Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Days 13-23: Portugal and Spain

Portugal is EPIC! (This is Jared typing this entry, if you couldn't already tell, haha!).  Anyways, we flew in Lisbon as the sun came up over the city.  The taxi ride to the pension was amazing.  The city has a young trendy vibe amongst buildings and streets that have been paved since Christ.  There are cute tiny little yellow tram cars that cart tourists and locals alike up and down the winding hilly streets. 
Lisbon, Portugal

Tomb of Vasco De Gama.
We saw lots of the city's sites. We visited an old cloister and saw the tomb of Vasco de Gama.  It was crazy to be standing three feet from the grave of a man who literally changed the world. My favorite moment of the day was the old castle that was out apparently floating on the sea... 



Sophie's favorite was the pasteries made in the same shop with the same recipe since 1837. So good. We met some fun people and had a great time in our neighborhood, Barrio Alto.




Then we took off to the South.  We trained to Salema, a forgotten little fishing village about 15 miles from where all the backpackers land in Lagos.  We stayed with a cute old couple named Francesca and something that started with an "A". {Sophie says - "I think it was a version of Josue. Apparently female names are easier since Francesca only learned mine as well"). As it turned out, we were the only Americans in the town.  The beaches here are gorgeous.   We have done a lot of resting, exploring, and eating.

This is the best churro ever. It was stuffed with Nutella.

The beaches in Lagos were gorgeous as well. This is Sophie trying to skip rocks.{Sophie says - "Jared is really good. I am not."}. It was a relaxing day in a town we didn't expect to see. We met some other fun travelers and even ran into someone from PLNU... small world.


Sophie looking for perfect skipping rocks.
We rode the night train to Spain, doing a full day and night of travel to get to my favorite city, San Sebastian. Even with the super windy first day, Sophie could see why I love it. It's got the perfect mix of beach and European style, historic old buildings and great beach/surf culture. The next two days were perfect and sunny. Apparently this is the week of food tourism...we ate sandwiches at Jared's favorite shop, dark chocolate chunks, croissants, and tried multiple gelato flavors.

The best news that traveled overseas to us is that both our baseball teams made it to the playoffs! Go Giants and Twins!

We're off to Taize to spend a few days in the monastery. We hope it is a time of growth and rest. We really want to add more pictures, but internet cafes aren't the easiest place to upload a couple choice pics from our thousands of options. We'll do our best, but the photos to show you when we get back will blow your mind.  I wish you could see some of these things now.

We love you all and will post again as we can. 

- Jared & Sophie

3 comments:

  1. Jack's watching the twins now. Sadly, they are losing by two going into the ninth...love you both. Aunt D

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  2. I love the picture of Soph skipping rocks and I want a nutella churro so bad. Miss you both and love reading about all your adventures : )

    Nikki

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  3. Prayin protection over you two and the trip of your lives. Lovin followin along with ya.

    Janine

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