So, I just got back from my road trip a few days ago. It was Spring/ Easter Break so we didn't have class for a week and a half. It was amazing.....
Waleska, Dietram, Jan and I took a road trip through Portugal and the south of Spain. The four of us borrowed our friend & Waleska's roommate's (Sebastian) car.
Saturday (March 31)-My friends came to pick me up from my apartment around 1230pm...They had already packed the car.....(Honda Civic). I couldn't believe how much crap the guys had packed....Waleska and I each only had 1 bag, a purse and a blanket. After rearranging quite a bit....we were on our way. We had a slight delay because we had to wait for another car full of friends who were heading the same direction as us. 3 Brazilian girls and 1 Brazilian guy (our portuguese translators!). After about 3-4 hours we were in Porto, Portugal. We spent the night there in a hostal.
*Our car full plus the Brazilians (minus the one taking the pic!) in Porto
*Me outside a Jewish temple in Porto
*Waleska & I @ the Port in Porto
*Port wine tasting
Sunday (April 1)- We woke up and had breakfast at the hostal....Then, we spent the day sight seeing and tasting the fantastically good world famous Port Wine @ a winery. It was awesome....so I bought 3 bottles to take home with me! If you get on my good side....maybe you'll get to try it ;). After Porto, we decided to drive further south along the coast to look for a nice beach to camp out at. We ended up picking a random little town near Figueira de Foz and camped there 1 night in Dietram's tent.
*A beach on the way to Lisbon
Monday to Wednesday (April 2-4)- We drove into Figueira de Foz and had lunch....then continued on down the coast stopping here and there at the different beaches. By night time, we were in Lisbon. When we got there we spent a couple hours trying to find a hostel. We did end up finding a place which we stayed at for 3 nights. Lisbon is an awesome city with a ton to see and do! We saw a castle, cathedrals, McDonalds :), graffiti, bridges....beaches in the surrounding areas, etc.
*Jan, me, Dietram & Waleska in Lisbon
*At a castle in Lisbon
*drinking mojitos in Lisbon :)
*Church in Lisbon....notice the grafitti in the bottom left corner
*more grafiti in Lisbon...who would've thought grafiti could be so interesting?
*@ a beach just outside Lisbon...as you can tell from my hair...it was pretty windy
*another beach near Lisbon
Thursday (April 5)- We left Lisbon and drove to the south, Algarve coast. We stayed in a beach town there called Villamuira (again camping in Dietram's tent). It was absolutely gorgeous there. Although, it wasn't so pleasant when we were freezing in the tent that night!
*Algarve coast/ Villamuira
*Sunset Algarve/ Villamuira
Friday (April 6)- After spending the day laying out at the beach, we drove to Sevilla, Spain in the evening. Sevilla is the "place to be" for Spaniards during "Semana Santa" which is basically the holy easter week. Sevilla is also a great city. It was unfortunate that we weren't able to find a hostel there....everything was completely booked up because of the crazy amount of people there. Anyway, we walked around....got the chance to see a bit of the city....had Starbucks! :), saw a Flamenco (Spanish music/ dance) performance in a random bar we happened to walk by, and stopped at a bar to have a drink before continuing on. We decided to just drive all the way south to Malaga that night. We ended up staying in a hostal 20 mins outside of Malaga.....we didn' t arrive until about 8am!
*Cathedral in Sevilla
*Having a beer in Sevilla before heading out
Saturday (April 7)- We slept in until around 4pm because of the lack of sleep the night before! We decided to just relax most of the day. We did go into town and check it out a little bit. Malaga is nice...nothing all that special in my opinion though. Our hostal was nice because it was right on the beach and had a pool.
Sunday (April 8)- In the morning, we drove to Granada. Granada is an old city much different than other parts of Spain. Granada is known best for being the last city under Moorish rule until 1492 when it fell. It has a different type of feeling. Unfortunately when we got there, the famous Alhambra was sold out for entry. We were however, able to see it from the outside. Built from 1232 to The Alhambra is the most famous place of Moorish architecture in Spain.
After spending a few hours in Granada, we returned to our hostel in Malaga. We went out for tapas and called it an early night to rest up for the next day's drive!
*The Alhambra- Granada, Spain
Monday (April 9)- We woke up fairly early to head back to La Coruna. We had a 13 hour drive ahead of us! We had all planned on leaving early.....but, we had an unexpected unfortunate surprise to wake up to. When Jan went to pay for the room....they tried to charge him 200 euro instead of the 80 euro that we were anticipating...... Basically the guy lied to us about the price and after a ton of arguing and a huge dramatic scene....the police came and we ended up having to pay the 200 euro. Long story....don't feel like typing it at the moment.... Anyway, after a LONG unnecessary delay, we were on our way back to Coruna once again. It was raining the entire drive back until we got to Coruna. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here ever since!
I Love Coruna!
*laying on the sidewalk in Barcelona :)
*Cat Woman in Barcelona!
*left to right, back then front: me, Paola (sdsu), Jerry (sdsu), a girl (Vigo, Galicia, Spain), Jelder (Portugal), Italian guy from Sicily, Portuguese guy, Waleska, Lili (Portugal), girl from Spain......out at a club
*outside of a club....4 sandiegans on the left and an italian & a portuguese....SD wins!
*open market
*sidewise shot of one of the fresh fish stands @ the market
*outside sidewalk show on las ramblas....main strip in Barcelona
*Park Guell in Barcelona (Gaudi)
*La Sagrada Familia...started by Gaudi....still under construction....to be completed by various other architects.
