We chose Portugal and Spain for our honeymoon for the surf, hiking, and culture and it did not disappoint. We flew into Lisbon and stayed here for two nights. We wondered through the hilly cobblestones, admiring the tree-topped hills in the skyline. We did some toursity things here including the Jeronimos Monastery and Tower of Belem. I'd say Lisbon's highlights were their yellow buildings, cable cars, and intriguing streets lined with laundry, birdcages outside the homes, and family portraits on the walls.
From Lisbon, we rented a car and headed down south, choosing our next destinations based on the surf reports. The drive to Supertubos was a bizarre one. It looked like we were nowhere near the ocean. We drove passed farm after farm feeling like we were in the middle of the country, but finally reached a parking lot, walked over some huge sand dune and there was the ocean. I cozied up on the chilly beach while Dylan enjoyed a long ride at Supertubos, a "world class wave." We ate the worst burger of our lives at the beach bar and then headed south.
We drove through fairy-tale like woods to reach a town in Sintra called Almoçageme. This was my favorite town in Portugal. A sweet Portuguese lady hosted us in the coziest apartment. Our view overlooked the teeny tiny streets (which made driving a laughable challenge) with the sea and mountains in the distance. Dylan almost surfed some waves at a beach called Praia Grande until Portuguese dude approached us...
At the end of our Portuguese adventure, we turned in our car for a bus to Seville, Spain. Arriving at 9:00pm, the sun was still setting, giving us the dreamiest scene. Across the bridge we had bright purple-flowered trees that made the city smell delightful everywhere you walked, and palm trees lining the river. "Coolest city I've ever seen," we both expressed. We immediately started brainstorming how to move here.
Around the corner from our host's apartment, which was the hippest home I've ever seen, we found a lively tapas restaurant. We ordered too many tapas and enjoyed our cheap beer and wine. For the next three days, we explored Seville's endless historic streets, and moseyed around their vibrant parks. Spain in general had some of the most insane churches. I marveled at the most extreme organs and we wondered about the supposed Christopher Columbus' remains. We stayed an extra day in Seville than planned to take it all in.
One day we lingered around the University, sitting and watching all the students going from class to class. What a dreamy school to attend. Later that night, we attemped to find a concert that was advertised in the halls. We got directions that led us through a garden, turned right and spotted a sign that said "Stage set --->". So we followed the arrow. Instead, we found a sweet little alley that was getting set up for a movie. We sat and enjoyed this until they kicked us out.
I'd say the food experience was unique, diverse, delicious, and filled with "best evers." We had some very traditional cod and potatoes in Lisbon for our first meal, a plateful of meat with a side of like half a head of cabbage, one carrot, and some rice in Sintra, the best Peruvian food in someone's backyard-turned-patio restaurant in Aljezur, the best sushi ever in Granada, and the best tapas style Mexican at Cantina de Mexicana in Seville. Oh, also the best salmon pasta at O'Paulo's in Praia da Arrifana, Portugal. This restaurant had the best views on yet another huge cliff overlooking the Pacific.
Our honeymoon was pretty much everything we could've hoped for. Good amount of surf, relaxing, hiking, history, food, wine, and love. It was awesome getting a whole week enjoying Portugal's nature and seclusion and then a whole other week exploring Spain. It felt like two very different trips all in one. If you want to see more pictures and videos, check out Dylan's flickr!
Sunset dinner at O'Paulo's
Lisbon, Portugal--->Almoçageme, Portugal---> Vila Nova de Milfontes, Portugal---> Aljezur, Portugal ---> Seville, Spain ---> Granada, Spain ---> Málaga, Spain
From Lisbon, we rented a car and headed down south, choosing our next destinations based on the surf reports. The drive to Supertubos was a bizarre one. It looked like we were nowhere near the ocean. We drove passed farm after farm feeling like we were in the middle of the country, but finally reached a parking lot, walked over some huge sand dune and there was the ocean. I cozied up on the chilly beach while Dylan enjoyed a long ride at Supertubos, a "world class wave." We ate the worst burger of our lives at the beach bar and then headed south.
We drove through fairy-tale like woods to reach a town in Sintra called Almoçageme. This was my favorite town in Portugal. A sweet Portuguese lady hosted us in the coziest apartment. Our view overlooked the teeny tiny streets (which made driving a laughable challenge) with the sea and mountains in the distance. Dylan almost surfed some waves at a beach called Praia Grande until Portuguese dude approached us...
"Hey! What are you doing?!" He asked concerned.
"Goin surfin!" Dylan exclaimed excitedly.
"You're kidding, right?!"
"No, man, those waves look perfect!"
"No, man, those waves look perfect!"
"Noo, you're joking! Those are like 4 meter waves... There's no other surfers out there... You can't even get out passed the break. You'd need a jet ski!"
"Oooh, no those look great!"
The man continued to nervously laugh in disbelief.
"Maybe since this guy is laughing at the idea and there's no one else in, maybe you shouldn't go, babe," I hopefully expressed.
Finally, Dylan chose to believe this guy and we opted for hiking instead. Phew.
So we headed to a hike we'd learned about from a French lady that just decided to start a pizza food truck on the corner of this tiny little Portugues town (covetable life, huh?) We reached an old convent on top of a hill, Santuario de Peninha. No other tourists, no fees, just walking around this 400 year old convent.
My memory of the following towns in Portugal are a little meshed, as they were all little surf towns where our days were spent doing just that; Watching my surfer babe husband either from a beautiful rocky, secluded beach, enjoying the European freedom, or from a huge cliff overlooking the indigo sea.
In Vila Nova e Milfontes, we found a fantastic coastal hike called the Fisherman's Trail. We hiked through endless wildflowers, succulents and rosemary with a steep drop to the sea on our right. Near the end, we watched newby surfers from our cliff, then veered right for a detour through a pine forest for a change in scenery.
Dylan's last day of surfing was spent at the rockiest beach with the roughest waves at sunset. I joined a van of hippie kids from all over as we tried to keep an eye out for brave old Dylan. He finally came in with a dented board, ending the surf half of the trip.
In Vila Nova e Milfontes, we found a fantastic coastal hike called the Fisherman's Trail. We hiked through endless wildflowers, succulents and rosemary with a steep drop to the sea on our right. Near the end, we watched newby surfers from our cliff, then veered right for a detour through a pine forest for a change in scenery.
Dylan's last day of surfing was spent at the rockiest beach with the roughest waves at sunset. I joined a van of hippie kids from all over as we tried to keep an eye out for brave old Dylan. He finally came in with a dented board, ending the surf half of the trip.
At the end of our Portuguese adventure, we turned in our car for a bus to Seville, Spain. Arriving at 9:00pm, the sun was still setting, giving us the dreamiest scene. Across the bridge we had bright purple-flowered trees that made the city smell delightful everywhere you walked, and palm trees lining the river. "Coolest city I've ever seen," we both expressed. We immediately started brainstorming how to move here.
Around the corner from our host's apartment, which was the hippest home I've ever seen, we found a lively tapas restaurant. We ordered too many tapas and enjoyed our cheap beer and wine. For the next three days, we explored Seville's endless historic streets, and moseyed around their vibrant parks. Spain in general had some of the most insane churches. I marveled at the most extreme organs and we wondered about the supposed Christopher Columbus' remains. We stayed an extra day in Seville than planned to take it all in.
One day we lingered around the University, sitting and watching all the students going from class to class. What a dreamy school to attend. Later that night, we attemped to find a concert that was advertised in the halls. We got directions that led us through a garden, turned right and spotted a sign that said "Stage set --->". So we followed the arrow. Instead, we found a sweet little alley that was getting set up for a movie. We sat and enjoyed this until they kicked us out.
Some of the worthwhile things we did in Seville were the Palace de la Countess and the Real Alcazar; both incredibly ornate, extravagant buildings with ancient tiles, mosaics, and collections from all over the world. We regretfully only had an hour for the Real Alcazar as I thought it was just a garden, so I assumed it could be seen in that amount of time. Not so. It was an old palace originally built by Moorish kings. It was elaborate from the floor tiles to the molding to the archways, walls, ceilings, columns, to the gardens. We could've spent all day here. Our amazement in this city only feigned in the slightest (it had to from the original extreme high).
Next was Granada. Granada was a bit more hipster with college students all around and graffiti everywhere. On a walk to dinner one night, we met a guitar-slung guy and followed him to the bar where he was playing (with his permission). We hung out here with a bar full of college-aged, poetry-reading, cartoon-drawing, music-singing hipsters.
The most luxurious night of our trip was a midnight dip in some Roman baths. But first, picture me walking through the streets at night with wet hair, baggy hiking pants, Dylan's button up shirt, no bra and my Chacos while everyone else was in their night-out clothes... comical. Anyway, we arrived without ridicule and I was convinced this Roman bath was legit from loong ago. Apparently though, the builders just did a really good job of making it look like kings would've bathed here. I still enjoyed imagining a king walking up through the column-lined hall to join us in the bath. We dipped in the freezing, floated in the toasty, dipped back in the cold, back to hot again and again, floating and admiring the gold, intricate interior.
Another day, we attempted to go to the Alhambra but apparently you need tickets a MONTH in advanced. So I guess if you're going to Granada, go ahead and book that. Apparently it's worth it.
The most luxurious night of our trip was a midnight dip in some Roman baths. But first, picture me walking through the streets at night with wet hair, baggy hiking pants, Dylan's button up shirt, no bra and my Chacos while everyone else was in their night-out clothes... comical. Anyway, we arrived without ridicule and I was convinced this Roman bath was legit from loong ago. Apparently though, the builders just did a really good job of making it look like kings would've bathed here. I still enjoyed imagining a king walking up through the column-lined hall to join us in the bath. We dipped in the freezing, floated in the toasty, dipped back in the cold, back to hot again and again, floating and admiring the gold, intricate interior.
Another day, we attempted to go to the Alhambra but apparently you need tickets a MONTH in advanced. So I guess if you're going to Granada, go ahead and book that. Apparently it's worth it.
Since the sun set so late, we could explore for a whole day, take a nap, then head back out for a hike at like dinner time. So that we did one day. Took a taxi about 20 minutes west near the Sierra Nevadas and hiked up through a little village to find the trail. What we at least thought was the trail went through farms, provided fresh cherries, and had the best gorge for sound echoes. This satisfied my hiking itch.
From Granada, we made our last stop in Malaga where we flew out. We were glad we only spent a night here as it was a Miami-esque beach town. We did enjoy people-watching at this old Moorish castle though, pretending we were Canadian and talking about America going down the tubes. And ate more Ramen. We ate ramen, Dylan's new obsession, I think three times? Our last meal in Spain was an Asian meal.
I'd say the food experience was unique, diverse, delicious, and filled with "best evers." We had some very traditional cod and potatoes in Lisbon for our first meal, a plateful of meat with a side of like half a head of cabbage, one carrot, and some rice in Sintra, the best Peruvian food in someone's backyard-turned-patio restaurant in Aljezur, the best sushi ever in Granada, and the best tapas style Mexican at Cantina de Mexicana in Seville. Oh, also the best salmon pasta at O'Paulo's in Praia da Arrifana, Portugal. This restaurant had the best views on yet another huge cliff overlooking the Pacific.
Our honeymoon was pretty much everything we could've hoped for. Good amount of surf, relaxing, hiking, history, food, wine, and love. It was awesome getting a whole week enjoying Portugal's nature and seclusion and then a whole other week exploring Spain. It felt like two very different trips all in one. If you want to see more pictures and videos, check out Dylan's flickr!
Sunset dinner at O'Paulo's
Local beers in Lisbon
Pile of meat in Sintra
If you walk it, sea will come
There it is! First surf spot at Supertubos
Fairytale land, Sintra
Walking across what looked like a desert to get to the ocean
Seville, filled with the lovelies, lushest gardens and parks
Plaza de Espana
Granada hike
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