lagos

This weekend I went to Lagos, Portugal.  The trip was a great “vacation” since I most of the places I’ve traveled so far have been packed full with sight seeing and long days of walking and trying to figure out the cities.

I went to Lagos with 7 other girls from the SIS program, and we went with a group leaving from Sevilla called Discover Excursions or Discover Sevilla.  They take groups of American students to Portugal almost every weekend and also sponsor a lot of events throughout the week.  Our trip included the bus ride to and from Lagos, a beach-front hotel (very, very nice), and discounts and free things through the weekend.  We also added on a kayaking trip.  The whole weekend was already planned for us, and the bus picked us up and dropped us off at our destinations, or we had a guide leading us around on foot.  We got all of this for very little (I think the trip was 130 euros, plus 25 for the kayaking).  Such a great experience and such an easy way to see a new place!

The group that we traveled with was interesting.  I think that this weekend was kind of what it feels like to go to PCB with your sorority for Spring Break.  We all left that weekend feeling relieved that we were studying abroad with our group and not them hahaha.

Friday

We left Sevilla on Friday afternoon, and we arrived in Lagos that evening.  The bus ride is about 3 hours and 15 minutes, but Lagos is also an hour behind Sevilla.  That night, we had some free time to rest and walk down to the beach before walking into town for supper.  Our hotel was located right on Praia Doña Ana, and the coastline is so beautiful.  The water is a color like I have never seen, and the rocks along the shore are amazing!

That night we ate at a nice restaurant in the center and most of us ate seafood.  I had cod that was mixed in eggs.  It was actually very good... not at all what I was expecting when I ordered fried cod, but I still liked it.  

Saturday

On Saturday, our only responsibilities were to get up and be ready to leave our hotel by 10:30!  The hotel had continental breakfast, which was great.  The bus took us down to the a bigger beach about 10 minutes from our hotel to spend the day.  I could lay on the beach all day every day and not get bored.  Ever.  There is also a little marina in Lagos, so there were sailboats out all afternoon and sailboats are one of my favorite things.  I was happy laying on my towel with my book for 6 or 7 hours.   

We decided to take a walk down the shore about an hour before we left the beach to take some pictures.  We were trying to take a cute “running into the ocean’ picture, and I sprained my ankle.  It wouldn’t be a trip to the water without me getting some obscure infection or spraining something.  Thankfully it’s not bad at all, and I’m doing just fine.  I also have it captured in a picture (that I won’t share).  

That night we got to go to the Western-most point of Europe, Cabo de Roca, to watch the sunset.  Cabo de Roca is about 30 minutes from Lagos, but I was so so glad we got to see that as well.  Until Columbus set out and discovered America, Cabo de Roca was the “end of the world” because no one had known that there was anything beyond that point.  The sunset was great, but I could have spent all day just walking around the national park and looking out at the ocean from the cliffs and taking in the amazing views.  

  

That night we ate at a local pizza place.  We played Catchphrase while waiting for our food, which is one of my favorites!  It’s been so fun to bond with new friends while traveling.  Even though we’re all really different and come from different backgrounds and bring all sorts of unique things to the group, we can all relate with our experiences in Spain- the struggles, the triumphs, the oh craps, and the laughs.  

Sunday

Sunday morning we woke up at 6am to watch the sunrise from our beach.  It was beautiful, especially with the rocks along the shoreline.  

After we went back to bed after watching the sunrise (so college student), we got back up around 9:30 to eat breakfast and walk downtown to go in some shops.  Lagos is super touristy, so almost everyone there spoke English and there are plenty of souvenir stores and fun touristy things.  It’s a lot like popular beach towns in the US.  

Sunday afternoon we had our kayaking excursion!  I’ve kayaked and canoed and been on boats and stuff, but I’ve never kayaked in the ocean!  It was hard work!  But we got to go inside caves and through the rocks that are along the coast, and we ended up at a private beach area to rest and spend some time.  I’m hurting today from rowing, but it was so fun and there’s no better way to see the beautiful caves and rocks.  I didn’t take my phone, so I don’t have any pictures, but my friend brought hers so I’m sure you’ll find some on Facebook soon :)

After kayaking, we walked back to the hotel and changed quickly so we could head back to Sevilla on the bus.  I slept for most of the ride.  It was such a great weekend, but I was exhausted!  And yet again, we got to experience the great feeling of arriving “at home” when our bus pulled in to Sevilla.  

This week we have a lot of fun things going on with school, so I’m sure I’ll be blogging a few times.  I feel like I could talk about the same things in post after post, so if you have questions or want me to write about something specific, I’d love to hear from you in a comment, e-mail, or Facebook message!  :)