Seems like I’ve lost all my creativity judging by the title of this post 😀 Nevermind, let’s recap my last day in Porto. I took my time and started my day around noon. I felt a bit better than the day before. I wanted to visit Jardins do Palácio de Cristal (Crystal Palace Gardens), the place my couchsurfing host had recommended to me.
When I came back from Braga my couchsurfing host told me to move out of his place the following day. He rented his appartement on airbnb to someone for the weekend. I had no other choice than to go to a hostel. I found one in the city centre, it was called Sport Hostel. I don’t really remember how I liked the place as I was just happy to find somewhere cheap to sleep last minute. I was feeling like shit that day so when I arrived to the hostel I immediately fell asleep. I slept for few hours. When I woke up I had that familiar feeling when travelling: ”Where am I? Who am I?” Do you know what I mean? 😀 I was feeling a bit better so I went for a walk.
I love to come up with creative titles for my posts but this time I couldn’t think of anything better 😀 When I’m visiting a new country I always want to visit as many places as possible. I was deciding between two historic towns Braga and Guimarães as a day trip from Porto. I chose Braga mostly because of Bom Jesus do Monte sanctuary which had always fascinated me. I don’t know where my fascination for monumental religious buildings comes from 😀
I don’t really know where to start with my Porto trip. I was blown away with the beauty of this Portuguese city. My first introduction to the city (apart from my couchsurfer’s house and metro lol) was grandiose church Igreja do Carmo & Igreja dos Carmelitas (Carmo and Carmelitas Church) which is actually two churches. They are separated by a very narrow house. Apparently, the purpose of this house was to prevent any contact between nuns and monks.
Igreja dos Carmelitas (on the left) & Igreja do Carmo (on the right). Wall of azulejos (tiles) depicting the funding of Carmelite Order on the side of the Carmo church.
As I mentioned in my previous post I had booked a tour with Lido Tours to the east of the island for my second day in Madeira. The highlight of the trip was village Santana and Pico Arieiro (third highest peak on the island). I don’t remember the name of the first stop but here are some pictures 😀
My next destination in Portugal was Madeira archipelago. I found out that not many people actually realise Madeira is an archipelago. It consist of the main island Madeira, Porto Santo Island and uninhabited Desertas Islands. I visited the largest of the islands Madeira and its capital Funchal. Unfortunately I only had three days to spend on this beautiful island but I decided to take the trip anyway and I don’t regret my decision. I took an Easyjet flight from Lisbon to Funchal. It was a challenge to pack all my things into one suitcase as I always travel with suitcase and backpack full of things but somehow I managed, I’m an expert in packing 😀
My summer trip to Portugal wouldn’t be complete without visiting at least one beach. I knew I had wanted to visit Algarve region on the south of Portugal. Of all the beautiful seaside resorts in the region I chose Lagos as my destination mainly because of all the beautiful pictures of cliffs I had seen on internet. I bought the train tickets online at home through this site, I don’t remember the exact price I paid but it wasn’t extremely expensive. The train goes from Entrecampos station in Lisbon to Tunes and there you have to change for the local train to Lagos, the whole journey was up to 4 hours. Since I didn’t find any couchsurfer in Lagos (I remember there weren’t many people on there so it’s possible I didn’t even try to write them :D) I booked White Sun Hostel for 5 days. I liked the hostel and its location in the city centre and not that far away from the train station.
When I was planning my holiday in Portugal I knew I would take a day off from Lisbon and go to Sintra. Sintra is best known for its numerous palaces and castles. It’s been on my list bucket list for quite some time, ever since I saw a picture of the Initiatic well in Quinta da Regaleira many years ago. I decided to combine it with Cabo da Roca (westernmost point of continental Europe) and Cascais as a full day trip.
Town hall in Sintra
It’s really hard to write about a place you visited three years ago. It’s even harder to write when you don’t feel like writing at all. I always have to be in a mood for writing so here I am with my next post after two and a half years of silence. I guess I will keep this post very brief and just fill it with many pictures to compensate for it.
The first view on Lisbon (when I walked out of Baixa-Chiado metro station) was this beautiful house.
Suitcase is my best friend 