Lagos: Emerald water and cruising the Atlantic

I've always loved the ocean and sparkling blue water, but after spending the weekend in the southern tip of Portugal, I have a deeper love and appreciation for it, and will never see any beaches in the same way.

I adored Lisbon, Portugal, when we went with our program in March, and I had heard that Lagos was a MUST to visit because it was so beautiful and so full of life. I signed up with Seema and Alexis to go to Lagos with DiscoverSevilla, a travel agency that works with abroad students and organizes group excursions and trips across Europe.

Early Friday morning we got on a bus and headed west to our neighboring country. Lagos is in the Algarve region, the southern province of Portugal settled right on the Atlantic. The bus ride from Sevilla to Lagos is about 3 and a half hours, and we watched 40 year old virgin on the bus to kill the time.

We were all pretty concerned with the weather because it was raining in Lagos all week and beach towns don't typically thrive submerged in rain storms. Even on the bus it was raining as we entered Portugal. Once we got to Lagos, we checked into the Agualuz hotel- a beautiful, apartment-style hotel that had full kitchens and living rooms in each room. After settling in with our stuff, we decided to walk through the city and see where we were. The streets, like Lisbon's, are all black and white square stones. The center of the city was beautiful-- full of little shops and restaurants. When it started to rain, we headed back to the hotel.

At around 8, we headed down to dinner at NahNahBah--one of the most recommended restaurants in Europe. It has tropical-style food-- everything from garlic hummus to turkey burgers and blue Hawaiians. We got seated in the "champagne room," Big Lebowski themed-- with Uncle Dave's drinks specials and the servers wearing robes. We enjoyed the evening's first drinks there and spent a few hours talking and getting to know some other people on the trip.

From NahNahBah we walked down to Joe's Garage, a small bar with a dancefloor. It was DiscoverSevilla's private party, so it was all of the abroad students taking over the bar. It was such a cool bar, small enough but felt big because of the dance floor. At Joe's, they clean the bar with alcohol and flames, so when you look down, you see the bar on fire. They played hip music and the bartenders were super fun.





The next morning we woke up late and went to the best breakfast place in Lagos, Cafe Odeon. The Odeon has American breakfast for 3 Euros-- pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc. It was very nice to have an American breakfast, that's for certain. After the Odeon we headed out to what I would say is the trip's highlight--THE SANGRIA CRUISE. We sailed the open Atlantic and once we got to caves and grottoes, took a smaller boat and got to go into the caves-- where there was actual EMERALD green water. I couldn't stop smiling- it was by far one of the coolest things I've ever experienced. Seeing the entire, endless, sparkling Atlantic in front of me. We cruised for about 2 hours, and then we got dropped off at Praia Dona Ana, what I would arguably say is the best beach in the world. It is green and blue and full of cliffs and caves. We ate lunch on a terrace overlooking the entire beach and the cliffs, it was absolutely incredible. We laid out for a bit and explored the caves and cliffs before heading back to the hotel.

That night, we took a bus down to Sagres- the southernmost point of Portugal, and the southwestern tip of Europe, where explorers believed was the end of the world. They truly thought that they would fall off the face of the earth if they sailed far enough out. The cliffs were huge and we walked all the way down one enormous rock to see the gorgeous blue water crashing against the cliffs. It was unbelievable to imagine that people once believed this was the end of the world.


After Sagres, we headed back to Lagos and ate at an Indian restaurant. After dinner, we went to what is by far my favorite bar in the world-- 3 monkeys. 3 monkeys has a college, hipster feel. The bartenders are all traveling the world and just staying in Lagos temporarily, and they are all from all over. We met people from Australia and South Africa. On the bar was a cowbell that the bartenders would ring, and there was a CD player, where the bartenders would DJ everything from hiphop to funk to hard rock. We didn't plan on staying there for too long, but we all kind of fell in love with the bar and ended up staying for three hours. After 3 monkeys, we met up with a big part of the group who said they'd be heading out to Stevie Ray's, where there are good DJs and live music. We stayed there for a bit before heading home.

We woke up the next day and headed right back to Praia Dona Ana, ate lunch on the same terrace, and spent the entire day on the beautiful beach. It was the warmest and sunniest day we'd had, and it was so special being able to spend it taking in the sun and the view. The water was freezing but I made myself go in so I could say I did, and it was worth the cold :)

It was easily the mot relaxing and enjoyable excursion I've had. It was nice to not have a weekend of all sightseeing and crazy bus rides and tours, and to just relax and appreciate a beautiful place. If I had more time in Spain, I'd make my way back to Lagos in a heartbeat. I am so glad I got to see Lisbon- the cultural and historical part of Portugal, and then Lagos, the beautiful beach and the incredible nightlife.

Until next time,

LP

Southern Spain weekends

Córdoba, Granada, Málaga and Jerez de la Frontera


I spent three weekends in cities all over Andalucia, which is the southern Spain province. Sevilla is the capital city of Andalucia, but I knew I had to see all the other cities too because I had heard Andalucia was magical and by far the best part of Spain. After seeing all these cities, I can say I absolutely agree.

I realized it had only been 3 weekends ago that I went to Granada and Córdoba, when it seriously could've been months ago.

I guess as I sit here and try to recount to everyone the incredible things I have seen on my European adventure, time sort of blurs together and it all is just a montage of sights and sounds. Every sense of mine is heightened here because there is so much to pay attention to. My family is here this week and they have already noticed that I have changed- I am much more patient, tolerant, and mellow-- taking things in all the time has just become so routine to me.

Back to my adventures... my program took us on a weekend excursion to Cordoba and Granada on March 27th. Let me try to describe this-- Sevilla is a city of 750,000-- lush because it's on a river, city-like because of its population,
but it has a small-town feel because everyone walks and bikes everywhere. So every time I go to a different city, no matter where in Europe, it's not difficult to draw comparisons because Sevilla really does have everything: beautiful architecture, great location, insane nightlife, an authentic feel and a whole lot more.

We took a bus down to Córdoba, which took about 2 hours. Córdoba is very very small, and it's crazy because at one point (at the height of the Islamic reign in Iberia) it was the most populated city in the peninsula. Now it is just a very antique looking city with white building facades, flowers everywhere, and narrow roads that just go in a circle. We visited the incredible mezquita, mosque.

The great mosque is actually most recently a cathedral, after the reconquest by the Catholic church, it was turned into a cathedral but the arches and main foundation of the mosque has been left untouched. Building begun in the mosque in 600 A.D.
The coolest thing are its giant arches made of marble and granite- they were made from pieces of the Roman temple and other Roman buildings-- there are thousands and they are red and white. The arches seem endless, and the coolest view is the view of the altar that the church put in once it was reconquested with all of the arches on all 4 sides. After our tour of the mezquita, we took a short walk down to the Synagogue of Cordoba, which is no larger than a small classroom. It was built in the 1300s and has gorgeous Mudejar style carvings on the wall as well as Hebrew etched all around. After the Jews were expelled in 1492, the synagogue was a church and then it was a daycare type facility, and you can see a painted cross that is peeling off amidst the Hebrew lettering. It is so cool. Just a few steps outside the synagogue is a statue of famous forward thinker and Jewish philosopher Maimonides, who was born in Córdoba.






We ate lunch in Córdoba and then headed down to Granada. I was ecstatic to visit Granada, as I heard it was one of the best cities in Spain and home to authentic tapas and incredible architecture. We got to our hotel in Granada and started exploring the city. We met up with ISA and then we were told we would be doing a hilly walk. It was about 9 pm and we begun walking up cobblestone stairs until we reached an incredible view. At our backs was the SPECTACULAR Alhambra, the palace and fortress built in the 14th century all lit up on top of the hill. Granada is situated in the Sierras so its absolutely gorgeous to see the snow capped mountains and the huge palace on top of the hill. After taking in the view, we walked down and into this cave-type place to watch a private flamenco show. It was cool but not as passionate as I expected it to be, but we sipped our tinto veranos and enjoyed the music. We went down for tapas and drinks and barhopped around the center of Granada.

The next day we had the whole morning touring the Alhambra. I could write a novel on what the Alhambra is, but I will reduce it to this: it's bigger than pictures or words could ever describe, it's a series of palaces and fortresses overlooking the whole city, each inch is perfectly carved and crafted, water and flowers surround it, and archways that are perfectly symmetrical surround every area. Even though it was raining and cold, it was by far one of the most incredible sights I have enjoyed in Europe, and I plan to go back at least one more time in my life.







After our tour of the Alhambra, we got back on the bus and headed home to Sevilla. That night we went out for our friend Jess' birthday and spent the night out with like 20 people from our program. It was fun to go out with a big group, because we normally have like 6 of us.





Brandon came to visit on the 1st and it was so great to have him here. I took him to see the Sevilla sights of course: the Alcázar, Catedral and Giralda, the parque maria luisa and the plaza de espana. No matter how many times I have gone to the sights, they still humble me. Seeing Columbus' tomb and the golden altar at the cathedral, climbing 34 ramps to the top of the giralda, and the gorgeous 9th century Alcázar never cease to impress me.

Brandon and I decided to go down to Málaga, we hopped on a 2 and a half hour train and ended up in one of the coolest spots in Spain. We stayed at a gorgeous villa for a hostel, it is actually the guest house of a mansion-- so it was fully furnished and adorned, it was just like an entire house that was turned into a hostel. After we got to our hostel, we had a pizza party in Málaga's huge plaza, plaza de merced. We toured the Picasso museum and saw some incredible paintings and art. Picasso was born in Málaga, so it's cool to see where he spent much time.We walked to Málaga's cathedral and saw preparations for Semana Santa.







Semana Santa is the week-long festival that Spain celebrates for Easter. Each day several pasos (processions) cross the whole city, and the streets literally fill with thousands upon thousands of devoted Spaniards, watching the Nazrenes in their cloaks and candles and wooden crosses erect, walking perfectly in front of beautiful floats that tell the story of Jesus and his resurrection. The pasos go all night and all day for the entire week, it is impossible to even walk through the city as this is happening because it's just straight chaos. It's the biggest in Sevilla, which got frustrating after a few days but it was still so cool to see how they show their devotion to God and their religion, and I can respect and enjoy their tradition. They dress to the 9s and on Holy Thursday the women are dressed in black suits and black hats with veils. It is such an interesting custom that I thoroughly was impressed by.

In Málaga on Sunday, the day before Semana Santa, we saw incredible pasos going around, beautifully high ceiings, and a youth boys choir singing enchanting Catholic hymns.


After seeing the cathedral and preparations, we explored the incredible Alcazaba. The Alcazaba is a Moorish (Muslim) type fort. We walked through it and sat on the ledge, overlooking the Mediterranean sea. It was a phenomenal view and so special to see. We noticed you could walk WAY higher up and steep road to the main castle, and decided to do that the next morning. Right in front of the Alcazaba is an old Roman theater, which is still very much intact and very cool to see.







We went out to dinner and went to a few bars in Málaga's center. The next morning we woke up and went to the castle, the Gibralfaro. Little did we know it was a TREK and a half to get up there, and we had to check out of our hostel when we left so we had a backpack and all of our belongings as we did this several mile, straight UP, steep path to overlook all of Málaga. It was worth the intense walk because we could see the entire city on all 4 sides. The Mediterranean sea, the mountains, the buildings and the old quarter. It was absolutely stunning and I could've stayed up there all day. It was foggy but it added to the view because it looked like we were above the clouds and could see everything under them.

After that, we walked down to the beach-- la playa Malagueta. It was beautiful and we enjoyed the sun for a few hours before heading back to Sevilla.




At the very end of Semana Santa, myself and three of my friends decided to take a relaxing day trip to Jerez de la frontera-- it's a small town about an hour outside of Sevilla- and after battling the Semana Santa streets it was time for tranquility. Jerez was definitely tranquil. It is such a small town that everything closes down mid-afternoon and we could walk the city end to end in an hour or so. We went to the Gonzalez Byass Factory-- a bodega (winery/sherry factory) that makes Tio Pepe wine and sherry. The tour was awesome, we took a small train through the whole property and explored all the corridors of the factory. It was huge and beautiful and a really nice day to spend outside.







I am loving my life and myself more and more each day. Each of these little experiences has made up a part of this journey, and I am grateful for each and every experience.

Until next time,

LP

Amsterdam

Let me preface this post by saying that Amsterdam is nothing you would ever expect it to be like. Sure, people smoke weed and there are prostitutes in the red light district, but the city is so much more than that. It's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen and it's full of energy and culture.

My friend MacKenzie and I flew from Sevilla to Madrid to Amsterdam on Friday morning, the 20th. After we arrived in Amsterdam, we had to take a train into central station, the train station in the heart of the city. Amsterdam is only populated by 700,000 people, so it's not that big. We soon found that it was very navigable and accessible via tram/walking/biking. Once we got to Central Station, we took a tramline over the canals and got off at our stop.

We checked into our hostel, which, lucky for us, was in the perfect location. After we checked in and locked our belongings in lockers, we ventured out into the Amsterdam streets. Our hostel was about a 3 minute walk from Leidseplein, a square which has a ton of restaurants, bars and coffee shops. We went to eat dinner at an Italian restaurant and walked around. We were exhausted from a long day of traveling that we just decided to call it a night.

The next day we woke up early. We went to Van Gogh museum first thing. It was really great-- I thoroughly enjoyed the way it was laid out. Each section was marked by the years in which the paintings were done, and at the beginning of each an anecdote/story about where Van Gogh was in his life was written out. I learned a lot about him and his life. It was incredible to see Starry Night in person. I loved it. Highly highly recommend the museum.

After Van Gogh, we had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam. It was situated right on a canal and had a beautiful view of the water. We then went to the FANTASTIC wonderful world of Heineken-- where the old brewery has been converted into what's now essentially a museum about Heineken-- its history, its story, and even a 4D ride simulator. We had some beer tasting, watched commercials for Heineken through the years, sat in rooms with Heineken bottles as the ceilings, saw the brewing process and even grounded some hops :) I will never look at a Heineken the same. The factory takes about 2 hours to get through-- there are several rooms and things to do, but it was absolutely worth the time.

After Heineken we were exhausted, and decided to relax and take a canal cruise. Amsterdam sincerely is comprised of hundreds, even thousands, of canals across the entire city. It's absolutely beautiful and the cruise through the canals was awesome. We got a lot of history of the city as well as a beautiful view. It was really cold in Amsterdam, but we were still able to enjoy every moment :)

We went to Anne Frank's house that night. I sincerely have no words for the experience. I hope everyone in their lives gets the opportunity to see what I did at her hiding place. It's kept up so nicely and each room is adorned with quotes from her diary, as well as things that were found in the annex. The most incredible things were the posters on Anne's wall--you could still see all of the celebrities she admired and decorated her room with. Also, in Otto & Edith's (Frank parents) room, a growth chart marked in pencil is still on the wall. It was such a sight. I will never forget what I saw there and really hope to get back there eventually.

After Anne Frank's house we had the best Mexican food I've had in all of Europe. It was completely full inside but we started speaking to the hosts/waiters in Spanish and they let us get seated, even though it was all reserved. :) Spanish skills coming to play across the world, gotta love it.

The following day we woke up early again and headed out to the Keukenhof, the flower fields/gardens 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam. It was the 60th annual festival and it runs every March through May, and this weekend was the first weekend it was open. Not all the flowers were entirely bloomed but we saw hundreds of thousands of tulips and other flowers. It was certainly a sight!

When we got back, we walked around the center of Amsterdam, Dam Square and the Royal Palace are the central buildings. It's surrounded by several streets filled with shops as well, and we spent about 2 hours trying to find Rembrandt (artist) house. The Rembrandt house was not my favorite thing by any means, as it was his real house but simply a model of the things that were in his house, not actual items. Now that I've seen all genuine items I'm kind of a museum/history elite :) The only really cool thing was seeing "boxed beds," which are 17th century beds that are like cabinets and into the wall, square inside.

We went back to dinner at a small Italian cafe and walked around the red light district. It was sad and interesting all at once. These women in the windows spend all their energy on getting men to come in and pay for their services. I am glad I got to see it, as it's a famous spot, but I am also glad we only spent a few minutes there. It was more than enough time. Yes, the windows really have red lights in them, and the girls do stand in them.

After the red light district, we went on a pub crawl in the city. It was a really cool way to see the nightlife scene in Amsterdam, and we met some really cool people from all over the world.

We woke up the next day and checked out of the hostel, and it started to rain. It was freezing and we ate breakfast on the corner of Leidseplein and reflected on our fantastic weekend.

I highly recommend going to Amsterdam, it is such a special city that feels different than any place I've been to in this world.

Until next time,

LP

The last two weekends

Hola a todos!

The last 2 weekends have been incredibly fun-filled and packed with things to do. I can sincerely say I am busy all day every day, and especially so on the weekends. I would not have it any other way. I can't believe I've been here for almost two months, but when I reflect upon all the things I have done in such a short period of time, I can't help but smile.

So two weekends ago, on March 7th, my roommate Seema and I went to our Spanish friend Jose's birthday party. It was so much fun-- we all went to this gorgeous park, parque de alamillo, and all of his friends brought a different dish and we had a picnic/potluck/celebration in the park. They had homemade tinto de verano (red wine& lemonade) and other drinks, too. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and it was a great opportunity to interact with locals. Every day I am luckier and luckier for this special opportunity.



Us with the birthday boy!



The park is a vastly green and huge area, just on the other side of a remarkably tall, modern bridge.

We spent the whole day with Jose and his friends and started to feel like we had a true understanding of the Spanish culture.

That night, Alexis (another roommate), Seema, and I went out to dinner with Alexis' dad, who was in town for the weekend. It was so nice to see visitors, even if they weren't mine.

Last weekend (March 13-15), we took a group excursion to Lisbon (Lisboa), Portugal. It was one of the coolest cities I've ever been, with a tinge of San Franciscan hills, bridges and water.

We took a bus from Sevilla to Portugal. It was not a bad bus ride at all, I sincerely was concerned it would be painful and boring but it's always entertaining with Alexis and me making jokes and laughing for hours- she's the greatest. The bus ride was only 5 or 6 hours, and since we had gotten home from a disco at 6 am and had to leave for the bus at 8, it was a nice way to get some sleep.

We got to the hotel and it was beautiful--Vila Gale Opera was where we stayed, right under the main bridge, called the puente 25 de abril-- april 25th bridge. It's huge and resembles the Golden Gate a whole lot. Our hotel was music themed and each floor had a genre. Alexis and I were on the poprock floor and in the SPICE GIRLS room.

Anyway, we left the hotel shortly after putting our stuff down and getting settled.We took a bus into the main part of the city, the centro comercial (commercial/business center). The bus dropped us off there and from there we walked up to the highest part of the city, St. George's castle-- which overlooks all of Lisbon and the water. It was a stunning view and the crazy trek uphill was worth it.







After having a field day at the castle-- from climbing up narrow staircases to standing at the top of the castle overlooking the city, we headed back down into town. We had the evening to ourselves and we found a cute lunch place in the middle of town-- all over the place waiters waited outside, trying to appeal to the crowds by displaying all their menus in many languages. I was awed that the Portuguese could speak fluent English, Portugeuse, Spanish and a lot of them French as well. The Portuguese accent is very difficult to understand, as is the language- but they were very nice about speaking in English to us.

We were exhausted from the traveling and the sightseeing that we ended up going back to the hotel and not going out after dinner. Oh, strange thing, cabs are mostly white or beige mercedes in Lisbon, and our cab driver was a police officer by day, cab driver by night. The cab rides are adventures in themselves, as the drivers just speed through plazas and don't yield to anything-- not signs, not pedestrians, not cars. It was an experience to say the least.

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel (it was quite nice to have American style breakfast--buffet with amazing fresh kiwi, pineapple and other fruits, scrambled eggs, etc.) and head out for the day. We visited the barrio of Belem, which is a beautiful, historically rich sight.We visited the Jeronimos Monastery which was stunning and had a beautiful church inside as well as the tomb of Vasco de Gama. After the monastery we went back to the bus to visit the gorgeous torre de belem -- belem tower, which looks like a huge sandcastle right on the water. was built in the early 16th century in the Portuguese late Gothic style, the Manueline, to commemorate Vasco da Gama's expedition. It was a defense fortress as well.

Climbing to the top of the torre was another adventure-- it had only one staircase going in both directions, so it took some skill to figure out how to wait to go up or down. It was a narrow, spiral staircase that was such a cool experience.







After the torre de Belem, we went to the monument of the discoveries-- to commemorate Portuguese explorers and discoverers. In front of the unbelievably huge monument was a map that marked all places that Portuguese explorers and discoverers set sail from and where they ended up. The Monument to the Discoveries was inaugurated in 1960 during celebrations of the 500 year anniversary of the death of the Infant D. Henrique (Henry the Navigator). It evoques the maritime expansion and is designed in the shape of a caravel, showing Henry the Navigator at the prow holding a small caravel, as well as many relevant heroes of Portuguese history (Vasco da Gama and other explorers) There was also a huge compass outside of it that was a gift to Portugal from South Africa I believe.

The magnitude of how huge this monument is is inexpressible.

After these visits, we had a panoramic bus tour of Lisboa, and we stopped at these lush green gardens of one of the city's parks. Then we had free time, and we did some shopping (a HUGE and incredible H&M, among other retailers), and stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Sul. Little did we know, the lunch place that only had 5 lunch options--written on a chalkboard out front-- would be one of the best lunches we'd had in all of Europe. We sat upstairs in the quaint, wood-decorated restaurant.

After lunch we walked around the Bairro Alto, the hip part of the city that's filled with bars and vintage shops. Pastry shops line the streets all over Lisboa, as it is famous for its pastries, most specifically pastel de nata-- its a flaky crusted pastry filled with cream. We went to a pasteleria (pastry shop) and each tried one of the aforementioned. The guy working there spoke fluent English and suggested we go to a town outside the city-- in his words "it's a fairytale, you must go."

After picnicking with our pastries in the middle of the city's main plaza, we got to the train station and took a train into the small town, called Sintra. It WAS a fairytale. It was surrounded by castles and palaces and the center was a forrest filled with trees and flowers. It was a tiny village town with little dive restaurants and cafes, souveneir shops and churches. We were so glad we made the choice to go there. It was surrounded by the mountains, but it was also a coastal town so it was the best of both worlds! It started getting cold when dark fell, so we went back to Lisbon on the train and headed back to our hotel.

We went out to dinner right next to where we had lunch at a fabulous Indian restaurant. The street we ate dinner on was the main nightlife street so as soon as we got out of the restaurant the streets were crowded with people with drinks in hand who spilled out of the bars doors. We stopped at a couple of bars and watched the Portuguese drink-- and damn, do they drink-- and enjoy their nightlife. Here in this barrio-- bairro alto, all the young people enjoy the streets and chug their beers.

We decided to go to the discoteca portion of the city, which happened to be right across from our hotel. It was a section called "Las Docas," which was right on the water where all the boats were. It was a legitimate selection of 11 or 12 discotecas, irish pubs, bars, and restaurants-- each with its own character, that's for certain. They were crazy with strobelights and dancing, all of them 2 or 3 floors high. It was really fun going out in Portugal, but I love Sevilla and Spain's nightlife the best.

We left the next morning to head back to Sevilla after an incredible weekend.

Well, sorry for the novel, but that's just 2 weekends worth of stuff- I can't even begin to imagine what I am going to have to say when it's all said and done.

I am going to Amsterdam on Friday and going to the Van Gogh museum, Rembrandt's house, Anne Frank's house, Heineken factory, and the tulip festival!

until next time,

Lauren