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Whats next on the travel agenda??

IM SO EXCITED to be heading to Turkey NEXT WEEKEND!!! I can’t believe it has come around this fast!!! My good friend Logan who I went to uni with is coming with me, his birthday is also on ANZAC day so its going to be great fun! I have attached the link of the tour I am doing as everyone asks where Im going and I just can’t remember all the details… The tour starts Sunday night but we are flying out Saturday morning (21^st April) first thing to get an extra day in. People are saying I’m so lucky to be going on holiday again but its not a holiday – its traveling! But yes, Im lucky to travel again! Up at the crack of dawn, exploring all day, drinking all night then up early to go again the next day – WOOOHOOOOOO!!! Can’t wait to fill you all in after the trip!!

http://www.onthegotours.com/Anzac-Day/Tours-8-days-or-less/Anzac-Coo-ee-Tour

Cascais

On our final day we took the train out to Cascais – again about 40 minutes away and a 5 euro train fare. Out of the whole trip this would be my number one highlight – I think the fact it was 25 degrees and there was a beautiful beach there made this my favorite and must see recommendation. It’s a small village but has stunning views and really yum restaurants – we ate the one with the best view above the beach and just soaked up the sun and good food. It was the second time I had felt sand on my feet in a whole year. Portugal reminded us of NZ, the sky is the same blue and theres a lot of similar fauna. Its ironic to think how much I loved my day in Cascais and how back home I could walk round the corner to the marina and have lunch outside and watch the water and the boats – or do the same at Bucklands Beach – and I never did. Its amazing what you don’t see when you actually see it everyday.

Sintra

 

 

 

 

Sintra was highly spoken of by a few people who have been to Portugal so we really wanted to check it out – we had wanted to book a day trip that took us to four main places but everywhere was fully booked so we decided to check out the main one, Sintra, for the day. It was about 45 min out of Lisbon and a 5 euro train ride. We had a really yum lunch and then caught this crazy bus that went up hill for over 20 min before getting on a tram that took us the rest of the way to where we were headed – Pena National Palace. It was breathtaking. Those who know me well know I have grown up with a love of all things Disney and to this day still love all the old movies like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid and through my travels I come across these incredible buildings where I can see the illustrators of these wonderful movies would have been inspired from. One pillar in particular reminded me of the one that Aladdin was stuck in and sent to the end of the world…

That night we randomly came across a restaurant that also had traditional music, singing and dancing which is what we had on our must do list! We had a delicious 3 course meal with rose wine while performences went on on stage – we were sitting right at the back of the room and still had a great view –  and were clearly not hidden from sight as Nicole and I got taken up to dance on stage at the end along with a few other embarrassed audience members!!! It was so much fun though and such a great laugh!!

Lisbon

 

 

 Lisbon was a great place to base ourselves as it wasn’t summer weather the whole 5 days – just the last 2 really so its great to be based in a city where you can explore, go out for nice meals, try local dishes etc and then you get trains out of the city on day trips. Public transport was so reliable and cheap so that was a huge bonus. On the first day we were really tired from the early start and travel so we went exploring and it didn’t take us long to find a nice restaurant and order a bottle or Rose wine… and of course I found the traditional custard tarts pretty fast mmmm!

On the second day we walked all around the city and had a delicious lunch of paella with prawns as well as a jug of Pimm’s! After this we somehow walked up to the famous castle ‘The Castle of São Jorge’ which is a Moorish castle that occupies a commanding position overlooking the city of Lisbon. The strongly fortified citadel, which, in its present configuration, dates from medieval times, is located atop the highest hill in the historic center of the city. The castle is one of the main historical and touristic sites of Lisbon. (Thanks Wikipedia!!)

It cost 7 euro to enter (4 euro for KB and I as that was the price for 25 and under!).

On the third day in Lisbon we went on another epic walk – Lisbon has very steep hills and I don’t know how I made it up them!!! We checked out some markets before stumbling upon such a cool restaurant with incredible sea views. So we had a late lunch with yes, some cocktails and just chilled out there for hours and hours enjoying the music, sun and views.

That night we found a traditional Portuguese restaurant down a side street and I had a beautiful codfish steak with rice and raisins with some Port to finish off the meal…

My favorite aspect of Lisbon was all of the beautiful tile designs – they were everywhere! I had a book at my job at Jason Products on Portugal tile designs that I cherished so much and this weekend I saw them all in real life – I’m still pinching myself a nearly a year after leaving NZ – and there is still so much more to be amazed by!

WE LOVE PORTUGAL

WOW! Portugal is such a beautiful country – we had an amazing time! I will use this entry as an overview with travel tips and then the following entries for highlights of the trip!

On Thursday morning at 5am my two flat mates – Kristen and Nikki – and myself rolled out of bed and into a taxi to Heathrow airport. After a little over two hours on the plane we landed in a different world. We were based in the main city of Lisbon and had an amazing apartment complete with walk in wardrobe and ensuite! Oh lala! We had 5 days there and we were all talking about coming back before we left. This trip has really opened our eyes to seeking out the smaller countries or towns around Europe as they have so much character and culture and barely any tourists – we stood out like sore thumbs but hey what can you do!

We found Lisbon incredibly reasonably priced – we were so used to the expensive big cities in Europe that we were shocked at the prices – bottles of good wines for 2 euro!! (I bet Mum will be booking flights over before she finishes reading this hehehe!!) So between us we spent 9 euro each which got us breakfast for the next four days, dinner for that night, and a few bottles of wine! Day trips on the train are about 4-5 euro return and thats an hour journey there and back – you would pay £40 minimum to go an hour or so out of London without booking months in advance.

So we would have breakfast at the apartment and either lunch or dinner out – you can get lunch and a jug of Pimms or a few cocktails each for 20 euro easy, if not less and the meals are so huge that you don’t need dinner (or you can just get some nibbles somewhere). I budgeted 50 euro a day which is pretty standard but went over a little bit… more like 60 euro a day but that’s mainly because we went for a beautiful gourmet dinner that had a live Portuguese show of dancing and singing so it just depends what you want to do there. Plus you have to think about taxi’s to and from the airport in London and at your destination – it all adds up. For example I spent 25 euro each day over the first couple of days but then a big lunch and night out the next day cost 80 euro so it balances out most of the time!

The Portuguese are so friendly and everyone can speak English – its always helpful to learn a few words like please and thank you – they are so happy and appreciative when you try their language. Also I highly recommend getting a small travel book like in the picture above – I find that the big Europe books are quite over whelming with lots of small txt and just too much information. These books have great recommendations of the best places to go for day trips, must see landmarks, a bit of the language, bit of history etc so we found this book really helpful!

We arrived back at midnight and got to bed round 1am to be up at 6am and get ready to go to work  – fun times! Apparently the weather was just awful all weekend in London, we literally took one step off the plane and got wasted with wind and rain!!! What a shock…  we actually stood there squealing! All in all we had such a fantastic time, a long weekend filled with exploring, relaxing, drinking and good company!