Viaje: Portugal

I hopped on yet another bus this weekend to travel to another exotic destination: Lagos, Portugal.

Lagos is 5 hours away by bus (with more annoying stops and indirect routes). But it was definitely worth it.

When we finally got off the bus in Lagos, we ended up asking a local for directions to our hostel. But we quickly remembered that they don't speak Spanish in Portugal, and then quickly realized that Portuguese is actually nothing like Spanish. It instead sounds like a crazy mixture of French and German. I could not pick out a single word. (I can actually read Portuguese pretty well--the words are spelled very similarly to Spanish words, but pronounced nothing like it! Crazy!) After much ado, we finally found our hostel. (I will omit the part of the story where we got lost for an hour trying to find the hostel that was actually only 10 minutes away from the bus stop).

Amber, Grace and I stayed at the Gold Coast Hostel.  It was my first time staying in a hostel, so I was pretty excited.

Our room

When we arrived, the guy at the front desk immediately sat us down and gave us the low down on Lagos. He told us about all the great beaches, tourist spots, activities, and even the best places to eat. ("It will look just like the postcards. You will be surprised!") He even told us about a breakfast place that is popular with Americans because they make pancakes. ("And would you believe it? They will even make your eggs any way you want!"--his English was good, but silly.) He was great. Overall, great experience in my first hostel.

Lagos is a small, strange and beautiful city. The coast is absolutely gorgeous, covered with small beaches and huge rocks with water so clear it looks like someone dyed it. I don't think I have ever seen water that blue in my life.

The town itself is a strange mix of local Portuguese people, tourists, and immigrants from countries such as Australia (really, there were a lot of Australians!). People speak mainly English there, or Portuguese if you know it. They definitely DO NOT speak Spanish. The locals are very proud to be Portuguese, and do not put up with any of that non-sense Spanish language from the country right next door. In fact, if you speak Spanish, they will get pretty sassy with you and tell you to speak English.

Very odd statue in the center of the city

Another strange find--carousel with a surprisingly scary monkey

The food is pretty inexpensive, and the seafood is fresh and delightful. (Also, we did end up going to the pancake breakfast place, and the hostel guy was right--those pancakes were BOMB.)

Grilled Sea Bass

While there, we walked around the coast, enjoying the sunshine (in October, no less--how does that feel, Wisconsin?), and taking pictures of what looks like could be the end of the world.

End of the World

I swear this is a real photo

And not to mention, we went kayaking! It was sweet, to say the least. 

 For 25 Euro we adventured through the Atlantic Ocean for three hours, following the golden coastline and even going in some pirate caves. (That's right. We went in some pirate caves--just call me Indiana Jones). Amber and I were the only all-girl kayak, and we kicked some ocean butt. It was the perfect activity for the day, with a little bit of exercise and scenery too beautiful to accurately describe.

Saturday night, we spent our time dancing the night away at a local bar/club. We went with some people we had met at our hostel and showed Lagos our moves. In fact, I did indeed teach a guy from Australia how to fist pump. He had never heard of the best-dance-move-ever before, so I was delighted to oblige. At first, he was skeptical. I daresay he even made fun of me for it. However, upon trying it out at the club, he quickly realized why it's all the rage. He now calls it the "Wisconsin fist pump," and told me he would bring it back to Australia with him. (My life is complete.) We ended up staying out on the streets of Lagos until about 4:30 in the morning. Still not up to the Spanish standards, but I'm hoping I will get there soon. 

In conclusion, Portugal was a complete success--one of my favorite trips so far. Beautiful coast, beaches, pirate caves, and dancing. I need nothing more.