Portugal

I am back in Europe and finally getting around to posting on my blog again. What better place to start than with Portugal? I love Portugal (so much so that I am seriously considering moving there for the summer). In the words of a native I met there "Portuguese people know how to live." Portugal is such a friendly place, the people are friendly, the prices are friendly and the weather is friendly. Communication is easy because their English is great, which can partially be attributed to the fact that none of American cinema there is dubbed (like it is in Spain and Italy for example). They also understand Spanish of course, so I tried to practice any chance I got. Anyone there might strike up a conversation with you like the person sitting next to you at the cool secret restaurant run in someone's home, open whenever the green door is ajar, or with the man selling you coffee and nata, or with the Brazilian guy speaking Italian on the train. To add Portugal has delicious food especially their pastries and all of its building are covered in beautiful tile. 

I do love Porto in particular, it is full of art and open-minded people from all over the world. Above is a picture of me in Gaia, the favorite city of people from Porto, because it is the only city in the world you can see Porto (just like in the photo!). And below is a peak into the abundant world of street are there. 

wings don't work so well when they are made of concrete. 

To add there are also many alternative places like the place the two picture this text is sandwiched between were taken. 

So during my winter vacation I traveled with Sam (who I worked with on the Tole Mour (see older posts if you don't know what I am writing about)) and we got to visit Antonio who is studying abroad in Lisbon (An old roommate from when I lived in Italy (you can also see older posts on that subject too)

 Antonio

Sam

So this was my second holiday season out of the country and I was so lucky to be with people close to me: Sam, Antonio and Ana. Our Christmas was a Christmas of poor people but so much fun and unforgettable. To start off Antonio doesn't really have a kitchen, but he does have what is pictured above (an "oven" on the left and two hotplates on the right that served as our stove). Now you might be wondering why is there a candle in a an old sardine can on the right. Well that is because the house cannot support this complex kitchen. We know this because the night before, when we arrived, Antonio made Sam and I a pasta.  Just having both burners of the "stove" on, in combination with the lights being on, blew a fuse and the power went out. So we switched off throughout the day between the "oven" and the "stove" but eventually we needed to use both at the same time. So we turned off all the lights and other devises in the house as a precaution and cooked in the candlelight (and the light of the oven that would turn off an on every 20 seconds or so). But we did manage to make calamari pasta, a stuffed chicken, baba ganoush, a killer cheese-spinach-artichoke dip, and we had the Portuguese bolo do rei for dessert all accompanied by Vinho Verde. 

Now while we were sitting around waiting for the dinner to cook as if it was being cooked in an easy-bake oven, I asked Antonio where the Christmas tree was. He handed me a bare grape stem/vine thing, turned it upside down and said "ecco" ('here'). So I stuck it in a wine cork, used some spaghetti as support and made some decorations with wire. So "ecco" our Christmas tree. 

Our dinner! (Antonion, Sam, the christmas tree, ana and me!)

 Lisbon street art

 this dog was just taking care of business all over the streets

 

 The freaking coolest! The face was chiseled out. 

Obrigado for the directions lady in the background

Market of thieves  

 Grazie Antonio, off to Lagos.

 So Lagos was so beautiful and we had such a great time even though we were only there one day, well actually then we missed the bus so it was two days. But we had a great time with a private tour of the beaches by our couchsurfer, and met people from all over. I need to return in the summer because there will be figs growing all over the place. 

See you soon Portugal