After visiting Morocco I headed north back to Europe. I first went to Seville, Spain for a few days before heading over to Lagos, Portugal and then north to Lisbon, Portugal. While the weather might not have always been great, I still made the most of my time.
My flight from Tangier, Morocco to Seville, Spain landed just after midnight and because it was a Saturday night, hostels were crazy expensive. Since I wouldn’t arrive at a hostel until really late I decided that it wasn’t worth paying for a hostel so I spent the night at the airport. It wasn’t my first time spending the night at an airport but no matter how many times I have done it it always seems to suck. Fortunately this time I was able to get a table that I could sit at which allowed me to get a little bit of rest. In the morning, once my hostel's reception had opened, I headed into the city and dropped my bags off at my hostel. Since it was still too early to check in I headed out for brunch and then I casually strolled around the city. I spent some time hanging out in a square and just enjoyed being where I was. Once I was able to check into my hostel I headed back and checked in. Since I was sleep deprived I decided to spend the afternoon hanging out and resting at my hostel. There were a couple of other people who checked into my room around the same time as me so we talked for a little while before I eventually took a much needed nap. That evening after my nap I wandered around for a little while in search of a dinner spot and then after dinner I went back to my hostel. The next day I started my day with a free walking tour of Seville. Seville was a really beautiful city to explore and it has a cool mix of European and Moroccan architecture. During the walking tour I enjoyed hearing about the different influences from the Moroccan cities that I had just visited. After the walking tour I walked around the city some more before heading back to my hostel to do some admin work. That evening I met someone in my room who lives in a different city in Spain and who was visiting for Halloween and we decided to go out for a tapas dinner together. It was a fun evening. The next day was my last day in Seville. Since the city isn’t very big I had already explored most of it so I kept the day pretty casual and walked around more and revisited some sights I had already seen and I also just enjoyed the nice weather and read in a square. It was a very relaxing, casual day and an enjoyable end to my time in Seville. My only disappointment was that the famous square of the city, Plaza de España, was closed due to tree maintenance so I was never able to see it. Other than not being able to see Plaza de España, Seville was a really cool city that I enjoyed exploring.
After spending three days in Seville, on November 1st I took a morning bus to Lagos, Portugal. It was a pretty easy and uneventful four hour bus ride. Once I arrived in Lagos I walked to my hostel and got checked in. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great so I ended up spending the afternoon hanging out at my hostel and talking with others staying there. On my first full day in Lagos I explored the town and then took a long walk along the coastline. There is an expansive coastline of rocky cliffs in Lagos and it is absolutely stunning. I walked along the coastline for a few hours and explored many different areas and I went off the path and walked down towards the edge of the cliffs. No matter how long I spent walking along the path, the view somehow managed to keep getting more and more beautiful. It was so cool to explore. Unfortunately, since the weather was cold and extremely windy, I wasn’t able to visit any of the beaches. It would be amazing to visit Lagos in the summertime when it’s warm enough to go to the beaches. After exploring the coastline I headed back to town and walked around for a little while before going back to my hostel to warm up. I spent that night at my hostel hanging out with others. The next day was my last full day in Lagos and since it unfortunately wasn’t beach weather and it was rainy and overcast, I ended up spending most of the day hanging out with people at my hostel but I was able to get out and walk around some when there was a break in the weather.
After two full days in Lagos I headed to Lisbon. My bus to Lisbon didn’t leave until the afternoon so I was able to go on one last walk around Lagos after which I hung out at my hostel with others. When it was time for my bus I was joined by two other girls from my hostel who I discovered were on the same bus as me. It had been overcast all day but it hadn’t rained, but as luck would have it, right before it was time to walk to the bus station it started to rain. Luckily it wasn’t raining too hard, but since I was carrying both of my backpacks, my little umbrella didn’t help much to keep me dry. The bus ride to Lisbon was smooth and went by pretty quickly. Once in Lisbon the two girls I met at my hostel and I were all staying at different hostels but our hostels were located close to each other so we headed to our hostels together. Since I arrived late in the evening I decided to just have dinner at my hostel since the hostel made pizzas. I was joined for dinner by Julia, who I had met in my room in Lagos who rode on the bus with me and who was staying at a hostel two buildings down from mine.
On my first full day in Lisbon I met up with Chelsea, a friend I met back in Turkey and who I then had visited in Rhodes, Greece. Chelsea is from Lisbon and was back in Lisbon when I was there so she and I were able to see each other again, which was so much fun for both of us. That day she and I met up near my hostel and walked towards a viewpoint area. On the way we checked out a small art fair we walked past and after visiting the art fair we kept walking. There was an amazing view of Lisbon at the area in Lisbon we had planned to head to as well as a market and this was the last day of that particular market. We walked around the small market in the park, got a snack and some sangria and hung out in the park for a while. It was so much fun and it was such a cute market. After hanging out in the park for a while we went to a nearby restaurant and Chelsea got some food and then afterwards we decided to go back to the park to hang out some more and have more sangria. Of the sizes of sangria being sold, the one liter glass was super affordable so we each got a liter of sangria and spent over an hour talking in the park and enjoying our sangria. It was such a fun afternoon together and I really enjoyed seeing the city in a less touristy, more local setting. I also loved catching up with my friend again and the sangria was absolutely delicious. After our time in the park we parted ways since Chelsea had to get home. Since it was evening and I didn’t feel like exploring anymore I headed back to my hostel and spent a chill rest of the night there. The next day I had plans to explore the city but Chelsea texted asking if I wanted to hang out again. She was at her mom’s apartment in a town across the river from Lisbon. I said yes and headed over there. We ended up spending the afternoon hanging out at her mom’s apartment and we made lunch there. After a while we wandered around the town and enjoyed amazing views of Lisbon at sunset before both of us headed back to Lisbon. It was a really fun day spent hanging out and after we parted ways I went in search of dinner before slowly making my way back to my hostel. I had been in Lisbon two days already and I hadn’t seen much of the city yet, but that was fine because I was enjoying being able to spend time with a friend.
For my third day in Lisbon I decided to go on a day trip to Sintra, a nearby town full of castles. Chelsea was busy with work so I went with Julia, the girl I met in Lagos, as well as someone she met at her hostel. Getting to Sintra was pretty easy as it was only an hour train ride away and there were trains every hour. Once in Sintra the three of us headed to Quinta Castle, a castle that was recommended to the two people I was with. The castle itself wasn’t huge and we couldn’t see much of the inside, but the grounds of the castle were large and beautiful. The castle was super ornate and there were so many different areas to explore. One of the big features of the castle is a well that you can walk down and that has a super cool view from the bottom. We ended up spending a few hours exploring the castle and its grounds and then we headed out for a later lunch. After lunch we went up the huge hill to Peña Palace, the iconic red and yellow castle of Sintra. Unfortunately since the sun was setting soon we had less than an hour until sunset. At the entrance to just the gardens of Peña Palace we determined it was too expensive for the limited time we had left to explore so unfortunately we weren’t even able to see the castle from the outside. It was super disappointing since that was the main castle in Sintra that I had wanted to see, but since they wanted to see the other castle first we ran out of daylight. While I was disappointed I couldn’t see it, it wasn’t the end of the world and I made peace with it and we started the long walk down the hill back into town. Along the way back to town we saw some amazing views. It took almost an hour to get back into town and once back we headed to the train station to go back to Lisbon. Once back in Lisbon we all went to our hostels to rest and charge our phones and then later we went out to dinner together where we were joined by another girl from their hostel. While I wasn’t able to see the main castle that I wanted to see in Sintra, the castle I did see was really cool and it was still a good day.
Originally I had plans to visit Porto while in Portugal, but since the weather forecast indicated that it was going to be cold and rainy, I decided to extend my stay in Lisbon by two days. In doing so I was also able to hang out with Chelsea again. On my fourth day in Lisbon I finally did a free walking tour of the city and learned more about Lisbon and I saw some of the tourist sights. Lisbon is a cool city and I enjoyed the walking tour and learned a lot. After the walking tour ended I got lunch and then continued to explore more of the city. For being my first full day of exploring the different sights of the city, I made the most of the day and saw a lot. The next day was my fifth and final day in Lisbon and Chelsea luckily didn’t have work so she and I met up at noon and spent the day together. We walked around the city and she showed me different areas. It was nice exploring the city with a local. Since I had seen the main areas of Lisbon already, we decided to walk along the water for a while which was fun. Eventually we took a tram to a popular neighborhood in Lisbon, Belém, that was too far to walk to. I was glad to be able to see a new area of Lisbon and it was cool seeing it with Chelsea since she had gone to school near there as a kid and hadn’t been back in a while. While there we visited a shop that is known for their Pasteis de Nata, Portuguese tarts, and so I got some Pasteis de Nata, along with other traditional Portuguese food. It was all really tasty but the Pasteis de Nata were my favorite. After our lunch break Chelsea and I continued wandering around the neighborhood and eventually walked to Belém Tower where we watched the sunset and listened to a street performer musician. We then headed back to another neighborhood in Lisbon where we had walked earlier and got a drink together along the water. It was a great end to our time hanging out together. It was really sad when Chelsea and I had to say goodbye because I didn’t know when I would see her again. After parting ways I headed back to my hostel and packed since I was leaving the next day on an early morning bus.
My time in Seville, Spain and in Portugal went by super fast. The weather was colder than I thought it would be, but it was still a lot of fun to see the different cities. I really enjoyed the time spent in Lisbon the most since I was able to spend time with a friend which made my time in the city even more enjoyable.
“If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet.”
- Rachel Wolchin
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