Drinking some Port in Portugal!

Just a couple days after Hilary and Erin were here, I was off to Portugal to hopefully see some sun!!  Jen and I took of Wednesday night and made our way to Stansted to catch our flight to Porto. It was quite late when we arrived, so all we saw was the metro station and our hotel!

We decided to get some breakfast at this small Portuguese diner near our hotel the first morning we were there. The waiter there did not speak English at all, so ordering was quite the experience. Most of the day was spent wandering the city and getting lost in all there is to see there! It was simply beautiful. Later in the afternoon we made our way to the Croft Wine Cellars for a tour of the cellars and a round of wine tasting. Next on the agenda was dinner! We were starving and all that walking wore me out! The trek back to the hotel was an interesting one. We strolled across the Luis Dom Bridge and got a little lost in the city trying to find our hotel.

Friday morning we headed towards the train station to see all there is to see then hopped on a train to Lisboa to meet up with a few of our friends. Upon arrival, we checked into the apartment and snuck out for dinner while waiting for Jinou, Nick, Mollie, and Fran to arrive. Once they got to the apartment we made our way to the Docks for more food and Sangria before heading to the clubs and bars right along the beach. Jinou, Fran, and I found ourselves at an interesting/entertaining show at one of the local bars. When the show ended, we went to the Karaoke bar just down the street, but it was dead so was chatted with ‘Ramone’ the bouncer and he told us that the place to be on a Friday night was Urban Beach. So of course we take the locals advice and hail a taxi to go to Urban Beach. Little did we know that it was a private party that night. Guess that was a pretty good sign that we should just go home for the night.

Saturday morning was a little rough, but we elected to sleep in a bit and wait at the apartment for the rest of the crew, Kyle, Lauren and Nin, to arrive. We then went to Belem to see Geronimo’s Monastery and a world famous pastry shop. Next stop… the Old City! After wandering around in the pouring rain, we headed back to the apartment to get ready for dinner and another night out on the town. After dinner it was still pouring and a few of us were simply exhausted so we went back to get some sleep!

Sunday morning was an early one! We went to the Castle and I found a street artist that paints with only coffee grounds. They were beautiful, and of course I HAD to buy some. At this point, it was time for Jen and I to make our way to the airport to begin our journey back to London.