Porto

When I arrived in Porto, I went straight to the house of V., who was a guy I met in the Couchsurfing Porto Facebook group. Somehow I didn’t realise that being on Facebook, there’s no guarantee anywhere that these people are responsible and okay, but I only realised that in hindsight and after the stay. V was a bit odd, but somehow I didn’t mind. We went into town together, to some concert that we ended up missing, and then also to a beautiful beach outside of Porto called Maleda. We talked about investments and I invested some of my money in Revolut for the first time. Unfortunately I didn’t make any money for six months after that, all my investments have gone down since then. I still believe it will turn around though. I wanted to drive Vasco’s car, but he wouldn’t let me because he was afraid. Which I kind of understand. In the 4 days I spent with him we got to know each other a lot and had interesting conversations, a lot about women, about relationships, about family, about the homeless and about his work in general. Vasco lived in a neighborhood that is known for having a lot of brothels and also cafes where drugs are sold. One was right across the street from his apartment. The apartment was also very strange, it had virtually no security, just glass. And he said it used to be a coffee shop with some secret rooms upstairs. The whole thing was just so weird, I was actually glad nothing happened to me during that time.

 

Toubar still arrived with Sara and Hassan, and when I went to see him I felt nervous, as if I was seeing him for the first time. I was a little nervous about how he was going to imagine the holiday. If he didn’t want to go out to restaurants and spend money all the time. Would he be okay with eating stuff from the supermarket and going to cheap cafes? What will he even want to do? We met up with H and S and had a super good omelet. I had my first conversation with Sara. Then we rented a car and I was a little scared of driving because I hadn’t driven in a very long time before. Our first stop was Braga because it was a city near Geres Park.

Braga

In Braga we slept in a small hostel called Sir Manuel. It was right on the square, but the city itself didn’t impress us much, it was pretty dead. We drank wine in the square by the fountain and walked around, but for some reason we were pretty tired.

Peneda-Gerês National Park

The highlight of our stay in Braga and maybe the entire trip was definitely Park Gerês. We did the east of it in a day, and the west in another. It was mesmerising! The main highlight in Gerês was the natural pond in the middle of the fabulous nature there. We felt like Gods in the Garden of Eden. We were enjoying each other’s company, conversing flawlessly and flowingly like we always do. It was so blissful. There were even tiny fish that were giving us (well, mainly Toubar) a free spa treatment.

On our long way back from that magical pond, we were yearning for a cup of coffee. Sadly, the only coffee shop in that cute village was closed, but I asked some guys (man and his wife who had a summer house there) in the village, if they would be so kind and make us two Pingados. And they did! I realized at that point, that I have to improve my Spanish, that I really don’t like that I forgot so much. These coffees brought us back to life!

 

One of the things that Toubar liked about hiking in Gerês was the amount of fruits that we were taking from the trees and eating. Mainly figs and grapes. And I really loved thatToubar wasn’t 100 % comfortable with taking them – so cute and pure. He thought it was as if we would steal them so I told him that we are just “checking and taking” them.

We also visited Spain, Galicia and enjoyed the views of the sea and islands. 

 

Porto again

We arrived in Porto and returned the car, then we went to check in at the Airbnb. We had to wait a while so we worked a bit in a very local cafe. I love these and i made Toubar love them too!! So happy. Before we met, Toubar was always looking at Google for reviews of cafes and restaurants and trusting them implicitly. But for me, the best experience lies right where Google can’t see. And most of the time, I’ve found that to be true! 

The airbnb was nice. Much better than Sir Manuel in Braga. We had a nice balcony and a comfortable bed. The apartment promised “sea view”, but unfortunately we only had a view of the warehouses. The sea was somewhere in the distance, but we had to look really hard to find it. I thought it was funny. I was working at night and Toubar went for a walk. 

We had a nice walking tour with this Irish dude that turned out to be a private. We learned about the Portuguese dictatorship – under Salazar – which is Europe’s longest dictatorship. He told us that this is where JK Rowling got the inspiration for Salazar Slytherin.

Aveiro

We mistakenly got an Airbnb in Aveiro that was far from the center – as in outside of the city. Transportation was bad. We had to take a train to get home or Ubers which were very expensive. Once we arrived to the city, we hitchhiked to the Airbnb. Then we took an Uber back to the city, where we took a ferry and went for a long walk in a park by the beach. The walk was really nice but even nicer we found swimming in the rain in the ocean. The waves were pretty huge and fun. The water felt warm because of the coldness outside. We went back in our swimsuits. We then took a ferry, a bus and a train back home. The train left us in No Man’s Land. It was funny yet a bit scary! It was pitch black and deserted. Then we walked home and it was fine. 

The lady who hosted us was very nice because we were her first guests. She had a huge house for us to stay in, but we still ate and drank wine in the room. 

Coimbra

We loved Coimbra. Hilly and with amazing views! The coffee there was not good as the rest of the country, though. We really missed that. The walking tour was boring. The guy was a bit too academic or nerdy, it seemed. I tried not to eat all morning and to try something like intermittent fasting, but at one point I felt so dizzy that I had to buy some pastries at the café.  The Airbnb was very cosy. We stayed with this lesbian feminist. She was very nice as well as the other girls who lived with her. Her flatmate loved my facourite song that I used to listen with Rabi after raves in Leipzig. It’s name is Folha de Jurema. It will always be one of my favourite songs I think.  Our room had a very nice balcony that overlooked the delightful calm neighbourhood.

As I mentioned above, Coimbra impressed us especially with its views. And then the bamboo park. Everything felt natural and light at that moment. And filled with love. It was as if there was nothing around us but the two of us. 

Lisbon

We spent another 10 nights in Liabon and we liked it a lot. The city was quite hilly, even for me it was too much. When I went running, I had to walk the hills a lot. I absolutely hated electric scooters in Prague, but in Lisbon we started using them A LOT. The most practical thing.

Málaga

We flew to Malaga only because there was a cheap connection to Prague. I didn’t know much about the city, but somehow I thought there would be techno parties there. There weren’t any and the city was very capitalistic. We didn’t have much to do there, so we at least went to the mountains above Malaga. Unfortunately, there wasn’t even very good public transportation, so each trip took a long time.
One night we tried to roast squid, but found we hadn’t cleaned it so it was all bitter (we ate squid shit basically). Toubar bought 1kg of meat and thought it was just right. He’s not very good at estimating quantities of food, which is quite funny.

Granada

We fell in love with Granada! We drove there at about 6am by Blabla Car and arrived before sunrise. We were so tired that we fell asleep on the concrete somewhere on the street and then didn’t go to breakfast until about 2 hours later. We also went on a free walking tour which we didn’t end up paying for because we didn’t have the money. I fell so in love with that city that I’m thinking of going there for an internship. The mountains, the Arabic vibe, and the friendly people. What more could you ask for.

  

And that’s pretty much it!! Portugal & Spain will always stay in our hearts and we will come back for sure!