I Love Portugal

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Okay, so I'm pretty annoyed right now. I just wrote this entire entry and it didn't save so now I have to rewrite it. Ugh! Hopefully I can remember everything...

So...I'm back in Dublin now for the 4th time. This place is starting to feel like my home away from home. But really it's nice to be able to come back to a familiar place once in a while. Not to mention back to English! But I miss the sun already.

My time in Portugal was amazing. I absolutely loved it there and didn't want to leave. After my night in Lisbon I went south the Lagos for 2 nights. But I loved it there so much I ended up staying 3 nights. It's such a strange little town. It is basically a beach town run by backpackers. Everyone visiting the town are backpackers, and everyone working there are backpackers who didn't want to leave. It had a great, laid back atmosphere, I could definitely see how people could end up sticking around for a while. My first full day there I went on a surf trip to a beach on the west coast with Cody, a guy from my hostel. It was great! We got a 2 hour private lesson! And I actually started to get the hang of it and was able to catch a few waves. Sooo much fun. That night everyone at the hostel went out to a restaurant/bar for supper and then a night out on the town. I thought Dublin had a lot of bars. It has nothing on Lagos. I spent pretty much all the next day on the beach (gorgeous) and went out for supper/drinks with everyone from the hostel again that night. I didn't want to leave but I only had a few more days in Portugal and so much left to see so I forced myself to go back to Lisbon the next day.

Tuesday I went to Sintra, a cute hilltop town about an hour west of Lisbon. It was so pretty! The most popular tourist spot there is Pena Palace, which is a castle way up on top of a hill overlooking the town. It was probably the most impressive thing I've seen so far. So different from the castles I saw in Ireland and Scotland, as you can see from the pics. I loved how colorful it was. And the inside was amazing too. I tried to take pics but got in trouble...apparently that's not allowed....so you'll just have to take my word for it, it's awesome.

So, according to my Lonely Planet (aka my travel bible) Portugal is known for port wine (check), Manueline architecture (check), custard tarts (check check check) and Fado music which I had yet to see. So that night a I roamed around the city with another girl from the hostel looking for some Fado music. But apparently Fado is a pretty expensive show (€20!!) so us cheap backpackers had to settle for what we could see by poking our heads into the bars before getting kicked out by the bouncer. What we heard sounded nice though. So we settled for some custard tarts and a beer.

The next day I did more siteseeing of Lisbon. I must say, Lisbon is much more impressive the second time around. Maybe I just didn't have enough time the first time I was here. This time I got to see the huge Jesus statue on the cliff overlooking the city (very impressive), the Monestary of Jeronimos, and the Belem Tower, all were great. I then took a bus to Porto, where I spent the night, and I flew to Dublin this morning. I'm here for a few days until I meet Leigh Ann in Glasgow on Sunday. Yay! Can't wait for a familiar face.

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Comments

[Mom]

Wow Wow Wow
I am dumbfounded astonished and amazed........what a place and you look so great with your surfboard........loved the pictures. I am so glad that your are meeting up with your friend........whew.....got through it......Now I can relax...... Love you and miss you.

[Kim Cunningham]

Wow Wow Wow !!!
Hi Jenny, I have been living vicariously through each and every step so far of your trip.I hope you don't mind your Mom has been sharing all this with me .I have only one regret in my life thus far and that is that when I had the opportunity (being single and young)that I didn't do the Europe thing .I have traveled extensivly elsewhere ,but not Europe yet.Years ago when I took a college course in Halifax it was one on my list.I am not so much into the London Big Ben thing ,I am however into the whole Portugal thing and the Greece /greek isle thing.I have been interested in that side of things as well as the south of France etc. When I was in college years ago,when I finished a very good friend of mine finished with me .Her father for graduating sent her on a trip to Europe.She did the whole summer and the whole hostel backpack thing.One of her favorite places believe it or not was Norway.She found the people so nice and it was very clean. Anyway that being said ,I have always wanted to do Portugal.I have read up on the various sites and distinguishing fucets of Portugal from the Port Wine as your refer to to the hand painted tiles.You see I have been making wine for about 8 years now and I did pottery for 5 .So its all good so to speak.I also read up on renting a villa etc.Seems very reasonable.I also like the close proximity to Greece and the Greek Ilses .As this is also a spot of intrigue for me.So glad to hear you are enjoying as much as I imagined I would .Keep the beautiful pictures comming and watch out for those Italian men when you get there !I hear they can be quite persuasive!!I have always been a sucker for the whole tall,dark and handsome thing ,not to mention the accent oh la la !So keep all this comming !And I hope this is a life changing experience for you .The world is getting smaller and its nice to see that you are able to see all the neighbourhoods (so to speak )it has to offer. All the very best ! Ps : by the way Cody wasn't bad either !I can say that .I know your mother wouldn't !! In

[Dad]

Nice
Great pictures as always! The hostel in Lagos looks like a terrific spot - especially the rooftop patio! I noticed the Canadian flag at your hostel - do you see a lot of Canadians? Keep having fun - and keep up the great commentary on the blog. We all enjoy reading about your adventures! Can't wait to see ALL your pictures. Love Dad