Portugal

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Day 28: Lagos. I had a goodbye breakfast with Steph this morning, and then I went to get my Bla Bla Car to Lagos. BlaBlaCar is a website that's essentially organized hitchhiking. You create a profile and find out if someone is going the same way as you. They charge you a bit for gas, but they drop you off at your destination and you get a good conversation on the way. My ride was a guy named Gabriel from Seville. We picked up a Swedish guy from the airport and had a really nice ride into PORTUGAL! My hostel is amazing. I got a 10 minute spiel about everything to do and everywhere to go. I immediately went to the beach. Oh my God this place is paradise. Crystal clear water, huge rocks, cliffs, and sand. Clear skies and sun always. I then went grocery shopping after laying on the beach for a while and got NOT BREAD. YES. At the hostel I met a Canadian named Celeste and went back to the beach with her. We made salads for dinner and hung out with people on the terrace. I am the only American here. Everyone is Australian and Canadian.

Day 29: Lagos. Seriously. Paradise. I woke up and spent 6 hours on 3 beaches. Then I came home, made dinner, and went out with a bunch of Canadians and Aussies. Still the only American.

Day 30: Lagos. I met two guys (obviously Aussies) in my hostel who I had shared a hostel with in Valencia! Immediate friendship. The three of us plus another girl (Gloria. Aussie.) decided to rent kayaks and do our own kayak tour because we don't follow rules! It was cloudy. Boo. But we kayaked around for three hours into random caves and grottoes and had the most unbelievable day. I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was kayaking, but Gloria had a GoPro, so stay tuned. At one point I was dared to jump out of the kayak into the water of a dark cave. Obviously I did it. We had lunch on a secluded beach. Then the sun came out. I love Lagos. THEN. THEN! we decided to go cliff jumping. The boys decided the water was too cold, but Gloria and I champed it. We swam out about 100 meters to a huge plateaued rock. We couldn't climb all the way up, but we got up high enough that I was terrified. And then we jumped off! Twice! Also GoProed (it's a verb now). We swam back in and got the most massive burgers with the boys for dinner at a place called NahNahBah (Aussies. Everywhere.)

Day 31. Lisbon. There are 31 days in July! I was so happy to remember that and I got an extra day because of it! I went to Lisbon today because I wanted to leave Lagos on a high note. I basically took a train and got to my hostel and spent the night being a bum. The guy at the hostel was super awesome and we sang songs together.

Day 32. Lisbon. Happy August! Oh crap, I only have 12 days to get back to Budapest. I wandered around Lisbon today, which is a gorgeous city. I don't have too much to say about what I did. Saw some buildings. Saw some bridges. Walked a lot. Forgot to eat. Took a train to Porto. Got super lost on my way to my wine hostel. Wine. Hostel. Drank port in my port hostel in Porto, Portugal.

Day 33. Porto. TODAY IT RAINED. It poured in Porto. I had to buy an umbrella. I can't even be mad because it was the first day of rain in my 32 days of traveling. I read an entire book at various cafes and restaurants. Read the book We Were Liars. BUT DON'T READ IT IN PUBLIC. Oof. It cleared up for a bit, so I walked around. Porto is gorgeous. Even in the rain. After having tapas for dinner with a new friend (Aussie), we met some other people in the hostel (not Aussie) and drank port with them. Again, in Porto. Alliteration is awesome.

Day 34. Porto. I had every intention of crossing the river, going to the port caves, and tasting port right from the barrels. Every intention. I left my hostel and walked along the river through all of the tourists and booths and restaurants. At the very end of the stretch, right before the bridge (I almost made it!), I saw a dog. Naturally, I had to stop and pet it. It looked like it was at a booth for some sort of humane society. THEN I SAW THE PUPPIES. There were two 1-month old puppies. A boy and a girl. They had been abandoned and were up for adoption. I held both. The girl was calm. The boy was squirmy. I fell in love with the boy. He fell in love with me. I held him and handed him out to people. I told the woman who was working the booth that I worked there now. She was okay with it. I was at that booth for THREE AND A HALF HOURS. The boy napped in my lap. He thought I was his mother. Everyone was telling me to adopt him. I was telling me to adopt him. But I couldn't 😞. It was the best day ever though. I was so sad to leave to catch my train.

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Comments

[Home and Away]

I hope you post your pictures on these blogs...
as they provide the visual complement to the written. It sounds like you are having the time of your life!

[Pedro]

Thanks for featuring Portugal!
Portugal has been a hidden gem but it's starting to get noticed by virtue of multiple awards that start to ad up in the last couple years. All these awards are a testament to the quality of the attractions in Portugal. For your readers visiting Portugal, I recommend using services like www.WiserGo.com which let's you design several travel packages with Portuguese agents, select your favorite, they will book everything and provide customer support while you're in Portugal. Since they are local agents, they know the ins-and-outs of everything and you get to experience the country as a local!