Portugal - The Edge of the World

Late on a monday I caught the bus from Spain to Portugal's capital Lisbon. Whilst traveling I had been told about a website called couchsurfing.com. It's a community of travellers where people offer their couch to fellow travellers to sleep on. It's a great way to save money and to meet locals. I had my first couchsurfing experience in Lisbon.

My first impression of the Portuguese people was a good one. After getting lost on the way to my host's house i asked a mother and daughter for directions. They didn't know where the street I was looking for was, so they drove me to a taxi rink and made sure the driver knew where to go before leaving me. So nice !
Soon after I arrived, Miguel and I hit the town. It was a public holiday the next day so everyone was out. We went to a part of town called Bairro Alto. It's a maze of little streets and alleyways with lots of little bars. Like every new country I go to the first thing I learnt to say in the native tongue was how to order a beer. Most people from my generation in Europe speak english. But none of Miguel's friends we were out with that night did, so it was hard trying to communicate.

The public holiday was to commemorate the day the fascist rule ended in Portugal. There was a march down the main street with drumming groups and traditional music. I was nearly hit with a couple of eggs that were thrown by protestors who aren’t happy with the current government. I visited the botanical gardens and wandered around town through the old suburbs of the city. Lisbon is built around a river and there are beaches on its outskirts. I took the train out to one of the beaches called Carcavelos. It was nice just to be lazy and sit in the sun all day. There is a nice area on the way to the beach called Belém which has a big park area. There is a famous bakery there who’s traditional specialty is a kind of custard tart - yummy.

I spent almost a week in Lisbon before I went south to Lagos. My favourite place in Portugal. I’ve found I enjoy the smaller towns much more than the big cities. The beaches in Lagos are amazing. Small beaches protected by high cliffs with bright green water. The first day I arrived I went down to the beach and had a smoke with some americans from the hostel. The hostel I stayed at was really cool. About 15 people staying there. I find this amount of people in a hostel means the atmosphere is more intimate and it's easier to get to know people rather than the bigger hostels, and everyone socialises as one big group. It's funny how some hostels are full of people from one country. In Granada, Spain it was full of aussies. Here in Lagos it was Canadians. I had some huge nights in Lagos. Im not sure what time I got home, all I know is that the sun was up. Being a small town it makes it easy to pub crawl, and to bump into people from the night before.

I also spent a few days in Albufeira which isn't too far from Lagos. The actual place was pretty nice but it was full of fat, ugly middle aged british tourists, bright pink from sunburn and not afraid to show a bit of skin. I did some sunbaking here myself but was still not brave enough to venture into the cold Atlantic.



(note: I had problems uploading the photos of Lisbon. The two on here were the only two that worked.)

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