Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Still Kickin it
Currently sleeping in a doghouse in Ios, Greece for a few nights. Today I laid by the beach all day then moved over to the pool. Now I'm exhausted...
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Yes I am alive
I havent had a chance to do blogs lately, I´ve been very busy exploring and hanging out at beaches. I am at an internet cafe now but I dont have my journal with me and I dont want to miss anything. I´m in Barcelona, which is the coolest city so far. Hopefully I will get some more time soon to update you on what I have been doing, but it has been really fun. Gracias por su visita!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Day 4 - Lisbon
Today we had planned to hit the beach just a ways down the coast from Lisbon. We slept in a bit, grabbed some breakfast, and headed for the train station. After a bit of confusion over which train to take, we stuffed our bags in some lockers at the train station and headed for the beach town. There was one stop we wanted to make along they way which was the Monument to the Discoveries. It's bascially a giant statue of several famous Portuguese explorers. It's very big and impressive and you can go up to the top for more great views. On the other side of the river is a statue of Jesus that is the sister to the one in Rio, Brazil. After a bit more train confusion we made it to the beach and had a nap. My only complaint is the amount of old fat women in thongs...
Back in town now, about to get dinner and then get on a 10 hour overnight train to Madrid, Spain. Long trip but it means I dont have to pony up for accomodation tonight:)
Adios!
Amo, Russ
Back in town now, about to get dinner and then get on a 10 hour overnight train to Madrid, Spain. Long trip but it means I dont have to pony up for accomodation tonight:)
Adios!
Amo, Russ
Day 3 - Lisbon
August 9
We arrived in Lisbon just after lunch and checked in to our hostel after a long and hot walk from the train station. We were spoiled a bit by the first hostel and this one was not nearly as nice, but it got the job done. We had a bed to sleep in. As soon as we checked in we got a quick bite and made our way out to the aquarium. It is the second biggest in the world and the whole thing is built around a giant tank that represents the natural ocean and has tons of different fish and plants inside. It holds the same amount of water as 4 Olympic size swimming pools. The main tank had several kinds of sharks, rays, eels, barracuda, tuna, grouper, sunfish, and tons of other weird ones that I didnt recognize. As you walked around the giant tank there were many other smaller tanks with specific kinds of plants and animals from different oceans of the world. We spent about 2 hours there. We were there for about 2 hours and then headed back to the main part of town. We headed for a cafe that is at the top of a 100 year old tower with an elevator, but we chose to walk up the hill to get there instead. The top offered some great views of the city and a couple of well deserved beers. From here we headed back down to explore the city streets. Like most old cities in Europe, Lisbon has a main part of town that is mostly pedestrian, so we walked around there a bit. We came out at the coast where there is a giant arch at the gates of some very old government buildings with a massive public square. We saw that a stage had been erected to we checked it out and found that we were in the middle of an Ocean Festival and tonight would be a free concert by Craig David. I'm not really in to Craid David but we thought it would be cool anyway. We had some time to kill so we went for a quick dinner and back to the concert. The opening band was Portuguese and while they rocked, I had no idea what they were saying. My feet and back hurt from walking all day so I was ready to hear the one Craig David song I knew and go to bed. Intro band played for an hour and a half before CD came on, played three songs and we left. I almost got my pocket picked but luckily I have deep pockets and not much in them. That night I was very ready to get off my feet and get in bed. Tomorrow, the beach!
We arrived in Lisbon just after lunch and checked in to our hostel after a long and hot walk from the train station. We were spoiled a bit by the first hostel and this one was not nearly as nice, but it got the job done. We had a bed to sleep in. As soon as we checked in we got a quick bite and made our way out to the aquarium. It is the second biggest in the world and the whole thing is built around a giant tank that represents the natural ocean and has tons of different fish and plants inside. It holds the same amount of water as 4 Olympic size swimming pools. The main tank had several kinds of sharks, rays, eels, barracuda, tuna, grouper, sunfish, and tons of other weird ones that I didnt recognize. As you walked around the giant tank there were many other smaller tanks with specific kinds of plants and animals from different oceans of the world. We spent about 2 hours there. We were there for about 2 hours and then headed back to the main part of town. We headed for a cafe that is at the top of a 100 year old tower with an elevator, but we chose to walk up the hill to get there instead. The top offered some great views of the city and a couple of well deserved beers. From here we headed back down to explore the city streets. Like most old cities in Europe, Lisbon has a main part of town that is mostly pedestrian, so we walked around there a bit. We came out at the coast where there is a giant arch at the gates of some very old government buildings with a massive public square. We saw that a stage had been erected to we checked it out and found that we were in the middle of an Ocean Festival and tonight would be a free concert by Craig David. I'm not really in to Craid David but we thought it would be cool anyway. We had some time to kill so we went for a quick dinner and back to the concert. The opening band was Portuguese and while they rocked, I had no idea what they were saying. My feet and back hurt from walking all day so I was ready to hear the one Craig David song I knew and go to bed. Intro band played for an hour and a half before CD came on, played three songs and we left. I almost got my pocket picked but luckily I have deep pockets and not much in them. That night I was very ready to get off my feet and get in bed. Tomorrow, the beach!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Day 2 - Porto
This morning after brekkie at the hostel we headed to the train station to reserve seats for the journey to lisbon tomorrow. Since the "Italian Standoff" I now know how to operate the ever so complex Europass. Hopefully I dont get threatened with jail time tomorrow. Once we had that taken care of we headed off to the beach. We went to a different one than the extra rocky one that we saw yesterday and it was much nicer. Not as many rocks and the sand was nice and soft. But...it was way to windy to enjoy. On the bright side, my skin has never been so exfoliated. I explored a rocky jetti that was neat. All the rocks were worn smooth by the waves and there were quite a few pools from when the tide is high. I saw quite a few crabs and seach urchins and a few fish in some of the bigger pools.
We werent at the beach long and we got back on the bus towards town to search out a Port storehouse. We crossed a bridge and found one just after the bus stop. It was the Sandeman storehouse which is the most popular brand. The tour was very neat. They had thousands of barrels of ageing port, some that held over 20,000 liters of wine! After that tour we got to taste a few and they were very good. We left there to get a very late lunch and sat by the river for a while enjoying the scenery and river traffic.
By then it was almost 5 so we started to head back to the hostel and took a detour through the main part of town that we hadnt been to yet. Again, neat architecture but overall pretty dull. We were pretty tired so we came back to the hostel to rest for a bit before dinner here. Dinner time in Spain and Portugal is anywhere from 9-12pm. I've had a nap and a shower and I think we are going to get some food from the shop down the street and maybe watch a movie here at the hostel or something. There are plenty of other people here so I'm sure we'll find some people to chat with.
I realized today that since I am travelling for 50 days total and this isnt like a regular vacation, I cant go out to dinner and fight something to do every night. I need regular nights in to relax, not only to save money but just to survive! Travelling is exhausting sometimes, there is so much to see and so many miles to walk.
Tomorrow we will be in Lisbon by noon and I think we are going to the beach for the afternoon. There is also a neat aquarium there that I want to go to, I'm very excited about that. Look for another post later with all the neat stuff I learned about Port wine today.
We werent at the beach long and we got back on the bus towards town to search out a Port storehouse. We crossed a bridge and found one just after the bus stop. It was the Sandeman storehouse which is the most popular brand. The tour was very neat. They had thousands of barrels of ageing port, some that held over 20,000 liters of wine! After that tour we got to taste a few and they were very good. We left there to get a very late lunch and sat by the river for a while enjoying the scenery and river traffic.
By then it was almost 5 so we started to head back to the hostel and took a detour through the main part of town that we hadnt been to yet. Again, neat architecture but overall pretty dull. We were pretty tired so we came back to the hostel to rest for a bit before dinner here. Dinner time in Spain and Portugal is anywhere from 9-12pm. I've had a nap and a shower and I think we are going to get some food from the shop down the street and maybe watch a movie here at the hostel or something. There are plenty of other people here so I'm sure we'll find some people to chat with.
I realized today that since I am travelling for 50 days total and this isnt like a regular vacation, I cant go out to dinner and fight something to do every night. I need regular nights in to relax, not only to save money but just to survive! Travelling is exhausting sometimes, there is so much to see and so many miles to walk.
Tomorrow we will be in Lisbon by noon and I think we are going to the beach for the afternoon. There is also a neat aquarium there that I want to go to, I'm very excited about that. Look for another post later with all the neat stuff I learned about Port wine today.
Day 1 - Porto
the night before our trip i could barely sleep. i woke up for the last time at about 4am. i ended up getting to the airport WAY too early and sitting alone for a couple hours. i was too excited. we got to porto at about noon and where checked into the hostel by 1. we set out for lunch and found 3 euro lasagne! it was gross... from there we just started walking. we spotted an open top bus tour so we hopped on. i love those, they are a great way to see a lot of things and get oriented with the city. this city is full of churches and old historic buildings. all the old buildings and many of the new have a pretty distinct style with tiles covers most of the facade. most of the tiled parts make up elaborate mosaics that depict historic moments from Portuguese history or the Bible. This is the most interesting thing about Porto so far, the rest of the tour was rather boring. We did find the beach so we got off the bus and visited an old castle that was a fortress to protect the beach. From there we walked for almost an hour. The beach is very rocky and not comfortable to walk on. It's also full of old people. This town seems to be full of the older generation. After the beach walk we got back to the main part of town and boarded a river cruise that came with the tour. This part was pretty interesting because the city is divided by a river and there are quite a few interesting bridges spanning across. From there we had a long walk back to the hostel. I wore my flops and wore a nice blister between my toes on both feet. They are still bleeding this morning so that will make the next few days fun. No more flops. The city is very hilly so there are many uphill walks when we are out and about. When we got back to the hostel we rested for a bit, I had a shower, and then we went out for dinner. We ate at some diner that had pretty much everything. We finished at about 10pm and where very tired so we just went to bed. I'm up this morning and had breakfast here at the hostel. I think we are about to head to the train station to reserve tickets for Lisbon tomorrow, then we're off the lay in the sun on the beach. In the afternoon we may tour a port factory if we can find one. (Port is a wine that is made here, google it.) Having fun so far. I only realized this morning that I will be traveling a total of 50 days by the time it is all said and done!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
i'm off
it's 6am. i'm about to head to the airport to leave for portugal. i barely slept all night i'm so excited. the first stop is Porto and i have no idea what there is to do there, it was just the cheapest ticket to the mainland...
off we go
off we go
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