Well, first of all, I should probably apologize for taking forever to actually update this blog thing. I was only home for one, yes one, day last week between Portugal and Finland, so I am going to use that as my excuse. Luckily, I have a stellar memory thanks to my love of blueberries, so this update will be exactly as it would have been a week ago. Better late than never, right?
The Portugal trip started at lovely hour of 1:45 am on Thursday, April 24th, which is when our bus to Nyköping left. That four hour bus ride was pretty much awful because the bus was packed and also smelled like sweat. I blame the people who like to backpack 'hippie style' through Europe, aka 'Great idea called let's forgo showers for two months!' Not so great, in my opinion. Anyways, we arrived in Nyköping in time to catch the bus to the Stockholm Skavasta airport. The airport is actually fifteen minutes from Nyköping but an hour from Stockholm, which goes to demonstrate the level of intelligence of the person who names the small airports in Europe. Our flight was scheduled for 6:40 am, and we were ready to go by the time we got on that plane! Unfortunately, the pilots had other plans called, 'How about making everyone sit on the plane for an extra two hours why we wait for some fog to clear in Portugal that would clear during our three hour flight but we will wait for it to clear before we actually leave Sweden because who would not want to sit on our dinky crap plane for five hours instead of three?' I am also really confused about Ryanair's planes: they are Boeing 737s. I thought that Airbus had the plane monopoly in Europe? Ryanair is definitely a British company, so logically it should fly European planes. Anyways...
View of Porto from atop Muralha FernandiaWe finally got to Porto! It was hot and lovely! The airport in Porto is brand new and quite nice too. We took the metro into the city and set off in search of our hostel. The Residencial Cristo turned out to be a weird hostel/hotel combo with stuffy rooms that smelled like mothballs. The lady at the reception was a total weirdo! She talked to us like we were three and used this fake British accent. The worst part is that she would talk forever! We decided not to spend much time in that place except for sleeping (Thursday and Friday nights).
After checking in and dropping off our stuff, we walked around Porto! The city is very rustic. It reminded me a lot of Mexico - narrow streets, kids and dogs everywhere, disorganization, slight feeling of chaos...it was great though! Porto is right on the Douro River. The city is famous for its Port wine (get the name?), which, unfortunately, we never had a chance to try. The place just radiates a feeling of history! There is a church on every corner. The buildings were a mix between newish (on the two main shopping streets) and decrepit. Portugal is predominately Catholic, and it is easy to tell. There are little alters in alleyways, saint statues everywhere, and a lot of the businesses have names such as "Holy Spirit Bank." I loved the big marketplace that we found - a big building with vendors selling fruit, veggies, nuts, gross animal stuff, flowers, etc. There was even a "health shop" vendor! What did I find there? Mini soy milks (chocolate and vanilla...yay!) and caramel soy pudding! Yes, I finally got to try it and it was delicious, though next time I am going for the vanilla.
After checking in and dropping off our stuff, we walked around Porto! The city is very rustic. It reminded me a lot of Mexico - narrow streets, kids and dogs everywhere, disorganization, slight feeling of chaos...it was great though! Porto is right on the Douro River. The city is famous for its Port wine (get the name?), which, unfortunately, we never had a chance to try. The place just radiates a feeling of history! There is a church on every corner. The buildings were a mix between newish (on the two main shopping streets) and decrepit. Portugal is predominately Catholic, and it is easy to tell. There are little alters in alleyways, saint statues everywhere, and a lot of the businesses have names such as "Holy Spirit Bank." I loved the big marketplace that we found - a big building with vendors selling fruit, veggies, nuts, gross animal stuff, flowers, etc. There was even a "health shop" vendor! What did I find there? Mini soy milks (chocolate and vanilla...yay!) and caramel soy pudding! Yes, I finally got to try it and it was delicious, though next time I am going for the vanilla.
Church - downtown PortoWe got a lot accomplished on Friday. We walked around Porto during the morning and saw quite a bit of the city. We visited the Muralha Fernandia, a huge fort in the middle of the city (it looks really out of place!) that used to house all of the important government buildings within its walls. There is also an immense cathedral and a huge statue centerpiece. The fort is on top of a hill, and the view of the city was great! We also went on the 'Six Bridges' cruise up and down the river for an hour. It was so nice to be on the water! The cruise itself was sort of a tourist trap because none of the operators spoke English (so we had no idea what we were seeing) and it was supposed to include a visit to a wine cellar, which never materialized. Nevertheless, it was fun to be on a boat and a beautiful day.
Kavishna and I on the riverIn the afternoon, we went to the beach! YES! There are no actual beaches in Porto, so we had to take the metro to Póvoa de Varzim. The annoying lady at our hostel told us that it was about thirty minutes away, which actually meant an hour, which meant that I had to wait an extra thirty minutes to see the ocean...that was really difficult. But, we finally got there! The town itself is really cute, very touristy, and much more 'modernized' than Porto. Of course, I did not care about much of that because I just wanted to jump in the water! The beach was actually made out of gravel and the Atlantic was on the chilly side, but I did not mind at all!
Yay sun (and this photo does not even show my German-bus battle wounds)On Saturday, we took a morning train to Lisbon. The trip was about three hours. I loved it! I enjoy taking trains because I love to look out the window! We passed through so many adorable little towns. I saw tons of olive groves, vineyards, and sheep...the sheep were the best part.
Our hostel in Lisbon for Saturday and Sunday nights was right in the city center. It was great! The people running it were very friendly and gave us a lot of information on what to see, how to get there, etc. It was great because we were at a major disadvantage without knowing Portuguese! We walked all around the city on Saturday and saw: the Castle, Sé Cathedral, and tons of other cool things! Lisbon is much more modernized than Porto, but there is still a 'old' feel to much of the city. It is right on the coast too.
Lisbon from aboveOn Sunday, we took a morning train to Sintra. Sintra is a town about an hour or so from Lisbon, just up the coast. I LOVED Sintra! It is a town built right into the side of a mountain. There are multiple palaces, castles, and tons of cute little houses. The place is incredibly tropical and so GREEN! There were flowers and plants everywhere. It is quite touristy, but still has that 'unspoiled, natural' feel, which I prefer over a city any day!
We toured the Sintra National Palace first (free for students!). It was beautiful. My favorite parts were definitely the view and the gardens...of course. I liked this tour because we actually got to see the whole palace, not just one area, because it is no longer inhabited. Then, we got on a bus and took a rather scary bus ride straight up the mountain to the Moorish Castle. This place was so neat! It dates back to the 9th century and was constructed when Sintra was occupied by the Arabs. The place is surrounded by walls and has ancient churches, towers, food storage holes, and water cisterns. Apparently, it was also an archaeological dig site. I just loved it! It was in the middle of the forest and had a great view of the city too!
Tower at the Moorish Castle
After Sintra, we took a bus to Cabo de Roca, the most Western point in Europe. We hopped off the bus, took a photo, and hopped back on because the next bus was not for two hours! It was beautiful though! Green hills, tons of flowers, and cliffs above the ocean!
Cabo de Roca
Our last stop was Cascais, the most famous beach in the area. It was very crowded, but fun nonetheless. I jumped around in the ocean, re-sunburned my hands, and had a great time!
On Monday, we took a train back to Porto. I wish that we could have spent one more day exploring the towns around Lisbon. We stayed in a hostel on Monday night on the other side of the city, which was neat because we got to see a different area. I found this huge, creepy graveyard while I was walking around. There were only a few graves because most people were buried in these huge stone house-like structures (actually, they held whole families...mostly the men...of course). I think that they were nicer than most peoples' homes in Porto! I also saw this funeral procession. It was actually sort of funny because the people at the front were really sad and crying, people in the middle looked respectfully downcast, and then there was a group at the back smoking and chatting! They were definitely part of the activity though.
I walked around in Porto a bit on Monday, but was quite tired from all of the crazy adventures! Our hostel was not really a hostel, but more of a cheap hotel. It was kind of icky and everything was pink, which upped the gross factor. I am glad that we only stayed there for one night! Luckily the people at the reception were better...haha.
We toured the Sintra National Palace first (free for students!). It was beautiful. My favorite parts were definitely the view and the gardens...of course. I liked this tour because we actually got to see the whole palace, not just one area, because it is no longer inhabited. Then, we got on a bus and took a rather scary bus ride straight up the mountain to the Moorish Castle. This place was so neat! It dates back to the 9th century and was constructed when Sintra was occupied by the Arabs. The place is surrounded by walls and has ancient churches, towers, food storage holes, and water cisterns. Apparently, it was also an archaeological dig site. I just loved it! It was in the middle of the forest and had a great view of the city too!
Tower at the Moorish CastleAfter Sintra, we took a bus to Cabo de Roca, the most Western point in Europe. We hopped off the bus, took a photo, and hopped back on because the next bus was not for two hours! It was beautiful though! Green hills, tons of flowers, and cliffs above the ocean!
Cabo de RocaOur last stop was Cascais, the most famous beach in the area. It was very crowded, but fun nonetheless. I jumped around in the ocean, re-sunburned my hands, and had a great time!
On Monday, we took a train back to Porto. I wish that we could have spent one more day exploring the towns around Lisbon. We stayed in a hostel on Monday night on the other side of the city, which was neat because we got to see a different area. I found this huge, creepy graveyard while I was walking around. There were only a few graves because most people were buried in these huge stone house-like structures (actually, they held whole families...mostly the men...of course). I think that they were nicer than most peoples' homes in Porto! I also saw this funeral procession. It was actually sort of funny because the people at the front were really sad and crying, people in the middle looked respectfully downcast, and then there was a group at the back smoking and chatting! They were definitely part of the activity though.
I walked around in Porto a bit on Monday, but was quite tired from all of the crazy adventures! Our hostel was not really a hostel, but more of a cheap hotel. It was kind of icky and everything was pink, which upped the gross factor. I am glad that we only stayed there for one night! Luckily the people at the reception were better...haha.
Our flight back to Jönköping was early Tuesday morning. It was only a half hour late, thankfully. We had a long bus ride back to Jönköping and crashed. It was quite the fun time! I ate so much yummy fruit on that trip including pineapple! We enjoyed how incredibly cheap Portugal is compared to Sweden, and also discovered that barely anyone spoke English. It was okay though, Portuguese people are quite nice! (Except for the drug dealers, which get rather upset when you say, "No." I learned how to spot the dealers pretty quickly though, and we were able to steer clear.)
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