2 adventurers.
Who would've guessed it?
3 languages. Portuguese, Spanish, or English? Although I could read it rather easily, I knew nothing but "Obrigada" (thank you) and "Olá" (hello) in Portuguese, so that was out. Then I was left with the Spanish or English dilemma. On the one hand, if I spoke in Spanish, they understood me. On the other hand, if they noticed that Spanish wasn't my first language, I would be left looking like an ignorant fool who thinks that Portuguese and Spanish are the same language. This was complicated even further by the fact that we ran into so many Spanish tourists who did speak Spanish. So, every conversation was a slow start, switching languages until we found something in common. My favorite part of the whole experience, however, was when people assumed you didn't speak their langugae. A girl from the U.S.A. had a whole conversation with her boyfriend about my very European pink pants. What she didn't realize was that the person inside the European pants was also from the states and was giggling at the fact that she was talking about me so obviously from just a few feet away. Then the Spaniards did the same thing, commenting on Napala's and my morning run alongside the water. Spaniards don't run too much to begin with and the fact that we were two girls, doing so in a torrential downpour, quickly brought us to their attention. "Que listas son..." (How smart they are...). I know they were being sarcastic BUT we got to all of the monuments faster and burned off more custard sweets because we didn't bother with the illusion that an umbrella would be any help. ¡Toma!
This is actually much nicer weather than what we ran in earlier that day.
4 different accommodations. We hit up 3 different Airbnbs and a hostel. They were all quite the experience. Lisboa: adorable modern apartment. Coimbra: hostel converted from a nun's orphanage/hospital? Aveiro: "guesthouse" where the woman had made a living renting out the extra rooms in her townhouse... and she decorated everything in a very "artsy" way. It had charm? Porto: an entire house (we thought we rented a room...) right next to the airport for easy access to our 6:30 AM flight!
5 major cities. Napala's Portuguese friends told us that we couldn't just go to one place in Portugal. So they mapped out a route for a 4 day, 5 city trip with a few pit stops to nearby towns along the way. Here's a snapshot of each:
Main square in Lisboa (the capital)
Flag from the bridge in Coimbra (Portugal's Salamanca)
A man fishing in one of the canal's in Aveiro (Portugal's Venice)
Pena National Palace... a castle in a cloud in Sintra
View from the other side of the river in Porto
6 calendar days. We left Wednesday night and got back in time for Napala to go to work on Monday morning. Thankfully, I had Monday to get myself semi-organized before heading back to school. March was a crazy month for traveling! It definitely made me appreciate the sense of home I feel in my humble abode in Madrid.
7 versions of bacalhau. For those of you that don't know, Portugal is known for their salted cod. One of my cooperating teachers told me, Napala's Portuguese friends told her, our cheese man told us... we got the idea. They say there are enough ways of cooking it that you can eat it 365 days a year, a different way each day. Well, we didn't eat 365 versions, but we did manage to squeeze in 7 over the 4 day adventure.
One of the favorites. A simple but wonderful (both to the taste buds and the eyes) version of the infamous fish.
Alright, enough of the numbers. Let me hit a few other highlights...
Apparently the Portuguese are in love with sweets. This is quite contrary to the Spaniards way of eating but we certainly didn't complain. We ate a number of neighborhood/city specific treats which made the adventure all the more sweet. (No pun or rhyme intended.)
In Belém, a neighborhood just outside of downtown Lisboa, there is a bakery that makes the Pasteles de Belém just as they did 200 years ago. We topped these delicious custard treats with cinnamon and powdered sugar and thoroughly enjoyed. It didn't hurt that we were staying only a few blocks away from the magic.
Pasteles de Belém
In Sintra, they make a cinnamon cheesecake tart that energized us on our hike up the mountain to the National Pena Palace.
Queijadas
We hit a few others but I think I'll save your keyboard from getting ruined by your drool and move on.
Portugal is also covered with ceramic tiles. Walking down the street, I enjoyed looking at (and, yes, taking pictures of) the tiles of each individual house.
Foggy and rainy.
Okay, that was at the top of the mountain in Sintra... but still. Napala and I realized quickly that our colored pants showed the rain more, but dried faster. I realized that I should've packed the rain boots instead of the bathing suit. And we both valued each other's ability to laugh at our ridiculously wet-cat-like appearances and enjoy the experiences despite the puddles that were no longer only on the sidewalks, but inside our shoes.
After all, the rain kept us from leaving any restaurant too soon. Which was quite desirable since we hit up some very unique but beyond delicious holes in the walls.
First there was the one-woman show wine bar in an old aqueduct in Lisboa. We literally had to ring a doorbell to get in, but our Airbnb hosts recommended it so we rang with great expectations. The 3 hour process of delicious morsels and Portuguese wine flights was one of the most enjoyable meals I've ever had in my life.
Bacon wrapped figs in an orange sauce.
Our hosts also recommended a tiny restaurant which was converted (well as much as was necessary to fit tables inside) from an old bait and tackle fishing shop. Their entire menu consists of different cans of fish (you pick the flavor; they open the can, drain the oil, and put it on a plate with a few sprigs of parsley) and a few simple but tasty appetizers made from canned fish varieties.
Decoration and dinner in one!
Last but not least, we stumbled upon OBAIRRO, an adorable restaurant in Aveiro. This place put a modern, artsy twist on all of the traditional Portuguese foods. From a plate of Portuguese cheeses to a seafood foam (really, foam describes this concoction better than soup) to bacalhau to the ovo molino dessert, we were beyond pleased.
Their place mats had cartoons and descriptions of typical people from the neighborhood: the abuela, the fish man, etc.
Last but not least, we saw quite a few cool sites.
We went to Cabo de Roca, the most Western point of continental Europe. I waved to all of my friends on the East coast, but I think you must've been busy because nobody waved back.
These are the pink pants that girl wanted :)
We saw The Monastery of the Hieronymites in Belém (neighborhood in Lisboa)...
I mostly like it because it reminds me of Downton Abbey.
In Lisboa we took the famous cable car down the hill. This 3 euro, 3 minute ride was a little anti-climactic. Needless to say, we should've taken it UP the hill instead.
¡Patatas! More Spanish tourists...
When we were in Coimbra, we saw the University, which is the oldest university in Portugal and one of the oldest in the world. We visited the academic jail, the chapel, and, my favorite, the library. It made me feel like I was Belle in the castle library. Not too shabby.
University of Coimbra
In Aveiro we took a ride in a gondola through the city's canal. Our tour guide was hilareous, but only spoke in Portuguese. The English tour they offered was actually the guy driving the boat who would summarize 5 minute long speeches into 2 sentences. Then he kept describing a particular kind of gondola as the kind that brings the hog in from the sea to put it in the fields. It wasn't until halfway through the trip when I acted out a pig that we realized it was not in fact hogs being brought in, but algae. Oh, language barriers.
Gondola in Aviero canal
Right outside Aveiro is a small town called Costa Nova, which is on the beach. The main draw is the multitude of picturesque, striped beach houses.
Houses in Costa Nova
But if you only looked at the houses, you would miss out on the intriguing amount of foam that is on the beach.
This is sea foam... but where's the green of the color "sea foam green"?
The waves come in as pure foam, which can be so distracting that you might not realize that the next wave is much larger than the rest and might possibly take you back into the ocean with it. Okay, that might not happen to you but it happened to me!
Sooooooooo wet.
Last but not least, Napala and I took a tour of Taylor's Port Wine Bodega. When in Porto, right?
Barrels of Tawny
Well my friends, Portugal was certainly an adventure! But it also brings my month of travel to an end. Zaragoza, Bilbao, Poland, and half the country of Portugal... It was wonderful, but I think I'll spend April within 10 miles of my house :)Much love from slightly East of the most Western point of Occidental Europe,
Amber
