1 Porto, 2 Porto, 3 Porto...Floor!

Ok so Porto Portugal is a huge wine making city in Portugal. Huge as in makes a lot of wine NOT as in size! It's a really small old town with great food! Well...not all the food is great...
The first night we arrived our flight was delayed 2 hours so we didn't get there until like 9:30 or 10 and were starving so we found a small little bar (like 9 x 9 small) and asked for a menu. Well the waitress/owner looked at us like we were crazy...like why would they have a menu? She just asked us what we wanted so we basically just said whatever is good. We ended up having some fried pork chops with fried potatoes (like the buffalo chips at Bdubs but better) and rice. It was amazing!

The next day we decided to explore a bit and got a tour bus pass which included a wine tasting and a boat tour for just 19 euro. It was great because the bus was like a taxi, we could just get off and back on whenever and the ticket lasted for 24 hours. So we got a little bit of a tour until we were hungry and got off and walked to a cafe. It looked pretty good with a bakery counter/window in the middle and it was big with a lot of people so we sat down and got a menu. Well I have failed to mention how hard it is to communicate in a foreign country, go figure! We didn't know what anything was and when we asked the waitress she would just reply in Portuguese, which does no good obviously. So a man next to us tried to help us a little because he spoke a little of Spanish and English. He explained to us that one of the sandwiches was very popular in Porto which had steak, sausage, and cheese, and a sauce, so we picked that.   Ohhh it was so gross! It was basically a big sandwhich in a big bowl of nasty tomato soup with some weird kind of steak inside (not a typical steak), 2 different kinds of sausage (which were also disgusting),  ham, and olive loaf (YUCK!). So yea...it was really gross. So to make up for the gross meal of course we got dessert! (YUMM)

So later we got back on the bus and finished our tour with wine tasting. We had to walk a bit but it was definitely worth it. We got a little tour of the wine cellar with some background information on how they make the wine. *Fun fact: They stop fermenting Porto wine after 3 days because every day it ferments after that it loses sugar and of course the alcohol. Hence the title of this blog ;) It was really sweet and very strong wine, so it was a good thing we were just tasting. I was very tempted to buy a bottle at the airport because they had one that was called Porto Pink! (Sooo me) However, it probably would have taken me way too long to finish that, and if it didn't it would be way too dangerous.

After the wine tasting we went on our boat tour at just the perfect time. We just went up and down the river which took about 45 minutes and it was just when the sun was setting so we got some beautiful pictures of that! Then it was time for dinner and being in Porto, I was strangely in the mood for some fish so I had sea bass which was served whole on my plate, scary but very delicious! To finish up the night we went to a little club/lounge on the way back. It was really cute with a couple of floors. We were sent upstairs for the woman's bathroom but no one was up there so we asked the bartender what they usually have up there and he said there was a band that was coming in about 30 minutes. So we drank a bit of wine and waited. Well about 2 hours later we decided we were done waiting and started to leave as the band was walking in. We didn't stay though because we had a long day, so we headed back to the hostel.


The next day we were on a mission to get to the beach. Mind you we were staying right by the water (the river), so we figured it would be pretty close. Well after walking and walking, and walking some more, we realized it wasn't so close. So we stopped and had lunch on the river, literally the building was built over the river and basically all windows. It was really neat and I had a great pasta, spinach, ricotta dish. So then we continued on our mission to get to the beach. Finally after about another 30 minutes of walking, we made it! So we sat on the beach in our jeans and long sleeved shirts and soaked up the sun. It was beautiful and really relaxing.

After about an hour of soaking up the sun we decided to head back because it was getting kind of chilly. We really didn't want to walk to whole way back so we took the trolley! Such a great deal, only 1.50 euro. Finally we wrapped up our long day with a meal and headed back to the hostel.


Overall, I really loved Porto. It was amazing to see how old the buildings were and everything. I mean one of the public transportation options was a trolley and it was like straight out of the 1800's. I really wish I would have had some more pork chops but I was determined to try as many new things as I could oh which I forgot to mention, seviche was one of them. UGhh and I'm so mad that I tried it. If you've ever watched "Monsters Inside Me" on the Animal Planet you would know why. Ok well that's all for now. Stay tuned for my adventures in Amsterdam!

Cuenca, Spain

Just got back from Cuenca today! It's a really small town about 2 hours southeast of Madrid. There wasn't really a lot to do there but it was definitely a beautiful town. The first thing we did was walked through a big park with crazy shaped rocks. Sounds kind of lame but it was really interesting. There was a path that lead you in a big circle so you could see the whole park. I guess it used to be some sort of body of water some centuries ago which is why there were a bunch of little caves and the rocks were shaped so cool. A lot of them were small and skinny at the bottom and then huge on top like a tornado shape. After the park we went and checked into our hotel, Cueva de Fraile, which was monastery in the 16th century. It was really nice we had a four bed room and there was a living room and then a downstairs with 2 more beds and a desk.

Casas Colgadas

Later we went on a walking tour from the top of one of the mountains to the bottom. It was so interesting because we were basically walking through a neighborhood but the streets were as small as sidewalks, and barely anyone was driving. On the tour we saw the famous "Casas Colgadas" (Hanging Houses), Cathedral of Cuenca, and the Museum of abstract are. Hanging houses are buildings that were built at the very edge of the mountains, if you open the window and look out you'll be looking into the valley. One of the buildings, actually, is the museum of abstract are. It was really interesting but not my favorite type of art. The Cathedral was so beautiful. It look kind of small on the outside but turned out to be pretty big inside. One really interesting thing inside was there was a figure of an angel in sculpture work near the ceiling and it is smiling. Well there are only 3 of these angels in the world and they say that if when the Apocalypse happens if you go to any of those three places you will be saved. 

Angel in Cathedral of Cuenca

Today we went to a place called Cuencaventura where they have numerous outdoor activies such as horseback riding, cliff jumping, ATVing, etc. Unfortunately, it was extremely cold this morning in Cuenca so I wasn't really up for jumping off cliffs into water. I went horseback riding instead and it was great! Saw some great landscapes, rode across a river, and through some woods. After we went to lunch in this little area with about 15 houses and one restaurant. Looked like a campground where all the cabins are, and so pretty with the mountains in the background.
Overall, Cuenca was a really beautiful town. Didn't spend much money, but this excursion was included in my program. I really can't imagine it being too expensive though. Definitely glad I got to spend the weekend in such a beautiful little town with so much history.

Spanish Bull Fight

I went to a bull fight the other day! The arena is really close to our apartment and the season ends in a couple weeks so we had to go. It was....an experience. I was kind of shocked when the first bull was killed but I kind of got used to it. I know that sounds horrible but I just kept thinking that we eat these things anyways. It might sound really insensitive but it made me feel better and I would just not watch at some points. I still can't believe that this is like a sport to these people. I understand that it takes courage to get in front of a bull....obviously, so I understand that the Matadores are highly respected but it just seems so horrible to me. I knew before I went that I would be thinking all of this but I can't say that I lived in Spain for 4 months and didn't see a bull fight. Especially since the arena is like 4 blocks away. It was pretty cool, after, the matadores paraded out of the arena and signed things for people on there way out and we got a picture with 2 of them. I can now say I have definitely experienced more of the Spanish culture, right? I probably won't be going to one again though.  

Barcelona

Sagrada Famili

This past weekend I went to Barcelona with a classmate, Arianna. We flew out of Madrid and it was probably the shortest flight of my life so that was nice. Ari has a friend in Barcelona so we were supposed to stay with her but her apartment situation fell through so we were stuck walking around Barcelona with our suitcases for the majority of the first day. Luckily we met up with another friend from class who was visiting the city with 3 of her girlfriends so we ended up going to their hostel and staying there. The first night was a lot of fun. At the youth hostels there are events that they set up every night for a good deal so we went out with them for the first night to a club on the beach. It was a lot of fun and it was really cool to be on the beach at the same time. The second day we walked around and went to the Park Guell which is a park with a lot of art by Gaudi. It is at the very top of a huge hill so you have to climb up the street and there are actually escalators to help you up because it is so high and steep. Once you are at the top you gradually walk down seeing all different kinds of art on the way down. There is a spot with a famous bench that I guess is the longest bench in the world and it is completely mosaic, really neat. Under neath a part of the park is this walkway/ cave where they filmed one of the seasons of America's Next Top Model. Later we walked around Las Ramblas which is one of the main streets in Madrid with lots of little venders and shops on it. There were a bunch of human statues that were pretty funny. (People that paint themselves and dress up like something and stand completely still until you put money in there little jar and they'll move) One was of Edward Scissorhands and i was interested to see what he did if you put money in his jar so I put like 10 cents in and he started snipping my hair like crazy (with his fake scissorhands) it was really funny. We also went to an outdoor market that had everything from Squid to boob shaped chocolate. It was really interesting and felt very European. The next day we went to Sagrada Familia, a huge cathedral designed by Gaudi. It was really amazing on the outside but definitely not worth going inside. We payed 12 euro to basically walk in the door and take some pictures. It has been under construction since 1909 so there really isn't anything to do inside because it is all blocked off by construction. Still pretty cool to say I was inside, I guess. On the last night I met up with my roommate from school because she was visiting from her studying abroad in France so that was really nice. Finally we went to our hostel and met an Australian lady who had basically the same life as the lady from "Eat Pray Love" which was so interesting. She was in a really bad marriage for a long time and finally got divorced and decided to go travel the world. She just broke up with her boyfriend of 2 years and has been traveling for 3 months throughout Europe and she plans on continuing her travels for at least 3 more months. Not exactly my lifestyle but pretty inspirational. Anyways, Barcelona was pretty amazing and I would definitely suggest it to any traveler. There was a lot to see and plenty to do.