us with some nice lullaby music!

The Boys!

Awoken by roosters and murmurs of people LEAVING the club, we were ready to get the day started (although a tad bit slow from a night of drinking). It was only 8am when we armed ourselves with massive cups of sangria and goggles before we found our way to the massive crowd of people just waiting for the festivities to get started. First was the Greasy Pole contest, where (drunk) guys attempt to climb to the top of a greased pole to reach the ham…..a great way to get people rowdy and excited. Then at exactly 11am, a loud firework cracks!

 

The Girls!

TOMATO-THROWING TIME!!!! All the locals that were hanging out on their rooftops spectating….were now the locals pelting everyone with tomatoes. They had CRATEFULS after cratefuls of semi-soft tomatoes….it was never-ending. Those that weren’t throwing tomatoes were unloading gallons and gallons of water onto the crowd. It was really fun but nothing compared to what was next with the dump trucks.

 

Dumptruck!!

 

Getting pelted!

About 30 minutes after the fireworks, the first dumptruck of 5 rolled through FILLED with tomatoes. Everyone starts screaming and yelling and throwing anything they can get their hands on (usually either tomato remains or soaking wet shirts). There was a constant stream of hoses to try to keep the tomatoes from staining everything red in this town, but it made for a fun time. The people up high were the best targets, and at one point i got on Brad’s shoulders for a couple minutes before being absolutely pelted with tomatoes! It was incredible! Fun, crazy, an indescribable experience. I’ve always always wanted to have massive food fight at school, and here we are at the WORLDS BIGGEST FOODFIGHT!!!

 

Olay Olay!

When the official “end of Tomatina” firework went off, we were sad to realize it was over so quickly. Everyone started dispersing and following the dumptruck down the street….a couple guys ran and jumped in the trucks and just started flinging tomato juice everywhere!! It was great…the cops didn’t do anything about it either! It was hilarious to see everyone just covered in red and dirty clothes, ripped clothes walking around! We found a nice shady spot to hang around in and watch as everyone slowly rolled back to Valencia. I think we were under the impression there would be parties all night in Bunol, but by 4pm it was not only a ghost town, but it was SPOTLESS!! The clean up crew is incredibly efficient!

 

Best Part!

So there we were, the Santorini crew…the only young people left in the town…chilling and reminiscing on what we just experienced and enjoying each others company for the rest of the night! It was an unforgettable experience…and even better that it was with friends :)

 

Tomatina!!!

Category: Camping, Festivals, Spain, Tomatina, Western Europe  Tags: , , , ,  2 Comments
Ibiza!!
Monday, September 27th, 2010 /

” 0oo We’re going to Ibiza! Back to the island! We’re gonna have a party…in the Mediterranean Sea! ” I have LOVED that Vengaboys song since i was 12 but never knew in 10 years Brad and I would actually be going to party there! We lucked out and found a ferry getting in for half price if we leave on Friday instead of Thursday! It’s incredibly expensive to get there….and once you get there…just as expensive! We boarded with just our day pack…one outfit and our bathing suits, with no real plans to sleep!

Cool fountain!

We arrived around 9:30 and it was hopping in Ibiza town! The streets were packed with little markets and the clubs had merchandise stores EVERYWHERE! Brad and i were on a mission to find the only luggage storage place on the island, but nobody made it easy for us!! AHHH by the time we found it, payed 8 euros to check our tiny backpack,found the random bus stop and got to Sant Antoni.. the other side of the island, it was 11pm or so!

Hangover!

We went to the first supermarket we saw to grab some water when i saw these guys dressed in Hawaiian skirts with paint all over them…snapped a pic and we were on our way. It wasn’t long before I realized that those guys seemed normal compared to the freak-show we saw 5 minutes later in “the west end”! People dressed up and painted in alllll sorts of stuff! Some girls AND GUYS half naked, some dressed as cows (literally)! We were a little late in the game, and it was too late to buy Alky in the shops, but we did find a place with a 4 drinks for 6 euros special! But after splitting those and deciding to go check out somewhere else… we were feeling broke and tired! It was 3am and luckily we found a private accommodation for cheap….not quite what we had in mind when we thought Ibiza, but oh well…tomorrow is another day!!!

Having some drinks!

Enjoying life!

The next day we hit up a beach on the west side of the island, called Calla Varella! It was not in such a main area and we thought it would be cool to check out another part of the island! It was tucked away in this little bay, the water flat and as clear as anything! We relaxed for a few hours, swam some laps, and showered (with soap) in the beach showers haha before taking off to San Antoni to figure out the club of choice for the night.


Gorgeous view!

Back in Sant Antoni, we decided to search for the ever-famous Cafe Del Mar to watch the sunset! Couldn’t find it :( I wanted to go because Dave, my boss from Atlas in Santorini, always played there music in the restaurant and they are just famous for the chilled-out vibes! BOO!

Amazing sunset!

BUT we did find a really laid-back place the offered a perfect view of the sunset with beds and cushions and all that nice stuff!  We  took the opportunity to use their bathroom to change and get ready for the night! We were on our way to buy tickets to Eden, only 25 euros instead of the usual 40 each, some clubs even costing 60! Although i’m sure they were a blast, not really in our price range! We happened to walk past some reps and heard something about free entry to Eden, immediately turned around to see what that was all about, and scored ourselves some wrist bands!! WOOO hooo just saved ourselves 50 bucks!

Ibiza Rocks!

So now in a GREAT mood, we hit up a pre-party bar right on the beach called Ibiza Rocks that was fully open-aired! There was a DJ playing with a girl playing saxaphone …walking throughout the crowd on the dancefloor …over his tunes which sounded AMAZING! And all these attractive girls in Vegas-style outfits dancing around with the drunkedness that had already began! Really really cool place to kick off the night! At around 1:30am we decided it was time to experience Eden!

The club was INCREDIBLE! It was a Mondo Loco party which means something like Crazy World i think! And it was! As soon as we walked in, they were offering Face Paintings…so naturally i got one :)

Loved him!

Then we saw the craziness of lights and people and dancers. Everything from men on stilts to cirque de solei sheet wrappers to crazy tall crossdressers to s&m bondage girls spanking each other! Even the stilt-men were in bondage. The DJ was good but nothing special… played really typical house music that sounded super repetitive! It was just background noise to the bizarre things going on around us really! At one point they brought out this massive cake and out popped a girl with a huge snaked wrapped around her….being all glamarous and exotic! A couple hours later, Brad and I were standing where they were setting up to use the snakes again and i got to touch them!!! Forgot how weird they feel!

Lasers!

Laser man!!

I dont know if any of you have seen the Akon and David Guetta video..”Sexy Bitch” but when they get to the club scene, it’s in Ibiza and there is this crazy laser guy with glow sticks all over him and Brad and I were so hoping we could see something like that!  And we did!!! We saw him covered in green glow sticks sneaking through the crowd with crazy lasers coming out of each of his fingers! It was sooooo cool and i was SOOOoo excited! Then later he came out again in bright white lights and a bicyce…got lifted up above us and started spinning and doing crazy tricks in the air!
SO this was basically non-stop  all night with laser shows and new surprises every few minutes! Brad and I danced the night away for HOURS….so proud of us :) Haha! It was the DJ’s birthday, so usually when the club closes at 6am…he kept going until 7:30 or so! When Brad and I walked out….It was light outside! We walked along the beach, got ourselves a cheap 1 euro water (14 euros in the club for a SMALL one)  and some brekkie, hopped on the ferry and left Ibiza with fond party memories fresh in our minds :) As SOON as our bums hit the seat in the ferry, we were out for 5 hours until we woke up in Valencia!

Leaving the club!


Category: Beaches, Ibiza, Islands, Spain, Western Europe  Tags: , , ,  One Comment
Valencia!
Monday, September 27th, 2010 /

Hostel painting

Valencia, oh the town of Paella and Oranges….we’re happy to be here! Unfortunately we arrived at 4:30am, but luckily the cafe at the bus station was open! Brad got a coffee and played Tetris i think while i passed out with my head on the table like you do in highschool! I felt rested when i woke up at 7 or so and we walked around to find ourselves a hostel. We found the Red nest Hostel, which is the sister hostel of the Purple Nest where the Busabout takes people, so we knew it was a good one! Brad….the wonderful boyfriend that he is, left me to sleep while he picked up bagfuls of nutrients for me! Fresh juice with antioxidants, oranges, yogurt, nectarines and a salad for dinner with carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes! Everytime i ate, i felt immediately better from the vitamins (mental…i dont know??) So that sums up our next 3 days in Valencia haha! It was me trying to get better before Ibiza! And i did!

Pretty architecture!

Playing pool!

We DID however meet up with Drew, our friend from Santorini, who we’re going to Tomatina with and is staying at the Purple Nest! The internet is way better there so we would go hang out in the common room, do some research, eat nutrients and Brad had a few beers with Drew! That was probably our most exciting moment of Valencia! We knew we were coming back after Valencia though and were saving our sightseeing until then!

So…. here we are….2 days later, after a crazy time in Ibiza…ready to see the sights! But first…some sleep! Well when we tried to walk around and see some sights, we realized…there isn’t actually a whole lot to see here. It’s a beautiful town to walk around it..nice sidewalks, nice buildings…not much to do!

Category: Cities, Hostels, Spain, Valencia, Western Europe  Tags: , , ,  Leave a Comment
Cabo de Gata!
Saturday, September 25th, 2010 /

We arrived in Almeria, only to hop straight onto another bus to Cabo De Gata, where the beautiful untouched beaches on Spains southern coast are! Or so we were told!

Beautiful water!

When we got to the beach, it was suprisingly quite full of people! Um what?! We thought these were untouched beaches! BUT the water was Beautiful!! It was crystal clear, and almost felt like fresh water! So Brad and I enjoyed our meal on the sand with a beautiful sunset, and it wasn’t long before the beach was cleared out! We were pretty exhausted so set up our tent right there on the beach behind some fishing boats when it got dark and went to sleep! The fireworks were still going off all night until the good show of real fireworks! Then this little family restaurant that was dead at 9pm started blasting club music until 6 in the morning!! WHAT?! Where did that come from?? But we slept through it and i guess felt kind of safe being not completely isolated.

Clearing out at night!

The next morning i woke up officially sick. :( I felt it coming on! The past few days not only were we eating lots of junk and crap, but we also hadn’t gotten much sleep…so it was bound to happen! THe sun was BLAZING hot by 10am and there was not an ounce of shade. Every single person that came to the beach brought an umbrella and Brad and I were super envious. We tried to build our own shade using the tent poles and the blanket, but after 45 minutes of messing around…FAIL! It wasn’t happening.  Brad was laying in his boxers instead of his boardies and the tops of his legs fried! By mid-afternoon we said screw it….we had been through tons of water, and i went through tons of tissues before deciding we couldn’t spend another night on the beach like this. Even though it was really relaxing and we felt super safe, i needed to get better! We sadly didn’t make it to the Isolated beached in Cabo De Gata which apparently no bus goes to. You need to rent a car. But if you google it, they are beautiful and we would highly recommend trying to go! Thanks for the nice water to swim in though! :)

Category: Beaches, Camping, Spain, Western Europe  Tags: , , ,  One Comment
Malaga
Saturday, September 25th, 2010 /

Malaga is a town on the Southern coast of Spain that we had no intention of going to until we heard from Ouali that there was this awesome FREE festival down there! Being a short bus ride from Sevilla, we decided in was a must in our trip!

Feria!

We arrived with no plans, so accommodation, and no idea what we were doing. Luckily the bus and train station were super spiffy, had a great information desk with maps and everything we needed to know about Feria, the festival! AND it has huge lockers for only 4.50 euros for 24 hours! We locked up everything important, except for our passports and my camera, brought a mat and our blanket with us, and set out to find the festivities.

Beautiful cathedral!

Once we got out of the crappy part of town that usually surrounds the train station, we found the old town, small windy streets of Malaga! There were heaps of massive cathedrals and some huge pedestrian streets that were setting up for the next day! Already though, there were tons of street vendors selling local nuts and flowers! Brad and I stopped at the market for some water when we spotted a bottle of Tequila and made a rash decision about the rest of our night! Haha so we found a nice square with a big statue in the middle (big surprise for Europe) and played games with each other and people watched while we enjoyed the lovely taste of Tequila! Then we followed the masses to the beach around 11pm where we found craziness for the pre-festival opening party!!!

Crazy packed beach!

The looonnngg stretch of beach was PACKED with people, young, old, families, anyone! We listened to some live music before the MUSICAL fireworks show! The soundtrack included Dirty Dancings “She’s like the wind”, Shakiras “Waka Waka” song, and Lady Gaga’s “Alexandrjo”!

Fireworks!!

Late night DJ

The families cleared out, but the beach was still packed with young people ALLLLL night! There was a DJ set with some crazy visuals, and tons of drunk kids running around and swimming in the water! It started raining so Brad and I went to explore the boardwalk a bit! Around 4am we were back on the beach and ready to sleep! We laid out our blanket and slept in the bright lights with a group of guys playing the bongo drums and chanting Spanish songs until 6am! The beach was TRASHED…i mean COVERED in trash! People were out with metal detectors and trash bags picking up lost belongings. Brad and I did wake up with 2 guys sitting practically on top of us…probably trying to get in our bag! We had nothing on us though and the camera was wrapped around my wrist and tucked in my clothes so we shooed them off and went back to sleep! Then we were woken around 8 or 9 by a masssive truck cleaning off the sand that probably would have run right over us ha, so we moved up to the grass and went back to sleep! Not much fazed us and there were tons of other people sleeping on the beach too!

Clean Beach!

Next time we woke up, the beach was spotless and actually really pretty! The water was still a bit dirty, but still swimable! We eventually got up and found ourselves some somewhat covered showers, washed off with soap and all, brushed our teeth and hair, and were on our way feeling refreshed and good as ever!

Flamenco dresses!

We knew today was the official first day of the festivities, and by the time we got to the old town, it was already a drunk fest by 4pm! It was unreal and unlike anything we have really seen! First of all, the streets were just FULL and tons of women and children were dressed up in Flamenco outfits! There were random break outs in Flamenco dancing in the streets and alleyways and everyone had flowers in their hair. The teenagers all made matching colorful outfits with names and sayings on their shirts! Then all the plazas were packed with food and drink vendors….drink really! The ground was SO sticky from spilled drinks that i had to cling onto my flip flops and lift my leg up off the ground to get unstuck! Trash everywhere! And a crowd you could barely breathe in! We were not on the same level so walked down the street to find another plaza….same story! More drunk people than i have ever seen! We watched a mom puke on the side of the street! At least she was dressed classy! ha!

Finally Drinking!

I looked at Brad and said….Shizen…we just need to get a drink and get on their level. So we bought ourselves the famous Vino de Tinto which is basically Sangria in a big platic cup! You can buy all your drinks by the litre and for only a couple euros (hence the drunkeness)! We found a corner to post up on and watched the nuttiness! Eventually we explored our way to the beach to grab some grub and enjoy the sunset!

Sunset on the Beach!

The beach was quiet and tranquil with everybody on the other side of town for the festival, but we did notice an abundance of backpackers hanging around! As soon as it was dark, everyone started setting up tents and mats and all sorts of goodness. I think we all congregated together for safety and it was a much better sleep the second night!

With so many hours on the beach, we had done some reading in the Lonely Planet book and found out about the Almeria Coast which apparently has beautiful beaches. So off we were the next afternoon. Goodbye Malaga…you showed us how crazy Spaniards can be!

Category: Beaches, Camping, Festivals, Malaga, Spain, Western Europe  Tags: , , , ,  Leave a Comment
Seville!
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010 /

Night Shot!

For those of us who have traveled around Spain, Seville has probably been somewhere high on the list of cities to see. It’s located in the beautiful southeastern region of Andalucia, which encompasses Granada and the touristy cities of the Costa del Sol. Despite it landlocked location and unbearably hot summers Seville is a gorgeous city that deserves the aforementioned title of a must see Spanish city with its stunning architecture and cultural capital.

We arrived with no plans, no couchsurfers lined up, and no accommodation booked….and it was HOT!! We walked around with our massive backpacks on for a while checking out multiple hostels trying to find the cheapest! We ended up finding a private one right next to the famous gothic cathedral in the center of town…for cheap! After immediately showering (it had been 3 days since our last), we took a stroll around town with our eyes to the sky as we gazed at the beautiful architecture! Seville is gorgeous!

Cathedral!

Inside the Alcazar!

Usually we opt out of paying for palaces and museums, but we lucked out with free student entry at the Royal Alcazar in Sevilla! The palace has huge Moroccan and Arab influences in its architecture…lots of tiles and arches! And an incredible garden that Brad and I roamed around in for hours! A definite must…even if you have to pay :)

The Gardens!

We continued exploring the city and ran into Plaza de Espana! A MASSIVE building which we have NO idea what its used for…along with a massive garden! It was fun to explore for a while and a great way to escape the summer heat!

　

Plaza de Espana!

 

Seville is a Must-see!! Its beautiful…but beware of the heat!

Category: Hostels, Seville, Spain, Western Europe  Tags: , ,  Leave a Comment
Sagres!
Tuesday, September 07th, 2010 /

Edge of Europe

Lonely Planet got it right when they described Sagres as having that, edge of the world feeling.  As most of the European coast that lay face to the Atlantic, Sagres has dramatic cliffs that drop nearly 100 meters straight down to the  secluded yellow sand beaches.

Body Surf

We took the short and inexpensive bus ride from Lagos and as we searched eagerly for a spot to bed down for the night, we found ourselves climbing down to the nearest beach.  Something we noticed right away about Sagres was the tide.  The fluctuation were a lot larger than the beaches we had come from on the Mediterranean.  Since it was high tide we had to take a nice trek through the incoming water and waves to get to a  good spot. Once we found our nook, and home for the next two nights, we headed straight for the waves.  The gett’n was good, and we body surfed till late that evening.

 

Miss Everyone!

We enjoyed a nice and light dinner as the sun went down, then watched the canvas of stars above us and the night fishermen till the shooting stars woo’d us to sleep. We saw the most amazing… brightest… longest shooting star we’ve ever seen! It was INCREDIBLE! :) Halfway through the night though…i woke up all paranoid about the tide coming in! It was the biggest change in tide i’d ever seen….it came all the way up to our tent around 2 in the morning and i was scared it was coming further, so i built a rock wall with a mote in front of it for the next 30 minutes or so haha! It stopped just before out tent luckily…but ya never know!

 

Beach camp

We spent the whole next day on the beach…played lots of games in the sand…hangman, tic tac toe, and had a photo shoot haha! It was good times and just an amazing beach with amazing water!

Running through air!

Handstands!!

The best part by far though was waking up in the morning to a completely empty beach that we got to make the very first footprints in! :) We would go back in a heartbeat!

Footprints!!

Category: Beaches, Camping, Portugal, Sagres, Western Europe  Tags: , , ,  2 Comments
Lagos
Tuesday, September 07th, 2010 /

 

Sunrise!

After a failed attempt to squat for one night in Lisboa, yet again we had the genius idea of the overnight bus to Lagos.  The city is in the southern region on Portugal known as Algarve. Arriving to your destination at 4 in the morning is the best nights accommodation, BUT, we had the pleasure of lovely beach only a few hundred meters from our dropoff point.  We hoofed it there, just in time to catch the beautiful sunrise.  As picturesque as it was, the hot, blinding sun was not so conducive for sleep.  Fortunately the beaches of Lagos are surrounded by high cliff walls that provided us with a shady place to catch some z’s.  Funny enough we settled in next to the other backpackers that were there and got a couple decent hours worth.

Me bring Pummeled!!

We loved the beach, especially our new spot.  So much so, that we made it home for the next 36 hours!  Our day was spent body surfing the violent waves (when the lifeguard wasn’t looking) and one super undercover trip to the camp grounds showers to freshen up; which we later found out was a military personal/family only camp grounds.

Sleeping on the beach has become one of our favorite traveling pastimes.  The sand is soft, its free and the crashing of the waves is a wonderful sountrack for sleeping.

Hanging out!

…As long as you don’t have to worry about protecting your valuables.  Unfortunately, in Lagos this is not possible. The reputation for Lagos is a party town.  So, passing out on the beach is usually done by the people too drunk to make it home, thus creating nice targets for local thieves to take advantage of.  Mindful of this we set up our tent in a secluded little area protected by tall cliff, thinking that we would have a nice night of undisturbed sleep.  Wishful thinking and reality hardly parallel each other and in this case they had set a different course.  I had passed out quickly, only to wake up with Chelsea no next to my side where she always is, but outside of the tent chasing our towels down the beach, as the wind swept them away.  I really didn’t think much of it, but when she returned to the tent she told me that the wind had not woken her.  Instead it was the footsteps of man, who apparently had army crawled  through the small tunnel connecting our nice secluded spot, to the main back around the corner.    At first I was in denial about him wanting to steal our stuff, but when we spotted him

 

Where we enjoyed our wine!

sneaking a look from his hiding spot around the corner, waiting for us to fall back asleep I began to worry.  Once he realized we saw him he acted like he was leaving.  Fortunately for us we could see through a hole in the rocks the path that left the area, allowing us to see that he hadn’t walked by yet.  So when we saw him peer through that hole on his hands and knees like the sneaking thief that he was, checking on us again, I shined our flashlight and yelled at him.  We took this as a sign and decided it was better to move to a more open location, where people could see us. When we walked back around the rocks, it was like a different world…party on the beach!! But we slept much better knowing we were safe! We woke up to lots of people on the beach…and nobody minding that we had a tent pitched!

This is what we lived on!

Cool Green Building!

She looked so serious!

Category: Beaches, Camping, Lagos, Portugal, Western Europe  Tags: , , ,  One Comment
Lisboa!
Friday, September 03rd, 2010 /

From Capitol to Capitol

We caught the night bus from Madrid to Lisboa, which is something we’re making a habit out of.  It’s an easy way to save money on a night accommodation, but not exactly accommodating.  In theory this is a great idea; reality sets in when, after hours of trying to fall asleep, you are woken up by the jerking of the bus breaks, and you nearly slam into the seat in front of you. Regardless of a crap nights sleep, it still saves money, which is the important thing (For us at least!)

 

Loved this Bridge!

We arrived in Lisboa at around 4:30, well before our estimated time of arrival on our ticket, 8 am.  Not sure how that happened but luckily we were at the main bus terminal and night busses were still running.  To the center of town we went to try and kill time before we met our CS hosts; 12 hours to exact.
We did the tourist thing for about an hour, walking around snapping some photos of the architecture and such, but we were quite tired and in need of a comfy sofa and some air conditioning.  We took turns napping in starbucks, taking advantage of the free internet when conscious.

 

Violation...

We DID notice there was a festival going on called Two Oceans! In the middle of a square there was a massive blow up aquarium with chairs and fishies everywhere! When we went inside, we felt like we were violating someones private parts lol! And so we went on to meet our couchsurfers, Sofie and Nuno! She has been on couchsurfing since 2005 and was definitely the most experienced we’ve stayed with! We had our own room in their cute apartment just outside of the city…we changed..and went straight to the beach! It was nice and sandy and the water appeared nice, but as soon as my toe touched the water, i noticed how FREEZING it was! I didn’t think anything could be as cold as the river in Bern, but this was too cold for me to swim!  The town was really cute with lots of markets and windy streets! We grabbed some Italian gelato hehe and called it a night!

Trying to act like its not cold :)

 

Pretty View!

The next day was really exciting for us, because Sofie and Nuno lent us their car!! It had been 4 months since we’d driven! Of course…i couldn’t drive since it was stick shift, but Brad drove us out to a mystical little town called Sintra! It was full of palaces and gardens and more palaces! We chose the Quinta da Regaleira based on Kelly’s recommendation! And so glad we did, because we LOVEDDD it! There was a beautiful old palace, and lakes and a massive garden but then BEST part was the underground tunnels that ran throughout the gardens. Some of them were pitch black, some led you straight into water, and some were even blocked off (apparently they went across to the other side of town!) We spent hours wandering around…highly recommend it!

Stepping Stones!

Tunnels!

Afterwards we drove up to Pena castle which Kelly reckons was what the Disney castle was modeled after (I don’t see it haha sorry Kel!) and the Moorish Castle which overlook Sintra! Unfortunately we couldn’t see much without paying to go…so had to skip it! I think they offer good deals if you want to do combo passes though!

So on we drove to the western most point of mainland Europe…Cabo da Roca! It was cool to look out to nothingness…but it was WINDY!!! Snapped some pics and got outta there! We came home to a delicious meal that Sofie cooked for us. It was a dish made with Codfish which is apparently very typical for Portugal, and it was sooooo good!

 

Winddyyy!

We visited a few botanical gardens and other parks in the city! It was Brad’s first time at a Botanical garden and it was kind of whack…no cool flowers or colors! Just trees! We left Lisbon with a great opinion of Portuguese people and food…and Sintra was definitely the highlight of Lisbon for us!


Category: Beaches, Cities, CouchSurfing, Lisbon, Portugal, Western Europe  Tags: , , , ,  2 Comments
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