Days 17-19: PORTUGAL!!

We had a 3-hour bus ride to our first stop. I must say thank you to Colin because Jenny and I watched Prince of Persia during the ride ☺. The beach we were going to today was called Trivana, which was a gorgeous and wasn’t too crowed either. The weather was a nice relief, much cooler than in Seville making sun bathing much more bearable. The water was very clear and a bit chilly but refreshing to say the least. The sand here was a lot different than in Destin or any other beach I have been to. It was coarse, but not like dark playground color. It was very light, almost white, and composed of tiny seashells! It was very cool. I forgot to mention that this beach was on an island so we had to stop the bus and transfer over to a boat to reach the island the beach was actually on!

We just hung out there, collected seashells, went in the water, played with a beach ball (that didn’t go well since it was kind of windy), and had a piña colada. It was very relaxing and a much needed break.

After the beach we headed into town and ate at this little ‘dive’ type of restaurant. It was really fun. I had calamari and literally it was the size of tennis balls! They were delicious, seasoned very plain but the actual squid was cooked perfectly and very tender, not rubbery at all. Following the wonderful dinner we had a few drinks at a local bar. Instead of being filled with Portuguese, it contained people from other countries. The bartenders were from Great Britain, New Zealand, and Ireland. It was very cool to hear so many different accents in one place! I never knew that Portugal was such a hot spot for vacationing. We had the most amazing view from a little balcony at the top of the stairs going down to the beach. And tonight there was the most beautiful view of the moon, I just had to take a picture of it :)

We were up again early on Saturday to get the continental breakfast- bread, meat and cheese. There was cereal but the milk was warm ☹ After breakfast we headed into the town center and did some shopping. I found a few little things and Regina bought a new bathing suit!

The beach was the next stop! We stocked up at the local supermarket on some fruits and snacks and made our way down to the beach at Algarve. It was beautiful and the cliffs and rocks looked just like those pictures you find in a calendar or on computer backgrounds. We were at the beach from 12-6pm. It was a long day. Around 7:15 we left for Cabo San Viente en Sagres to watch the sunset. This is the southern most point of Europe and it was definitely chilly and very very windy! Nonetheless it was still a breath-taking view and gorgeous sunset!

Dinner tonight was very nice. We ate on a cute patio that had blankets and woven/wicker chairs. I ordered a type of grilled fish called bream. It came bone in, head, tail and all!! I was not expecting this at all! It was delicious but I would rather eat my fish deboned and the head and tail removed before I am about to eat it ☺ everyone was too tired to walk around any more so we called it a night.

Once again we had to be up early to catch the bus. We made a pit stop at Albufeira, another beach, which was my favorite by far! It was so pretty and there was umbrellas, cliffs, shops, and crystal clear water. The sand was a little rough since it was composed of mostly broken and whole shells. But it made it a perfect spot for finding some awesome shells!!

After a few hours there, we headed home. We slept for most of the ride and once we got back to Seville, it was time for the Novilliada (aka- a bull fight). Let me tell you, it was a once in a lifetime experience. I mean one time is all I will ever need to see. Apparently there is 7 bulls in total that they fight and ultimately kill at the end of each fight. We left after 3. It was very graphic and there is a systematic procedure to the fight. I do not want to get too explicit on the blog here, but lets just say it is not a quick process and is very sad. I am glad I went however, I will not be going back and I do not approve of it. Even though the bull is used for meat etc, after the fight, I do not agree with the suffering and torture the bull has to endure before it dies. If they could do bull fighting for sport without torturing the bull, that would be another story. Because of its long history though, I don’t think it will be changing anytime soon.

It was definitely an amazing and beautiful trip. I never knew that Portugal had so many different gems, aka the beaches ☺ Even though I had a blast, it was definitely very tiring, got a lot of sun, and didn’t get as much homework done as I had hoped. We got home, unpacked, and we were in bed as soon as dinner ended.