Portugal!

As many of you already know, I spent this past weekend in Spain's neighbor to the west, Portugal! I had little to no expectations for this trip, but I was happily surprised with what I did see.

We left Salamanca on Friday afternoon and began the 4-hour bus ride to Aveiro, Portugal, where we would be spending the next two nights.  As soon as we arrived in Aveiro -- the "Venice" of Portugal -- I was awestruck by its quaintness.  Tiled homes are typical of Portugal and Aveiro is no exception. This style lends itself to some incredibly beautiful, unique homes which line the city's canal.  Below is a picture of my favorite house I saw. I am really loving the color mint recently, so this one really caught my eye.

After a bit of exploration, we decided to take a boat ride through the city, hosted by Portugal's worst tour guides! Seriously, these guys were a bit rude but the views were fantastic anyway.  I was in photographer mode, as displayed on Facebook, but I came away with some cool shots of the river and its surroundings.

After the boat ride, we had a group dinner at a restaurant near the town's center, La Plaza de Peces.  It was by FAR the best meal I've had since I got to Europe, including roast beef, potatoes, cooked spinach, and rice followed by the best chocolate mousse.  If you know me, you know I love chocolate mousse! It tasted like brownie mix....delicious. Dinner was followed by a nighttime stroll through the city and a short interlude with some old, drunk Portuguese men who were fascinated by all the Americans.  We escaped those guys and made it back safely :)

The next day we were greeted by some disappointing grey skies and rain, as were headed to Portugal's second largest city, Porto.  We took a bus tour through the city and saw some interested things including the bookstore where J.K. Rowling got inspiration for Harry Potter!!! It was really one of the coolest things I've seen since my arrival.  No photos were allowed inside the building but there was this really cool, twisty staircase and the whole thing reminded me of a shop in Diagon Alley.

While the tour itself put most of us to sleep, that part was incredibly exciting.  We followed the tour up with a visit to Calem wine cellars along the river which runs all the way from Salamanca to Porto.  Though I am not a big wine person, I really enjoyed these ones! The red one is a "tawny" and the other is a white wine. Both are dessert wines, so they were fairly sweet.

We had some free time, during which it got much colder and really started to rain, which was sort of ruined what would have been some awesome views.  We had planned a boat ride, which we reluctantly attended and during which we essentially froze, but it was a bonding experience! I have no pictures of that, as I was much too cold to get my camera out. Afterwards, we returned to Aveiro, found ourselves some dinner, and relaxed together in the hotel.

The following day was a beach day and we all feared that the rain and grey skies would continue.  Upon waking, it seemed that would be the day's fate but we continued to the beach anyway. And thank goodness we did! I really am not a beach person, but I loved all that we saw.  We went to two different beaches in Aveiro. The first reminded me of a Northern California beach, with shrubbery and such lining the sand. 

The next beach was more of a typical one and the sun finally came out! There was a really long boardwalk which went out a good quarter mile or more into the ocean, revealing beautiful blue waters. 

I love this one; the water was so pretty to me. 

After some exploration, we spent time on the beach and ate a great lunch (more chocolate mousse!) on the boardwalk.  Around mid-afternoon we left to return to Spain, but not without a pit stop to watch the Spain-Italy game in the first round of the Euro Cup.  Soccer is a very serious thing here -- the games are played in every bar with awesome fans all around.  Hours of watching with Ben and Jack have really paid off, because I actually enjoyed it! Spain has won the last two big tournaments, so the whole country is excited to see how this goes. Luckily, I'll even be around for most of the tournament!

All in all, this trip was even more than I'd hoped for.  The sights were absolutely beautiful and I got to know many of my new friends even better.