Last week, I was reminded of what real studying actually feels like. Midterms at my abroad program really snuck up on me and hit me hard. I was so stressed, getting four hours of sleep a night, and on a strict diet of chocolate and earl grey tea. I was so glad all of the madness was over on Thursday afternoon.
Right after my Italian class, I took a packed bus to the train station and then a bus to Ciampino Airport. I had a while before my flight actually left, so I took advantage of the free perfume samples at the duty free store. My journey is a little confusing because I took a plane to Madrid and then from Madrid I took a bus to get to Portugal. It seems a little round about, but I was going with my friend Alyssa on a bus trip to Portugal that she had signed us up for. I was really nervous about making the bus because they said they would only wait until 12:30 and my flight got in at 11:20. Well it was supposed to get in at 11:20 and actually got in at 11:45. So I had to run to a cab and ended up getting to the bus at 12:10. It was a very hectic situation, but at least I made the bus!
The bus ride to Lagos, Portugal was around 10 hours. The bus was extremely uncomfortable and I really didn’t sleep much. We had a few hours in the hotel to rest before we went on a boat cruise of the coast of Lagos. My friends and I walked around and found a café with fresh croissants and a grocery store so we could stock up on snacks for the bus ride for the next day. After that, we headed down to the harbor.
The boat took us around to see the caves that are built into the cliffs on the shore. They were so cool to look at. They kind of reminded me of the caves I saw on Iona. The boat stopped and everyone jumped into the water. It was around 75 degrees out and the water wasn’t too cold. I got right out though because I tend to panic in open water. Something that was really noticeable was how salty the water was. I had crystals forming all over my body! The cruise lasted around 4 hours. After the cruise, I was famished. We went to the first place we saw and ordered cheeseburgers and fries. Not the most authentic Portuguese food, but it did the trick. It’s the first burger I’ve had since I’ve been here, and it was definitely not the same.
We had split up from the group for dinner, so we had a bit of trouble finding our way back to the hotel. It probably took us 1 hour of walking around the small city and asking for directions, when it should have taken us about 20. After that, Alyssa and I really wanted to see the beach so we asked the concierge for directions. It was so beautiful and we hit it just at sunset. The cliffs were blocking out view of the sun, but it was still really stunning.
We went back to our room and rested. We planned to walk around the city at night later, but I fell asleep at 8 and didn’t wake up until the next morning. Oops! I got a great night of sleep though. There was a great breakfast at the hotel the next morning and then we got on the bus to go to Lisbon. The bus ride took about 4 hours.
We got dropped off at one of the main squares in Lisbon and then headed towards the Castle of St. George, which is a medieval fortress on the top of a hill in Lisbon. It was really amazing and the view out onto the sea was breathtaking. We headed back down towards another main street in Lisbon and had free time to go get lunch. This time, I ordered grilled cod, authentic Portuguese food. It was really good! I just had to watch out for the fish bones. We then got back on the bus to go see the other side of Lisbon, which is very far to walk to.
This was definitely my favorite part of the whole trip. We saw the Tower of Belem and another statue dedicated to the explorations of Portugal during the 15th century. They were right on the water and just so beautiful. Our bus took us to our hotel, which was not as nice as the first one, but still manageable. I showered and then Alyssa and I went to an Italian restaurant across the street. It was really good! It was a Portuguese spin on Italian food, which was really interesting to experience. We walked around the area after and bought ice cream bars and then went to bed. The next morning we had another nice breakfast at the hotel and then got back on the bus to go back to Madrid. We arrived about 8 hours later. I stayed with Alyssa and then woke up for my flight this morning.
It was a really fun weekend and I can’t believe I’ll be going back to Spain and Portugal this spring with my choir from school!
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