Let's Explore: PORTUGAL

A weekend at LA PLAYA! (THE BEACH)!

I was definitely ready for a relaxing weekend trip of laying in the sand and playing in the water. No trains to catch or museums to see...just BEACH!

Ok- there was a little bit more than just a beach in Portugal...

I went on this trip through a company called "We Love Spain," so they figured out all of the logistics and the itinerary for the trip! We started at 10am Friday morning and took a bus to our hotel in Albufeira where we got our room keys, dropped off our luggage and immediately hit the beach, which was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel!

On the beach, I was restless and just wanted to run around! So I played some football and frisbee with my friends! There were about 20 of us from my CIEE Business program so it was a big fun group! Plus there was about another 100 people on the trip!

After about 2 hours on the beach we had a boat ride planned. We spent 1 hour on speed boats (and they don't call them speed boats for nothing), they were sooooo fast! At many points I thought that I was going to fly out of the boat! We boated along the beautiful portugal coast and saw the many cliffs and caves that make these beaches some of the best in the world. After our hour speed boat tour we had another hour boat tour, but this one was on a pirate ship. Yup, a pirate ship..decked out with costumes and everything! I have never felt sea sick before...but this ship was rocking back and forth and sideways so much that I honestly thought I was going to puke. So, needless to say I was not enjoying this ride too much. However, we did see DOLPHINS in the water so that was pretty darn awesome! After an hour of swaying around in our pirate outfits we finally made it back to shore.

We then went back to the hotel and then walked over to the supermarket to get some groceries for the weekend! We went back to the hotel and attempted to make some pasta for dinner in our kitchen (each hotel room had a kitchen) but we quickly realized that our stove wasn't working...so we went into our friends room and used theirs. Then we tried to heat up some sauce in our microwave, but that wasn't working either! Oh jeez. So we used our friends kitchen again. One thing that we couldn't borrow from our friends' room was heating. Our room was freezing!! We were constantly shivering and I had myself wrapped in a blanket at all times! There were four of us staying together, me, Sheila, Rachael and Sara, and we had two twin beds, and two pull out couches, but we all ended up sleeping together on the two twin beds to keep warm throughout the night! So that "4 star" hotel that they said we were staying at was probably more like a 2.5. but it was fine! We finally ate a good dinner and then went out on the pub crawl that our tour guides had planned.

On Saturday we got up and got on the bus for our action packed day (aka beach day). First thing on the agenda was a trip to the end of the world. Well, what was believed to be the end of the world before America was discovered. It was a beautiful cliff lookout point that we stopped at for about 20 minutes to admire the scenery and take pictures.

We then headed to the much anticipated beaches of Lagos, which are said to be the most beautiful in the world, and they definitely did not disappoint. All the rocks, cliffs and caves added to the beautiful blue Atlantic and the golden sand. A few of us crawled through a tunnel to a dark cave (where we brought a cell phone that we could use as a flashlight to get around. It wasn't that big inside, but it was cool to see! Then I walked to the water and was rock hoping to see around the other side of the cave. When standing on a rock something flung itself onto my foot in the water and I FREAKED OUT. I have no idea what it was.. it could have been a squid tentacle, starfish, jellyfish, or maybe even just some seaweed, but it was slimy and gross and I almost wiped out in the water from freaking out so much.

After lying on the beach for a little bit I was again restless so we played some more frisbee and football. We even got a game of touch (american) football together! My competitive spirit of course came out and my team pulled through at the end for a win! It was so fun to play sports again--that is definitely one of the things I miss the most from home!

After a tiring game of football in the sand and under the sun, a few of us decided to test out the water and swim to some rocks. but BOY WAS IT COLD. I was freeeezing in the water but decided to suck it up and swim over to the rocks, and I'm glad I did because it was so beautiful to just sit on a rock in the middle of the ocean and admire the beauty around me. (and nothing grabbed my foot this time so I was grateful for that).

We then laid on the beach to dry off a bit before hoping back on the bus. We then stopped at another beautiful lookout point with a bunch of caves. We were then off to the city center of lagos where we were free to roam around, eat, and shop. A few of us were craving some fresh fruits and veggies so we went to a place called Bora Cafe where we had some fresh fruit smoothies and salads--all very delicious! We then went into some shops and looked around. We also stopped to see the first ever slave market. It was pretty interesting to see such a historic site and crazy to think that they actually sold people as slaves. We then walked around a little more, got some ice cream and hoped back on the bus to go back to the hotel.

We hung out in the hotel for a bit before going out on another pub crawl, but a bunch of us left the big group after the first bar to go watch the Badgers play in the final 4 game! (Which started at 2:15AM). So we found a sports bar that let us stream the game! Unfortunately, once half time hit I was exhausted and took a cab with Sheila back to our hotel! and unfortunately, the badgers lost, but they played an awesome game and had a great season!

Sunday we got up, packed our things and checked out of the hotel. We then headed to another beach in Albufeira where we layed on the beach for quite some time and soaked in the HOT sun. Today was the hottest of the three days and the SPF 45 was definitely in use. I only got a little burnt over the three days but definitely not as much as I imagined I would! We then took a break from the sun and went to get some mexican food, where I indulged in some quesadillas and guacamole (you can see this is a trend on my weekend trips). SO GOOD. We then spent a little more time soaking in the sun before packing up our beach bags, grabbing some ice cream (another trend) and jumping back on the bus to head back to Sevilla.

BUT WAIT... THERE'S MORE.

On our way back to Sevilla, our bus was randomly selected to be checked at the border. What does this entail you might be wondering? Well, the pulled our bus aside, off the highway into some random parking lot. We all had to get off the bus and one by one grab our bags from underneath the bus and stand in a line with our bags next to us. Then the drug dogs (adorable golden labs) sniffed each of our bags. BUT WAIT... there was one bag that nobody claimed that was still under the bus...and yup the dogs were barking at it.

It may have been a smart move to not claim your bag, but when you have identification in your bag they are going to figure out who it is! So, they found the guys passport in his bag so he obviously had to own up to it bing his bag. I am standing right next to the bus watching this all happen and I can tell that they guy is freaking out as I hear the police say, "Why didn't you claim your bag, do you think this is a joke?? We know you have drugs in here." They then proceeded to search through his entire bag and of course find some drugs, pretty sure it was just weed. but it was so interesting to watch such a thorough investigation.. they looked everywhere! Even opened up his deodorant! They took him into the office on the other side of the highway.

So, we left the kid in the Portugal jail and headed back to Spain.

JUST KIDDING. We had to wait in the bus for another HOUR while they filed a report and eventually brought him back on the bus. Not really sure of the consequences to that whole situation but I can't imagine him getting off that easy.

We finally made it back to Sevilla and after a long day in the sun I was drained and called it a night very early so I could get a wonderful workout in this morning!

Sending Smiles From Sevilla,

Rebecca

Albufeira and Boat Tours