My 145 Day Journey: Lagos, Portugal

Right when I feel like I'm on top of my blogging, I get a whole week behind! Let's see if I can make it up to you now...

So last weekend (not this past, but the weekend before during March 26), I went with four other friends to Lagos, Portugal. Lagos is known for it's beautiful beaches, and are considered some of the most beautiful in the world. When planning this trip, our only goal was to lie on the beach and do a lot of nothing. Planning, and taking everyone's opinions into consideration was somewhat difficult, but in the end, we all agreed that those were the two most important objectives for the weekend.

We took the bus from Sevilla at 7:30 in the morning on Friday, and prepared for our 6 hour bus ride. The ride was uneventful, just like I like my traveling, and we arrived in Lagos at noon (Portugal is an hour behind Spain). Since we couldn't check into our hotel until 3pm, we walked near the marina, and found a nice little restaurant to eat outside. The weather that day was very nice, about 75 and sunny, so we had no problems except squinting too much without sunglasses!

After lunch, we had to wait for a while for a bus that would take us in the direction of our hotel, since we learned that is was technically in Lagos, but more-so in a small town over from Lagos. After getting lost, and then helped by a nice scottish couple, we finally arrived at our hotel just in time for check-in. The place was perfect for what we were wanting: quiet and beauty next to the ocean. We all immediately went and put out swimsuits on and headed for the pool area, and sun bathed for a little bit, but eventually the winds came in making it a little cold. So, the rest of the day was spent getting drinks at the bar, siestas, and a little bit of homework. An absolutely perfect afternoon. For dinner, we took a walk around the town, which was more or less deserted at night, since my friends and I had already n Portuguese oticed we were killing the average age. It seemed that the vast majority of the residents there weren't, but rather were northern Europeans, mostly from the UK. For dinner we enjoyed some great Chinese food (not very Portuguese, I know), but the place reminded us all of our own favorite Chinese restaurants from the U.S., so for a night we "went back home." It was a fantastic time, and afterwards, since there weren't really any options for going out, and since all of us were still exhausted from the week, we called it a day early.

The next day, on Saturday, we headed to breakfast during the time slot it as served, and found a nice surprise: REAL breakfast food. If I listed all of the foods I miss from home, the list would be long, but near the top is a solid breakfast. The buffet had cappuccinos, cereals, a fruit bar (amazing), scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, pastries, and the list continues. I think all five of us ate like it was our last meal, since it is uncommon in Spain to have a nice, big breakfast consisting of more than toast and coffee. The only thing that would have made the breakfast even better would have been pancakes. I suppose that one will have to wait until I'm home.

The rest of the morning was spent with more sleeping, followed by some homework, while we waited for the temperature to get warmer. The weather that day was mostly cloudy, and it didn't get above 65 degrees, making it difficult for us to actually lie out on the beach. We refused to give up on our wish to go to the beach, so we all put our suits on, gathered our things, and headed to the nearest beach where we proceeded to have our own personal photo shoots with each other. It was a lot of fun! And, I persuaded Maria to go into the water with me. It was cold, but I wasn't going to let that stop me! So we both braved it, and went under the water.... after we numbed up it was really rather nice!

After we left the beach, we headed to lunch at a nearby English-owned restaurant, where we had some pretty amazing quesadillas and some of the best carrot cake I've ever had! After lunch, since the weather was not improving, we headed back to our rooms, where once again, we did some homework, took naps, and generally relaxed. Some people went and had professional massages, but I just had a nice relaxing bath. Once again, our goal was just to recover from any stressors and recoup. At night, since we all liked the restaurant we went to for lunch, we decided to return. At the restaurant, we enjoyed wraps, more quesadillas, more carrot cake, and staring at a cute surfer with a british accent that happened to be our waiter. A perfect atmosphere for 5 college girls!

Once again, since we didn't have much of an option, and I don't think we wanted an option (plus it was raining, so it was perfect), we headed back to our rooms early and just hung out for a while before falling asleep.

In the morning, we got up for another great breakfast, and checked-out early so we could go into Lagos and site see a little bit. We had looked at the bus schedule before and had figured out that we had to be there by 9:50 for the bus to take us back, and so we sat, and waited, and waited, and waited... Finally, after studying the map and the bus schedule closely, I realized that since it was the off season, the bus only came ever two hours. So, we went and got some coffee at a nearby cafe, and met a fellow American, whom we had a nice conversation with until it was time to head back to the bus station at 9:50. So we sat there, and waited, and waited, and waited.... finally, we all agreed something wasn't right, so we went to a nearby hotel, and the man that worked there said he would call a taxi for us, and so he did. And, only about 5 minutes after he called the taxi, as luck would have it, the bus finally showed up. The bus was on Spanish time: slow. We decided to stick with the taxi, since the man had already called it for us, and eventually, we ended back at the marina for our last lunch in Lagos. At that point, there wasn't enough time to go see anything, since we really didn't want to miss our bus back to Sevilla.

Since, we had to add an hour to our travel when we crossed the boarder, the bus ride was about 7 hours, and I finally got home around 9:30. The weekend was perfect for us, since we didn't want to plan any big excursions, or any big plans. We just wanted to spend our time next to the beach, with the smell of salt water in the air, and with sand between our toes at least once. Although the weather didn't completely cooperate, we still got to enjoy Lagos, and had a great time together as friends!