Portugal

My final night in Europe has arrived. And I´m leaving the continent in style. En route to Tarifa and a short ferry ride to Morocco, I´ve made a quick stop in Malaga. And due to my laid back, last minute style, I´m going to truly experience a night under the stars in Spain. I showed up my hostel here and it was booked solid. So I have the pleasure in sleeping in a hammock on the terrace. It´s actually quite nice, my cheapest stop in Europe so far, and provides quite a bit of privacy. I just sincerely hope that it doesn´t rain tonight.

Anyways, I spent the past weekend in Portugal with an old friend from high school and her lovely roomates. They are all finishing up a year spent working as English teachers in Spain and decided to take a long weekend to go on a road trip to Portugal. They were gracious enough to let me tag along and we had a great four days in the far side of Iberia - Lagos and Lisbon, and a few other stops along the way.

Lagos was hilarious. The entire Algarve seems to be overrun by English and American tourists and renters, but the beaches are beautiful and nightlife is decent as well. Our hostel was a tad unorganized but I was in a room with my lovely travelmates, and about a dozen other female guests - so I wasn´t complaining.

We made a stop by Sagres, the Westernmost point of Europe, once thought to literally be the end of the world. The sunset and views in general there were breathtaking.

Once we got to Lisbon I actually had the opportunity to practice my Portuguese. The city has a very quiet, calm atmosphere, but there is plenty to do. The streets of Bairro Alto are great and filled with throngs of friendly Lisboans. Beers are cheap and can be bought at one establishment and drank at another. At 230am the bars close and everyone moves on to the city´s clubs. We took a cab to Lisbon´s premier late-night hot spot, Lux, but arrived to a line that wrapped around the block. Our cabby was a very interesting guy that spoke English (even though I was trying to practice my Portuguese) and informed my friends and me that even if we waited in line the bouncers would probably try and charge me (the one male in the group) well over a hundred dollars to get in. That wasn´t going to happen. Our cabby told us of another district filled with clubs where he could take us. He seemed like a pretty good guy, so we took his advice and moved on. We all got along so well on the ride that he announced that he was going to take a quick break and actually come out and party with us...

To be continued (I have to get off the internet at my hostel)