From Appalachia to Andalucía: Semana Santa Part Two: Roadtrippin' Portugal

Erin and Sam...are we there yet?

Thumbs up for the best driver this side of the Atlantic!

Our adventure began fairly early (9am) on Thursday of Semana Santa, we all met up (some of us later than others) and took the bus to the airport to pick up our sweet new rental, a 2007 Ford Fiesta. Fiesta we had indeed.

We piled into the cute (and a bit small) manual drive, Rose was behind the wheel, I was riding shotgun, and Sam, Joni, & Erin sat in the cozy backseat. We set off without directions, just an urge for adventure, a full tank of gas, open road, and a general direction to head in (that is until Erin’s phone finally got service...then we MapQuest-ed it).

Our destination: Lisbon, Portugal

Our first stop was a cute little town called Faro. Really it was just an excuse to get out and stretch our legs, there wasn’t much to see, but it was a good break from the Fiesta. We saw a great street art mural, a little bit of the inter-coastal waterway, and grabbed some ice cream before hitting the road again.

These kids have a knack for finding playgrounds

Two and half hours later we rolled into Lisbon. Although we got a little turned around (partly my fault and partly the fault of Portugal for having really confusing road signs), we eventually found the apartment where we’d be CouchSurfing. Pedro, our host for the weekend, was still at work so we took the opportunity to walk around the neighborhood and found ourselves in a really neat little park just up the hill.

After playing on the playground and watching a great sunset we headed back to meet Pedro. Pedro was absolutely the greatest CouchSurfing host you could ever hope for. Not only is he sweet, welcoming, and excited to share his country with you, he also offered us one of the coolest apartments ever to stay in for the weekend. For free. All to ourselves. That’s right, thanks again to the amazing organization CouchSurfing, we got to meet this wonderful person and stayed in our own private top-floor penthouse.

View from the terrace

Hanging in the living room, check out that cool mood lighting.

My bed hanging over Erin's and Rose's

That night we went to eat at a really delicious Nepalese restaurant and I had the first spicy food since moving to Spain, something I’ve really missed. We ate spicy masala, drank the local beer called Sagres, tried Portugese almond liqueur and almond brandy, and had a great time getting to know Pedro, and although the bill was a little more than we had intended, it was all worth it. That night we stayed in and I slept in a very comfortable Brazilian hammock, which reminded me of how much I miss hanging in my ENO hammock!

The next day we started our Friday morning with a café and a fresh baked pastry from the bakery on the street below us, it was our morning ritual for our entire time in Portugal since they made some delicious, cheap, and fresh pastries. I tried a new one (or two) everyday!

Pedro sitting with us on a wall over looking one of the beaches
in Cascais.

Just sittin' on another wall in Cascais

It was a little windy...

Aren't they just precious? L-R Rose, Joni, Sam, & Erin

Just around the corner from the surf competition

Watching the surf competition, friends in the foreground,
Cabo da Roca in the background, sky above, and sand below.
It's a good way to be!

Pedro, who aside from being a great host and a dental technician, spends some of his time working for a tour guide company called We Hate Tourism Tours (check out this awesome video of him: Costas) which means he knows the best of the best. He drove us to a beach town called Cascais where we walked around, sat on some walls enjoying the ocean view, ate the best mango and coconut gelato this side of Italy, and took in some sun. From there we sat on the beach and watched a surf competition before driving up to the most western point of continental Europe: Cabo da Roca.

Joni on her perch

If you squint really hard I swear you can see the US....

Mmm fresh roadside Pão com chouriço da praia...

My goodness was this a beautiful place to be, we got there just in time to see a rainbow arcing over the hills as the rain passed by us. We stayed in the beautiful spot atop the cliffs of Portugal until it was just about sunset, from there Pedro drove us through a really cool town called Sintra before driving us down the scenic route on the way towards ‘home’, but not before stopping at a road-side choripan stand for a hot and fresh baked treat. Choripan, to describe it simply, is fresh bread stuffed with chorizo which is then baked in a wood-fire oven. A simple and delicious snack for the ride back to the penthouse.

MMMM, SOOO GOOD!

That night we cooked our own dinner in Pedro’s parents’ apartment and hung around our sweet penthouse (see how I keep using that word? It’s to make sure you know how awesome it was...). Ah yes, our penthouse with it’s rooftop view, good friends, comfy furniture and really chic mood lighting. There we ate our dinner and drank our drinks for a bit while playing some card games. The chicas and Pedro had decided to go out, but seeing as it was very late, I decided it was in the best interest of the group for me to hang back (well that and I had my awesome Brazilian hammock to look forward to).

The next day we started our afternoon with another pastry stop in the bottom floor bakery before taking on Lisbon itself. We hopped in our Fiesta and headed towards town, riding around a few roundabouts before finally deciding on a place to park.

A fixer upper you might say

Walking downtown isn't complete without some pigeon chasing.

One of the many politically charged pieces of street art.

The urban decay is quite prevalent throughout Lisbon,
their economy is one of the worst in the EU, second only to Greece.

A Ginjha, a liqueur made from ginja berries.

We walked around Lisbon for a few hours, we didn’t have an itinerary which means every corner was a surprise. I really enjoyed walking around Lisbon, once you get to the center it’s pretty easy to find the popular attractions. We managed to get a taste of the local liqueur A Ginjinha, made from sour cherries, while sitting by a fountain in front of the National Theatre D. Maria II. There we managed to see a really funny commercial being filmed in the middle of the plaza, they had a guy trying to give his lines to a camera while being suspended in the air, they ran into trouble as they lowered him because he would keep spinning around so they’d re-shoot it.

Poor guy...
(check out the elevator in the right corner)

From there off we went to check out the Santa Justa Elevator, walk through the Triumphal arch that opened up to the Praça do Comercio, which then led to the seaside view of the orange suspension bridge called the 25th of April Bridge where we sat a minute to enjoy the sunset.

To finish off our stroll around Lisbon we decided to seek out some piri-piri chicken, as per Erin’s suggestion. Oh what a great suggestion it was. Piri-piri chicken is barbecued chicken that is covered with a delightfully spicy sauce made from chili pepper, it isn’t too hot, but just enough. It’s a delicious and typical Portuguese fare. After dinner we headed back to the apartment for a relatively quiet night of cards and hanging out.

The next morning we had our final pastry in our ‘regular spot’, by the last day the waitress had an idea of who we were and was really great about being patient with explaining the different types of pastries in Portuguese, something that I swear sounds more like russian than spanish.

Rose writing some post cards after breakfast.

Before packing up the car and heading out we had to make our mark on the lovely penthouse. Pedro has been a couch surfer and host for quite some time and so he’s started the tradition of having each surfer make their mark on his wall with paint and sharpie. We made sure to not go without making our own unique mark over his door, a handprint arch that was made extra awesome by Joni, the artist of our group.

I'm acting as if I was falling off the roof...appropriate face I think

After we gathered everything and cleaned up, it was time to say goodbye to our new friend Pedro. Pedro, if you’re reading this, we’d like to say thank you so very much for being such an open and giving person. You really showed us a great time and I hope to one day return that favor if you ever make it to good ole NC. Obrigada!

Fiesta on the ferry!

Off we went back to Sevilla, but not before taking the long way along the coast for some quick beach hopping. Pedro also gives great directions to the best beaches in south Portugal. Although we didn’t have the best weather, we still made the most of the time we had on the beach and soaked up some sun, tried our hand at casting messages in a bottle into the ocean (unfruitful attempts, but fun nonetheless), and Joni and Rose even went for a (very quick) swim. We hopped back in the car and made our way back home at a leisurely pace. We got into Sevilla around midnight and dropped the car off at the airport.

Sam and I walked back together from the bus stop to our neighborhood of Los Remedios. We stopped in the OpenCor for a sandwich and chips and sat on the Puente de San Telmo to eat. The sandwich wasn’t anything special, it was the company and singing to Moulin Rouge that made it the perfect ending to a great trip.

These crazy kids got in the chilly water...I stuck my feet in

Portugal was so much fun, it’s sad to think that it’s the last trip we’ll all be taking together since these are our final weeks here in Sevilla. Our time together has been short but really sweet, I’m really glad that Joni, Erin, and Rose live so close and I don’t doubt that there will be some more road-tripping when we all get back on US soil to see Sam and Sabrina.

Obrigada to Pedro and obrigada to my chicas for an amazing weekend!