Você fala português?
Earlier, I told of my adventure in Athens, Greece, from where I continued my journey to Lisbon, Portugal. I stopped again in Milan along the way, but I spent six hours at the airport lounge, which I now have access to. Thanks to the American Express card and Priority pass. Indeed, useful cards for travelers, and especially I can imagine if you travel A LOT, for example, if you have many intercontinental flights per year.
Flight arrived in Lisbon about an hour late, but it didn't ruin my mood. I booked an airport taxi through the Booking.com website. The taxi driver was a young local man who was super in customer service. As we drove from the airport to the hotel, he told his life story and how he dreamed one day of travelling around the world. I encouraged him to follow his dreams and I strongly believe that he will achieve them if he does not give up. I really enjoy unexpected meetings!
My time in Lisbon focused on cultural experiences. I visited the Azulejo Museum and a museum specializing in Fado music. I traveled from museum to museum by taxi. When I arrived in Lisbon, I downloaded an app called Bolt (like Uber), through Bolt, taxis were inexpensive and easy to order. On average, a one-way trip cost less than five euros. I also visited the magnificent Castelo de Jorge fortress. It was lovely to walk around the ruins of the castle and imagine what it was like centuries ago, who lived there, what happened in the castle, etc. As an ethnologist, I am very fascinated by castles and archeological sides.
From Lisbon, I continued my journey to the small town called Peniche and spent one night there. I found a nice taxi guy from the street who was taking me around the town, and I saw the most important sights of Peniche. Peniche has stunning rock formations along the coast, and they were amazing to see e.g. Cabo Carvoeiro view point. From Peniche, I headed for a long bus ride towards Porto. I mostly travelled by the Rede Expresso bus company. Their buses were new and comfortable for long-distance travels, the journey from Lisbon to Porto took about 4-5 hours as the bus stopped several times along the way.
From Porto, I travelled to a small municipality called Ovar. The reason for travelling to Ovar was a two-day surfing-yoga class at the local Golden Waves Surf lodge. I did not take part in yoga, though. I had time to go to one surfing class and it was awesome! Although I did not know perfectly, the most important thing was that it was fun! I managed to stand on the board one time, otherwise it was all about laughing. But I want to try surfing again soon somewhere in Europe. I got to know many young people from all over the world at Golden Wave Surf-lodge and the atmosphere was nice, we also arranged a barbecue evening together. Nice memories!
From Ovar I continued for a town called Nazaré, which is known as the sacred mecca of surfing. Although I did not go surfing there, but I sensed the atmosphere of cool surf life. I wandered around in the local shopping alleys and bought quite a lot of clothes, I'm crazy about them! I travelled again only with a hand luggage but had to paid extra as I must take one more bag for my new clothes. At least I supported local entrepreneurs, even not-so-environmentally friendly habit. But when you travel, sometimes you find nice things you want to buy. From Nazaré I left on last day towards Lisbon airport by bus and the rest of the way by taxi. It was difficult to say goodbye to beautiful Portugal. The diverse nature of the country impressed; you can find countryside, beaches, beautiful ocean side and hectic city life so basically everything in one country. Hopefully, I'll head back to "heat" of Portugal soon 😊
