Lagos and the magical Power Hour..

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Lagos…whew!....What a wacky crazy week!

I must admit I wasn’t planning to go to Portugal but when every second person you meet is saying.. go to Lagos!... go to Lagos… its hard to ignore.

So long story short ‘I went’ and it was loads of fun. Since being there I reckon I’ve told another 20 people to go and about half already have. Basically Lagos is the poor’s man’s Ibiza. It’s a massive party town down in the Algarve in the south of Portugal located right on a beautiful beach.

Unfortunately however, the tourist population is about 70% Aussies’ which is a bit frustrating, especially if you’ve travelled half way around the world to get away from them in the first place. In fact, it’s the only place I’ve been where you regularly hear the words.. “not another bloody Aussie!”. Everywhere else on this planet were welcomed with open arms.. not so in Lagos! LOL

I actually travelled into town with a few people I met in Portugal. We checked in to the infamous ‘Rising Cock’ hostel. It’s famous all around the world for their wild parties, copious amounts of drinking and endless fun activities. Basically if your under 0.05 at the this place.. your not welcome. Initially we checked in for 4 nights, but I left after the first one. I simply couldn’t do it..

Maybe I’m growing up a bit, maybe I’ve already had too much of it this year or just maybe it was the 30 odd screaming 20 years old running around the hostel that drove me crazy.. whatever is was I had to leave. The next morning I got up, went for a walk and found another hostel just around the corner called ‘Gold Coast’. As it turns out it was much better.

A bigger, newer and quieter place that still had a good vibe but were you could sleep at night. Besides in Lagos there’s plenty of crazy bars and wild party’s out on the streets if you want it. So this way I had the best of both worlds.. I could party when I wanted (and trust me I did!) and then retreat back to the hostel to sleep a bit when I wanted to.

Anyway the culture is Lagos is very simple. You sleep in till lunch time, go to the beach in the afternoon and then party all night. The evening consists of a late dinner around 9pm, then drinks back at your hostel till midnight and then you go out. I’m not joking literally at midnight everynight, swarms of backpackers hit the streets and go to one of about 4 or 5 different bars. It really is crazy.. it’s an instant party.

Anyway Lagos also has one other world famous party trick! Its called “Power Hour” and is run by the good people at Casa Rosa. It’s a small little restaurant bar in town. Basically for 10 euro’s you get a meal (good size too) and all you can drink (beer and wine!) for one hour.. And trust me your on the clock.. As you can imagine it gets very messy.

We (me and my new friends from the hostel) went there five nights in a row… One of the guys who came with us was a semi-pro NFL line backer.. he consistently drank 9-10 pints each night within the hour… Needless to say he could drink beer. Apparently the local record was 14 pints in one.. I’ve no idea how someone did this, but apparently its true!

The best I could manage was 7 pints.. followed by a quick trip to the bathroom!! Aaah.. the joys of backpacking! And don’t forget this is just the warm up… after this you actually go out… Like I said crazy town.. Then you spend the night roaming from bar to bar and back again… Wasn’t unusual to be getting home at 5-6am most mornings.. hence the need to sleep to lunch time every day.

Quick TD Disclaimer: For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while you may start to think I’m becoming an alcoholic. Not True! Whilst my alcohol tolerance has increased (substantially) it’s just what you do when backpacking, its part of the culture. Your meeting so many people everyday it’s just the thing to do at night.. kinda of like a social ritual. I know I probably need to slow down a bit but it’s really hard with newbies rolling in the door every day.. The thing I’ve found very interesting is that I haven’t really put on any weight either… weird hey.. how can one man drink so much beer in six months and stay the same.. anyway??

So that’s Lagos. If you like to party go there. If you don’t, go somewhere else. The beaches a beautiful, the food is good and the nightlife is crazy!

Next stop Lisbon. Let’s hope it’s a bit quieter….

ND xox

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