Portugal!!

Road trip to Portugal in a manual car? Yes please!! It's a 5.5 hour drive from Granada, Spain to Lagos, Portugal. We made one stop for 3 minutes and made the trip in 5. We left Granada around 10:30 PM Wednesday night and arrived in Lagos around 3:30 AM Thursday morning.

Thursday, after we went to bed and then woke up again, :) we explored the old city of Lagos. It has an old fort and huge stone walls that were used to protect the city from invasion by sea. We relaxed at the beach for a few hours and then we walked around the streets and explored all of the parts of town. We saw a lot of unique architecture in the old buildings and homes. We got to go to the grocery store and I got to cook in a kitchen for the first time in 5 months! It was an amazing feeling. We had pasta with a homemade tomato cream sauce, that I made minus a couple ingredients, but it wasn't bad at all, steamed vegetable, and a huge fruit salad. It was nothing that gourmet, but it was great to be able to cook again. We enjoyed a nice bottle of red Portuguese wine as well.

Friday, we cooked a real American breakfast that consisted of cheesy scrambled eggs, real American bacon, and toast. It was yummy. Then we headed out in route to Lisbon. The route we chose was in the middle of a National Park and Forest and along the coast. Needless to say, it was an incredible drive. We decided to stop along the way in coastal towns that were just incredible! They were breathtaking and no photos can do them justice. We found an old rusty, shipwrecked boat on a practically hidden beach-it was an incredible sight to stumble upon. We stopped at four towns along the way and we are calling them the "Quatro Terre's" like Italy's Cinque Terre. :) While driving to Lisbon, we started to get hungry and look for places to eat. That was just after the last town and all the sudden it was just grass everyone and land, nothing else. Finally we came to a town and we were probably the only tourists that had been there in the last 10 years, but we stopped at the first and only restaurant in town. It was a hamburger, fry, and pizza place. We were in heaven!! Our food was delicious and we were so happy! Then we continued our journey and arrived in Lisbon late Friday night and went to bed.

Saturday we woke up and explored all of the many neighborhoods in Lisbon. I realized that Lisbon seemed very familiar and that's because it is...it's EXACTLY like San Francisco. There are hilly streets, trolleys, and even a red Golden Gate Bridge! It was so similar it's incredible! We visited St. George's Castle, which is in the center of the city on a hill and we had a great overlook of the entire city. We went to the most enormous outdoor flea market (even bigger than the one I've been to in SF) and bought some hand made Portuguese Pottery (which I'm going to love, because it's going to by my carry on partner on the flight back to the US and I'm determined I WILL LOVE IT-I have to, because it's heavy and we might as well just be friends now). Then we saw the Monastery, which is an incredible piece of artwork in itself. The outside of the building is phenomenal. Went back to the hostel and took a siesta and woke up for dinner. We had an absolute seafood feast: a whole crab, complete with Portuguese stuffing, the Portuguese specialty of whole sardines, and Portuguese cooked shrimp. It was all delicious. I actually loathe sardines, but I decided that since they were a specialty of the country that I was visiting, then I must try them. I always try to sample toe local food and drink. I'm glad I did, because they weren't half bad with olive oil and lemon juice. :)

Sunday we woke up and started our 7.5 hour journey home. We made stops along the way in small towns. We saw an old Posada that was inside of a castle and had a tower. We climbed to the top and got a gorgeous overview of the city. We continued on our way and got back home around midnight.

It was really fun to be able to do a European Road Trip. I really enjoyed it and being able to see all the countryside. It was gorgeous and well worth it.