Study Abroad 2005...

On Monday we drove up the coast from Lagos north towards Lisbon, or Lisboa as it is called here. The drive up let us pass through the all types of terrain, for example. Imagine that you are heading out towards Bodega Bay and winding you way through the hills, curves, sand and rocks that punctuate the coastline. Then all of a sudden the rocks turn into the "tundra" setting and some trees start to show up. Next, you look out the window and now you are basically heading south on the 5 towards San Luis Obispo past the huge wind turbines on the hills. Then the winding road pops you into a little town, much like the the one just before Doran beach where Alfred Hitchcock filmed the birds. Upon exiting the town (where you will see a white sign with black letters with the name of the town in it and a huge red slash through it denoting you are now leaving the town), you get back on the roads and wind through some more hills with the beach and cliffs on one side and the hills with really nice houses on the other (aka PCH in Malibu) and before you know it, actually about 297km later, you are crossing one of the most beautiful suspension bridges and battling traffic down the main drag in Lisboa, Portugal, the country´s capital.

Most of our sightseeing was done from the car while trying to find the hostels in the guidebook. We passed by no less than 10 different statues of all the Portugese explorers and their respective plazas and parks before parking under the Plaza de Don Pedro(I or II) and booking a room at one of the (slightly shady, but pretty standard) cheap, big city hostels.

Because we had to leave early the next day we used the rest of the afternoon to walk around and made it to the Castelo do Sao Jorge (The Castle of Saint George) where we got to walk around inside, and up around the edge of the castle and in the towers. The views of Lisbon from the castle were amazing, as are the pictures that my semi-functioning camera allowed me to take. The experience in the castle was made complete by the guitarrist playing in the courtyard providing a kind of antique and relaxing Portugese soundtrack to the visit.

We headed back towards our hostel passing by some plazas and statues along the waterfront of the Tejo River and back up another hill to try to figure out what the gothic arches above the buildings were. They turned out to be the remnants of a destroyed roof of the cathedral the now houses the Architecture Museum of Lisboa, but we were too late and didnt get a chance to go inside.

Porto, the famous wine of Portugal and Spain seemed to be calling our name as we walked by a bodega (wine shop) with a free tasting sign in front. Not knowing much about wine as is, Porto was a much bigger mystery. We sampled a White, Ruby, Tawny, Vintage 2000, and a more expensive 1998 Vintage porto (in that order).

PORTO: the deal with porto is that it is a sweet wine (used as an aperative if white and a dessert wine as a red) and is between 19-22% alcohol, made that way by the combination of brandy with the special grapes growm all over, but most famously in the northeastern part of Portugal. The white is the only one served cold, and the others are served at room temperature. The white, ruby, and tawny are all ready to drink when shipped to the stores. They have matured first in oak oak barrels (of varying size) and then in the bottle ranging from 2-5 years depending on the type of wines. Whites usually the least, Tawny the most of the three. The dates are not printed on these bottles because the wines are usually a combination of years all put together and therefore not dated. The vintage wines are different in that they are from only one year, and age most of thier life in the bottle. There you could buy 10, 20, and 40 year vintages (for a pretty penny). The longer you wait the more brown the wine becomes, and the better it tastes. The 2000 Vintage we tried was the better of the two, and once opened has to be finished in about 2 weeks, while the 1998 vintage, of higher quality had to be finished within 2 days of opening the bottle. The experience was very educational and surprisingly yummy. I, not being one for red wines, enjoyed them all and,lucky for all of you, I bought a bottle of the 2000 Vintage to bring back...so its Porto tasting for all!!

After the cultural immersion (aka wine tasting) we stopped at the grocery store and tried to understand portugese (haha). Portugese sounds like Spanish words mingled with Russian ones, spoken with a French accent. They can pretty mucn understand anything you say in Spanish, but try to understand them and you walk away feeling pretty dumb. Hunger soon set in so we set off, after getting dolled up for our last night in Portugal, and headed off to find some traditional Portugese intertainment/food.

Walking down from the Castle along the windy cobblestone streets of the Alfama area, we had passed some restaurants which advertised Fado performances that night. Fado is a typical Portugese style of singing, usually to a guitar or two. The music is very somber (def not cheesy pop song somber) but kind sorrowful and very passionate, at least for the singer. We enjoyed our dinner, sorry no linguisa (typical Portugese sausage) to the beautiful sounds (and untranslatable lyrics...sorry ill work on Portugese next) of the music in a restaurant of 6 (very intimate) tables, in what appeared to be a bathroom. It was about that big with floor to ceiling tiles and everything. Needless to say it was memorable.

Another successful trip through another country on my list. I definitely did not get to see enough of Lisboa and could really spend another weekend seeing the sights, and probably another shopping at the amazing stores and eating yummy food, but I guess that will have to wait.

Friday Sept 23: The mezquita was amazing, but Portual is a must see on a trip to the Iberian Peninsula. Chris, Cody, Marissa, and I, after our plans to go up north to Basque country miserably failed, rented a car and decided to head out the the southern and western coasts of Portugal for the extended weekend. The drive there and throughout Portugal was nothing less than gorgeous. As you drive into Portugal you pass through lots of colinas (hills) and past castles and other arcitectural gems that are, of course, not titled, so you have no idea what you are actually looking at.

Our first stop was just over the border of Portugal into the Algarve region in a city called Faro. It is the biggest and capital city of the region although we managed to not stray too far from the waters edge. When we arrived, we settled into our (5€/night) hostal, and wandered around the Cidade Vehla (portugese for old city). We passes the famous Arco de Vila, the entrance to the old city, and enjoyed the rest of the evening on the patio people watching.

The next day we headed out toward Lagos, but not before stopping for some tasty Portuguese pasteries (they have those down pat!) and taking a look at the Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones) inside the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (Church of our lady Carmen). The chapel was one of the most unique and creepy things i have ever seen in my life. It is made of bones and more than 1245 skulls of monks burried in the church´s former cemetary. Creepy, yes, and reminicent of the scenery inside the pirates of the caribbean ride at Disneyland, skulls and bones and all, but really neat at the same time.

Saturday Sept 24: On to Lagos. Just a few hours away was the gorgeous town of Lagos. One of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, Lagos is a windy city almost to the very southwestern tip of Portugal. While the tourbooks rant and rave about the crazy party scene, we kept a lower profile, renting an apartment and spending the 2 days there on the Meia Praia and Praia de Pinhao the two amazing beaches. The first is like most southern cali beaches, a longs stretch of sand but littered with tons of shells, really fine sand and much clearer water. The second was one of my favorite beaches in all the world. Its the trademark of the Algarve region with its cliffs, caves, and crazy rock formations littering the coast. You can see all the layers, created over time, which make the already brightly colored rocks that much prettier. We spent our second day lounging on the beach there. Swimming out, in, and around the cliffs, slithering through the small passages created between the rocks and the sand, and trying not to slice skin while climbing over the jagged rocks.

As the sun went down, we called it a day, and after brushing the more course sand off, said goodbye to the crystal clear (and surprisingly cold) water and headed back up to our apt.

Other adventures in Lagos included a night out to dinner where we tasted the local cuising, seafood, and wine and this small restaurant in town. I also made everyone stop at this little bar for drinks simply because the tv in the background was showing rugby!!! How i miss rugby, and since this was the closest I had been in a long time, I couldnt pass it up. Our last night in Lagos, we made dinner. I finally got some chicken (Carmen doesnt like it so we dont really eat too much of it), and to actually cook!!! (another thing i dont get to do ofter here).

Woke up early on Monday to head to Lisbon...(oops off to class, check the next entry for Lisbon details)