Portugal
Neighboring Spain is the lovely country of Portugal, which is known for it's gorgeous beaches. Since Sevilla is only a couple hours drive away, my program decided to have a weekend trip in Lagos and Portimao. The program had us staying two days and one night, since we knew that it was going to be so beautiful some of my friends and I decided to extend our trip and stay an extra night in Lagos. The plan originally was to just enjoy the beach and the nightlife, and while we still did that in some respects it wasn't exactly what we had planned because it was still pretty cold with high 50s, low 60s and windy.
First we stopped off in Lagos for lunch and to see the amazing rock formations there.
One of my roommates Carley and I
I loved this rock.
All of the rocks were made up of pieces of shells, which I thought was awesome.
After hanging out of the beach for a little bit we went to Portimao for the rest of the day, there we got some drinks walked around the boardwalk town with the view of the ocean below.
Check out those looming clouds in the background!
We got little Portuguese pastries, I don't remember what they were called but my friend Lorena told us they were yummy.
Enjoying the beach before the rain hit.
That night we went out to a couple of different bars and clubs on the board walk, which was really fun. The only thing was that the whole beach town wasn't too busy because it was off season, it probably would have been a lot more exciting if we went in the middle of summer. Regardless we still had fun. One place we went to was playing cool Spanish/Portuguese music and gave us free strawberry daiquiris, which was nice :)
The next day we went back to Lagos, we heard that it was a lot cooler in Lagos then in Portimao and had also heard of a hostel that had a rating of 98%. It was funny because it was called the Rising Cock, but everyone there was super nice and they organized some drinking related activities for us!
We did something called a booze cruise! Basically we got driven around in a boat with like 60 people and got endless beer and sangria as we enjoyed the beautiful Portuguese oceanside. At one point they took people out on a smaller boat and drove us through the rock formations, which was obviously awesome. I stole the pictures above and below cause I didn't want to bring my camera on the boat. A lot of people jumped in the water too, but I didn't because I was having a hard time with the cold, and couldn't even imagine being in the water.
After we got back from the booze cruise we hung out in the hostel and slept off the alcohol a little bit. Across the street was a burger place called NahNahBah, which is one of the top 50 burger places in the world! So obviously we had to hit that up! The place was really cool and we were all very excited to get some delicious burgers.
The burgers were huge! The one that I got had pineapple on it, yummmm.
This was on the porch of the hostel, we all loved that hostel. In the morning Momma, who was an older Portuguese woman made us fresh crepes with jelly and nutella, a nice homey touch.
We got up in the morning and decided to walk around Lagos more to get a better feel for the town. It was such a cute little town, it felt calm and beachy.
Best jumping picture in all of the world. Left to right, Lorena, Belinda, Marielle, and Lauren!
Beaches and Castles
Colorful streets of Lagos
All over the streets they would have mini little mosaics, here is an octopus!
A cool swirly sculpture which I was into cause I'm into swirls hah
We stopped and got some delicious freshly made pizza and then jumped on the bus to head back to Sevilla. Portugal was a very different trip for me, it was a lot more about just enjoying, relaxing, and drinking. A lot of people my age who go abroad are more focused on drinking in all the different cities they visit rather than actually seeing them. Which is an experience I can respect if that's what you want to do, personally I like to really explore. This trip I allowed myself to do more of the college drinking thing which worked out well because the towns we were in didn't have as much to see as some of the other places I've visited. It was a fun little vacation, even though this whole experience kinda seems like vacation :)