Portugal Trip!!

Hi! As most of you probably know, I went to Portugal from Friday, February 17 until Tuesday the 21^st! I went with a group through the university that is for exchange students. On Wednesday the 15^th, I received an email telling me that there was no room for me on the trip, and I was on the waiting list. Let’s just say that my response was the most desperate, pleading email that I’ve ever sent. All but one of the UNI girls were going (the other had her boyfriend here), and after hearing Stephie rave about Portugal, I was devastated at the thought of not going. Luckily, I received a phone call on Thursday night telling me that there was one place on the trip open and it was for me! Nothing like last minute, but it was such a relief :)

The bus left at 12:30am on Friday night, so we boarded the bus and went straight to sleep. We were woken up around 11ish in the morning in Lisoa (Lisbon)! We checked into the hostel, dropped off our bags, then went on a tour of the city, starting with riding in a tram up to a high point of the city where there were gorgeous views and an ancient castle. We explored as a group then split up for free time. My friends and I went up into the castle, took pictures and looked over the beautiful views. The castle was huge and so cool. We then all met back in a group, sang a Spanish song in a circle that caused many Portuguese people to stop and stare, then we were on our way back to the hostel. We were all starving so we ate a quick lunch in our room (sandwiches that our madres sent with us). After lunch, we had some more free time so we decided to soak up the GORGEOUS, sunny weather that we never get in Oviedo, and we went to a central plaza and sat against a monument directly in the sun. In a t-shirt and leggings, I was sweating. It was wonderful. We then explored the area a little bit, where we found another plaza with people everywhere. We sat down again to people watch and take in the city. It was about this time when we decided to skip the official city tour with the group. Instead, we explored more, watched the Carnaval Parade (which was unlike ANY parade I’ve ever seen! AMAZING!), shopped in a few souvenir shops, then went to an outdoor concert in the main plaza we were at earlier. When we got back to the hostel, we heard that the city tour was a bore, so we definitely made the right decision to ditch and ended up having a great time :) We then went back to the hostel, rested up a bit, then got ready to head out on the town and experience the night life of Lisboa! 

The next morning, we took the bus to another part of Lisbon, called Belem. Here, there was a huge park on the water where we took some pictures and were intrigued by the street performers. Bailey, Lara, Christina (another student we met from Boston), and Adam (a student from Ireland!) were all craving McDonalds and heard there was one near. The other girls were just going to lay out in the park and I was wanting to explore, so I went on the hunt for McDonalds. It was a little bit of a walk along the water, and we got to pass through a pretty market on our way too! We found McDonalds (the most high-tech McDonalds I have ever seen in my life), and ate our meals outside sitting in the grass of another park. We then went to order “postres” (desserts) that are famous in Portugal. Mine is pictured :) they were different, but actually really tasty! Walking back, we saw a street performer painted all golden and wearing an elaborate golden outfit. She sat peacefully cross-legged in the grass, one hand on each knee, holding a stack of cards in one hand. When she heard someone drop coins into the box in fron of her, she slowly took her other hand and took a card out of the stack. Then she slowly bowed down as she handed the card to the person (eyes closed the whole time). Bailey and I got our futures from her! We couldn’t understand them because they were in Portuguese, but the bolded word on my card meant “power”. Who knows what that means for my future! We then walked back to the bus, and were off to the next city, Coimbra. Right when we got there, we started heading up narrow, steep, cobblestone streets for a good half an hour. There were two churches on the way that we stopped and to listen about, but I was not impressed. We saw some pretty views, but there was nothing too special about this city; none of us were quite sure why we’d stopped there. But we did get to eat Pizza Hut for dinner, which was absolutely delicious :) (a very American day of food, I know). We then caught the bus and left for the next city: Porto! We arrived around 8ish, and as everyone else in the group went out, all but two of us UNI girls stayed in our hostel and had a slumber party, wanting to rest up for the next day.

We woke up the next morning, ate breakfast in the hostel then toured through Porto. The city is beautiful, something about the atmosphere made me so happy there! After our tour we went to the river to sit and bask in the sun (the weather and sun never failed us). I got a sandwich at a café near the water along with a strawberry milkshake. The sandwich was so yummy, the milkshake on the other hand, not so yummy. It was actually pretty gross, but I had a little bit of a withdrawal from ice cream so it sufficed. About an hour later, a few of us went to the restaurant right by where we were sitting, sat outside, and ordered sangria. It was a perfect afternoon :) I got my first little sunburn of the year and it was so worth it! We then went to a wine tasting and tour of a wine museum. It was interesting since I know nothing about wine! For the tasting, we tried port wine – one white and one red. Both of them were yucky. Then we went on a boat tour through the city. It was a really pretty boat! We sat inside because it was chilly, but it was very pretty nonetheless; we all know I love being on the water anywhere. That night we all dressed up for Carnaval and celebrated Portuguese style! Carnaval is the celebration that lasts up to a week in Spain that celebrates Fat Tuesday/the beginning of Lent. People dress up crazy like we would for Halloween in the US!

The next morning we all woke up with one hour to pack, eat breakfast, get dressed and check out. Then we walked to the river one more time to relax until we had to get back on the bus. We slept on the way to Braga, where we toured two GORGEOUS churches/cathedrals, and then had some free time to explore the city. Instead I sat with Michelle, Emma, and Drea and ate some delicious churros (the best I’ve had all semester!) Then we hopped back on the bus and slept all the way home to Oviedo! We got home around 2am, so needless to say, I slept until the last minute when I had to get up and return to classes.

It was an AMAZING trip. I can safely say that I would return to Portugal later on in life and be perfectly happy :)

Sorry again for the length of this post. And the HUGE delay. More to come about more of the semester! Hopefully soon :) Missing everyone!