PORTUGAL

TIME TO GET THIS PARTY STARTED

I promised myself I would before my certification starts.

So without further ado...

 

in chronological order, starting with...

 

PORTUGAL

 

...But let me back up for a minute and talk about the flight. The FOURTEEN HOUR flight. We had a flight to Phoenix, then a flight to Philadelphia, and then to Lisbon from there. We left Salt Lake City at 8:30 am our time Saturday morning and were set to land in Lisbon at 8:30 Sunday morning.

 

 

Our flight to Philadelphia got delayed a few hours, and we knew it be a close call to make our next flight to Lisbon. And then to make things even more complicated, once we got seated on the delayed flight, we sat there for another hour while they had more complications, and by then we pretty much knew we wouldn't make our next flight. I will never forget getting off that flight in Philadelphia and having people from a travel agency right outside the gate on golf carts asking if we were with State Auto, and when we said we were they sped us over to the gate of our next flight on the other side of the airport, where we found out that they held up the entire flight for us and 2 other couples on the same trip as us. That was some VIP treatment! Brennan and I could not stop laughing about it.

 

Also, if I could give just one tip for long flights: Take sleeping pills. And lots of snacks so you don't have to eat the airplane food. The preservatives in that stuff will make your body feel funny for days.

 

When we finally made it to Lisbon they took us on a bus tour around the whole city before taking us to the cruise ship. It was such an amazing city and I'm so sad we couldn't get out to take pictures of it all.

 

 

We took these from the cruise ship right after we checked in (and still in the same clothes we were in more than 24 hours before-- our bags weren't in our room yet). The color scheme was breathtaking and I remember at this moment after eating lunch on the deck, we kept pinching each other wondering if we were really in Europe until we fell asleep completely clothed on the top deck and woke up a couple hours later drenched in sweat.

 

Bren took these pictures from our balcony later that night as we were leaving to our next stop. I had heard before coming here that Lisbon is Europe's San Francisco, and now I totally see why. They even have a red bridge-- the "25 de Abril Bridge" that was built by the same company that built the Golden Gate Bridge. It is obviously a newer addition to this super old city, built in 1966. I feel like I'm giving a history lesson but I HAVE to mention that Lisbon is the second oldest city in Europe, after Athens. Talk about OLD.

 

 

Another similarity to San Fran is that Lisbon uses trams for their public transportation as well! I thought this was pretty cool and was bummed we didn't ride on one, but they were all over.

 

The next morning we woke up in Oporto, Portugal! The second largest city in Lisbon.

 

Some students from the University studying

 

These blue tile mosaics covered a train station! It blows your mind that someone painted and installed something so intricate yeeeeeearrrrs ago. 

 

Cobblestone streets everywhere you look

 

 

 

My cute boy. I love this picture a lot.

 

 

 

 

Oporto has 6 bridges throughout the whole city!

 

 

Fell in love with the blue tiles all over this beautiful country. I think I may need some in my house one day.

 

 

 

 

A few more things worth mentioning:

 

-The people there are SO GOOD LOOKING. Many of them worked on the cruise ship and when we were first checking in I commented to this young beautiful girl how good looking they all were and she replied, "Well we're Portuguese!" like duh, tell me something I don't know.

 

-Oporto's biggest export is Port Wine, which I guess is some fancy dessert wine, but I couldn't tell you any more than that because Bren and I escaped the wine tasting we were supposed to go to with our tour group.

 

-Cristiano Ronaldo is a HUGE DEAL there. Lots of pride for their favorite football
(soccer) player.

 

-Over half the world's cork is made in Portugal, and they make everything out of it. Handbags, sunglasses, you name it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reasons we loved this country:

 

-It was such a pleasant surprise. We probably never would have taken ourselves to Portugal had this trip not been planned but it was such a unique place that did not disappoint.

 

-The weather was PERFECT. 75 and sunny, and I guess they are known for always having great weather.

 

-It wasn't packed with tourists. That made it even more magical.

 

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And that was the start of our adventure!

 

To be continued!

 

xoxo