Beaching in Portugal and walking in the Swiss Alps

Hi everyone, Sorry that this blog is so very long overdue! Haven't quite had time to sit still and write it out, however hopefully getting up to date shortly. So I'll start by taking you back to July...

Girls netball trip to Leeds
So it was that I was reunited with the girls from netball that I hadn't played with since before I went to South America last year as we gathered at KingsCross Station and travelled up to Leeds for a weekend of corporate games netball. Of course I was playing for BNP Paribas (sorry PwC!). The train trip up was one of the highlights of the weekend... all planned out by Hannah with wine flowing and M&S platters aplenty, I did feel sorry for all those sat around this very loud group of girls! Once in Leeds, we all felt like we were back at university, as we stayed on campus at Leeds University Halls, each of us with our own basic room, complete with a single bed, study desk and lamp! So we tried not to behave like we were back at Uni and I must say I don't think I gave Leeds a chance to show me the best nightlife on offer! We had a really fun weekend, and except for not coming home with the trophy it was a great weekend catching up with all the girls.

Beaching in Portugal
Straight after getting back from Leeds I then packed a bag full of beach gear (yay!) and headed off with Pete down to the portugese coast! We were staying in an amazing villa with some of Pete's friends, complete with swimming pool, deck chairs, five bedrooms, table tennis and even a barbie outside (that's a BBQ for the non-aussies reading this!). We were at a gorgeous little place called Nazaré and spent days by the beach, swimming when it got unbearably hot (although I must add that the water was unbearably cold which was quite surprising!), eating lots of seafood which was grilling on every street corner and also reading a couple of books! That was during the day, by evening, usually Laura created an amazing cocktail which we sipped as the sunset on deckchairs by the villa pool. It was indeed a very tough week!

Nazaré was a curious little town, although very dependent on tourists, the majority seemed to be portugese as it was only a short drive from the capital. So although my spanish wasn't perfect for communicating with the locals, it did go a long way and I was able to get the message across most of time and very occasionally I could even understand what they were saying to me (it does sound quite different to spanish)! One of my funnier experiences however was at the bus station one day, when after I'd given an old portugese lady a sympathetic gesture when the ticket guy yelled at her, she then continued to chat to Pete and I for about 5 minutes in very fast portugese, oblivious to the fact that we didn't understand. Although Pete did manage to pick up what she was saying at one point, which was when she was asking me to guess how old she was ... of course I understated my estimate by 20 years and then I was cemented as her best friend!

What also amazed me was the high number of elderly people that were sitting down on old wooden stools on every street corner in the town's tiny little cobbled streets. They would be gathered in groups chatting away and never without the very important fly swatter which was definitely required in Nazaré!

Trying to surf in Peniche
The beach at Nazaré wasn't suitable for surfing, so one of the days we jumped on the local bus and headed down the coast to a surf beach at Peniche. I had my very thick wetsuit with me and it was definitely required in the chilly waters in this part of Portugal! I hired a board and headed out for just an hour or so as the conditions weren't ideal with massive rips and choppy waves. Regardless however, I did have a ball getting into the surfing and Pete was kind enough to be my official photographer from the shore as he was ruled out of surfing with a foot injury. Then luckily we met up with Sarah and Graham on the beach in Peniche as they'd decided to also head south on a drive that day, so we were whisked back to Nazaré by car avoiding the slow old public bus which was a nice end to the day. Back in Nazaré we had an amazing seafood BBQ and drinks on the terrace, at the villa!

Weekend in

Salsa night in Lisbon
Me being whisked around the dance floor by one of the salsa instructors in Lisbon at Bar Latino

Lisbon
At the end of the week on the beach, we then headed to Lisbon for the last two days of holiday. I'd been to Lisbon a few years ago and knew that the city's sights were easily achievable in a day, so I spent the rest of my time getting amongst the shops as Lisbon has some amazingly large shopping centres! We also had a great night out dancing salsa at a club recommended by a friend. Pete even arranged with the salsa teacher at the club to ask me to dance! He was then ready with the camera to snap lots of pics whilst I was being whisked around the dance floor by the salsa instructor (see the pic)! It was a really fun night although I definitely don't bounce back from the late nights like I used to!

Visiting Nicole in Switzerland
On the first weekend in August, Pete and I went to Switzerland to visit our friend Nicole, who we'd travelled with in Costa Rica last year for over a month. It had been over a year since I'd seen Nicole, so it was a very happy reunion when she kindly picked us up at the airport late on Friday night after our arrival, and drove us up into the Swiss Alps in torrential rain, around 365 hairpin turns up to the little village of Arosa where she lives.

I can not describe the amazing the surprise I had however upon waking up on Saturday morning! It had been pitch black and pouring rain when we arrived, however I woke up not only to a perfectly blue sky and sunshine aplenty, but also in the middle of some absolutely spectacular scenery! I was infact in one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen. Arosa is a ski resort by winter and it seemed quite a popular summer resort as well, especially with it being the swiss national day long weekend.

Swiss cow bells on cue
We decided to make the most of the gorgeous weather, heading for a walk up further into the Alps, our destination being a pub up in the mountains serving great food and refreshing beer! As we were walking along with Nicole and her boyfriend Gogi, I was asking if there were many farms this far up in the mountains? To which Gogi replied 'No, you wouldn't see that up here usually'... Just at that point we rounded a corner to a deafening sound of a whole herd of cows, all with different sized bells chiming in different tones as the farmers herded them along. It was beautiful to listen to and amazing to come across this as we were walking in the mountains!

We had a beautiful lunch sitting outside in the sunshine at a wooden chalet style pub serving great home food and swiss beer. We then headed back down the hill (which was a lot harder on the knees than climbing up earlier!) to a little village along and caught the local train back to Arosa.

Heading up the ski slopes
It's hard to imagine what Arosa is like covered in snow in the winter (but i'm hoping to find out in the upcoming ski season!), however on Sunday we caught the gondola up the usual ski slopes to check out the views down into the village and across the mountain range. Unfortunately it had clouded over right at the top, but the walk down was great, even with the crazy people on bikes hooning past us most of the way! We stopped off at a very cute little church just high out of the village, apparently quite a favourite for weddings and not hard to see why with it's fairytale charm. Even better was the obligatory stop off at a chocolate shop where i purchased some rather crazy chili chocolate!

Fantastic swiss hospitality
Nicole and Gogi were perfect hosts for the weekend, particularly the delicious breakfast spread each morning, complete with swiss yoghurt (from Arosa) and museli, swiss honey and locally made cheese, fresh bread and fruit, it was a great start to the day. We also had a great dinner out at a mexican restaurant in the village on saturday night which had a really nice vibe. All in all, if you're looking for a great weekend away ... I couldn't recommend Arosa enough!

That's enough from me for now, I'll have another blog hopefully out soon.

Hope you're all well,
Tamara x

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