Week 1 update - My Portugal Holiday
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
After a swift flight to Portugal, we arrived at Porto Airport. We got our luggage, went through security, and got a shuttle to the nearby car hire place. The shuttle, or should I say mini bus, was 1 minute long. Good thing too, because I could not find my seat belt and neither could my mum. It seemed like it was ripped out of its place. However, the driver was really nice and I was luckily because it was not too rough on the road.
When we arrived at the car hire place, we were greeted by a nice worker, who got down my parents details and driving licences and even wrote his name in Japanese. We mentioned where we were from and how my mum was French and how my dad was half Japanese, half English. That's why he showed us that he could write his name in Japanese. He even recognised that my dad's name, Hideaki, meant the mountains and the sun in Japanese. I know, its quite cringey, but also really cool that he managed to recognise it. My dad then wrote his name in Katakana. Looks like they made friends!😂
After struggling to use the Sat Nav because my parents still live in the stone age when it comes to cars (jokes), we were finally on our way. The scenery was so beautiful and I couldn't help looking around at all of my surroundings. We had a chat in the car about how many people back at home either choose not to step out of their comfort zone or simply cannot afford to, so they miss out on experiencing spectacular things that they've perhaps never seen before. To be able to have experienced Croatia last year and Portugal this year, I was truly grateful.
It was a long drive up to the mountain and to our small house that was in the middle of nowhere, but it was also a very beautiful one, with all the mountainous terrains folding away before us. It was quite dark when we arrived but we were greeted by a nice gentleman who had great hospitality like the others. He showed us into our house and we were truly amazed. The top floor was the kitchen and dining area, with an extra bed, if there were more people. There was also my parents' bedroom with a view across to the pool outside. On the bottom floor, was me and my sister's room, with two singular beds, a sink and another dining table if you wanted to eat there. We just used it as another place to study. On the bottom floor, there was also the bathroom and a door beside it, that led to the patio and table outside, as well as the pool. It turned out that there was also WiFi which Pedro, the owner of the holiday homes, had worked hard to install. It isn't the best but it's enough to publish a few blog posts and photos on Instagram.
My parents had packed a can of tomatoes, some corned beef, an onion, and some rice so we ate that for dinner. It was really nice because we didn't have any seasonings or oil so we scraped the fat off the corned beef and use it to try the onions and it tasted really nice. Pedro and his team had also laid out some fruit so we also ate that for dessert, as well as for breakfast the next morning.
The first day, we ate some pineapple, watermelon, plums, and melon from the fruit bowl provided, for breakfast and it was delicious. We also went to the shops in the next town to buy some essentials to last us for a long time since the nearest town, Agueda, was quite far away from where we were staying. We also returned home and spent the rest of the day at the pool, which was fun. I tried to mount a shark float but it was impossible as I and many others, kept falling off!😂 There was also a water scooter float for young children, which we also tried to mount, for jokes but it was also impossible. Haha.😂😂
On the second day, we decided to go to the beach. It was a small beach called Barra, near the town of Aveiro. We "swam" (more like paddled) in the Atlantic Ocean because it was so freezing cold that we could barely move, nor could we get our shoulders under. However, I was able to go in for a significant amount of time, considering how cold it was. Even my dad, who will dive into icy water any day, was taking his time.😂😂
We also bought some sandwiches at a cafe in town. We took a long time to find a place to eat because everywhere was full up with people but after some small disputes, we settled on a cafe by the sea. The sandwiches were okay and the pineapple that was mixed with slightly spiced chicken, was actually quite nice. However, we wanted to get some proper Portuguese food, so on the third day, we decided to go out to a better restaurant.
We decided to go to the university town of Coimbra on the third day. The day before, we visited the town of Aveiro, which was supposed to be like the "Venice" of Portugal. However, it was plastic and a heavy tourist trap, so we decided to go to Coimbra instead. It was so much nicer. The buildings were old and beautiful. We went to the library and museum of the university. There were bookshelves piled high with old, dusty books. The walls had gold painted all over them and the ceiling had paintings of cherubs and angels. Even the bookshelves themselves had gold leaf placed upon them. It was all very grand and it was a shame that we couldn't take any photos of it all. However, we could take photos of the chapel beside it and it was absolutely stunning. Portugal is a Catholic country so it's churches and chapels are so incredibly ornate, its very beautiful. The organ was placed up on a balcony with carved out flowers in the wooden frame and lots of colours and gold leaf poking out. The ceiling was colourful too with strings of red and green leaves filling it up.
Before our visit to this place though, we got our tickets to get in, which took a while because the Portuguese like to do things at their own pace. We also had some proper Portuguese food at this restaurant beside the main university building. The service there was wonderful and we ate amazing food. I had an octopus stew type of dish, which tasted very nice. We also had a pork and potato dish, which my mum ate mainly but there was also a pork, salad and chips dish, which my sister had and my dad had the traditional Backalau. However, we shared it all out and it was all very delicious.
In the evening, we watched the religious procession to mark the 15th of August. They brought out the decorated statue of Mary on a board and all the people in the village, even the children, held out candles and it all looked spectacular. I do not believe but I can respect those who choose to worship their religion and it's good to see something different from time to time.
On Sunday, we went to the village party to celebrate the procession that they just had. We walked past the village bread oven and saw them making a batch of bread for later on. They had a massive batch of dough in a box, from which they tore out sections and rolled them quickly around in a bowl full of flower and then took it to a man who put it in a bread oven that had been heating over night.
We then went to a viewpoint where there was a 360° view of the mountains. We could see the clouds rolling in and the windturbines on the next mountain. I took lots of photos and videos.
We went home and came back for some bread and food. We got two warm loaves of bread that tasted absolutely delicious with butter spread on them. The food was really nice as well. We had fried fish and fried chicken. We also had fried sardines and pork, potatoes, and salad, which all tasted really nice. However, it was raining quite heavily so me and my sister decided to head back early since my parents wanted to get more food. We stayed home and just did a bit of revision, since I'm about to enter my final year of secondary school. We then went on a short walk around the village and found a massive courgette hanging off the wall. We wondered why it didn't fall off as it was bigger than my hand.
On Monday, we decided to go on a walk by a nearby river in Alfusquero. We drove past this river on a bridge and it looked absolutely beautiful but when we actually arrived, we were heavily disappointed. Firstly, there were a lot of flies about and when we walked down further, we soon realised why. Walking across a bridge, we came across this path and it stank because some unintelligent people thought it would be a brilliant idea to go to the toilet there. Not in a private place in the bushes but right in the middle of the path for all to see and they decided to leave baby wipes and toilet paper strewn all over the place. I can't believe people can be so disgusting to a place that does not belong to them but animals that would thrive there if it was clean. We walked further up the path where it was a little cleaner but we soon realised that it led to a house so it must be private property. We thought it would loop round so that we could miss that awful path but we soon found out that it didn't so we had to go back down. We didn't bring any food with us and luckily so because none of us would have wanted to eat it had we seen what we saw. Before, we thought we would go swimming in the water because it looked reasonably clean but then we saw another poo right by the water and we decided against it. We actually left very quickly. It was quite humerous how my dad was running and slapping away the flies that kept landing on his face. However, it was absolutely disgusting and sorry for giving you the details, I've tried to be polite and honest at the same time but at the end of the day it's reality.
We went home and immediately washed our hands because we all felt pretty gross. We then had lunch, which was stew and it was very delicious. Me and my sister then decided to go in the pool. The Sun decided to come out since it was hidden behind the clouds on our short walk. The owners of the holiday homes had layed out a unicorn pool floatie and me and my sister decided to take some cool shots sitting on it. We nearly fell in but we surprisingly managed to stay on. I did fall off the shark floatie though when I tried to mount it. Haha!😂
In the evening, we decided to go for a stroll through Agueda. The way I can describe this town is very colourful and full of umbrellas. The umbrellas are hung up in rows, using string, above the old streets and it looks really beautiful. They also had colourful benches for you to sit on with pictures of umbrellas on them. We also walked past this colourful staircase that was packed full of people taking photos of each other. We decided to walk on further and come back to take some photos ourselves. We walked for a bit and then came back and took some photos. They looked really good because of all the bright colours. We then decided to walk up the staircase to see what was there and we found that it just looped back round to the street. After some more walking around and seeing little tiled pictures of Mary herself, we decided to go home and have dinner.
The next day, on Tuesday, we decided to go to the beach again but a little further up than last time. This beach is called Mira and it's in the district of Aveiro. According to the Telegraph, it's a really popular beach, as it has got silver sands and rushing waves and also apparently fishing boats but we didn't see any. However, we all thought it was spectacular as it was wild and the waves were huge. Due to the fact that it's the Atlantic Ocean, it was freezing. I thought that I would go in naturally but I ended up losing my balance and falling in. My sister and my mum were also struggling. We were all screaming when we went in because it was so cold. However, we ended up staying in for quite a long time, even though my dad was laughing at us. We also brought lunch with us, so we had lunch there. We also ate ice-cream in the afternoon.
We then went home and had a dip in the pool. My mum also took photos of me and my sister on the unicorn pool floaties as they added in an extra one so we had one each. They're really ridiculous but also quite fun at the same time. I also ended up reading a bit of my book, Call of the Wild by Jack London. I couldn't bring all the books they I mentioned in my post on The Book Hub because I didn't have enough space in my suitcase but I did end up bringing two books which I'm avidly reading now.
It's now Wednesday and it marks the end of the first week. Hope this last week goes well!
Have you been to Portugal before? Would you like to go? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!
See you next time,
Bye,
XOX, Juliette
My social media handles:
My Instagram
Watch all my Portugal holiday videos here!
My YouTube channel
My second blog:
The Book Hub
After a swift flight to Portugal, we arrived at Porto Airport. We got our luggage, went through security, and got a shuttle to the nearby car hire place. The shuttle, or should I say mini bus, was 1 minute long. Good thing too, because I could not find my seat belt and neither could my mum. It seemed like it was ripped out of its place. However, the driver was really nice and I was luckily because it was not too rough on the road.
When we arrived at the car hire place, we were greeted by a nice worker, who got down my parents details and driving licences and even wrote his name in Japanese. We mentioned where we were from and how my mum was French and how my dad was half Japanese, half English. That's why he showed us that he could write his name in Japanese. He even recognised that my dad's name, Hideaki, meant the mountains and the sun in Japanese. I know, its quite cringey, but also really cool that he managed to recognise it. My dad then wrote his name in Katakana. Looks like they made friends!😂
After struggling to use the Sat Nav because my parents still live in the stone age when it comes to cars (jokes), we were finally on our way. The scenery was so beautiful and I couldn't help looking around at all of my surroundings. We had a chat in the car about how many people back at home either choose not to step out of their comfort zone or simply cannot afford to, so they miss out on experiencing spectacular things that they've perhaps never seen before. To be able to have experienced Croatia last year and Portugal this year, I was truly grateful.
It was a long drive up to the mountain and to our small house that was in the middle of nowhere, but it was also a very beautiful one, with all the mountainous terrains folding away before us. It was quite dark when we arrived but we were greeted by a nice gentleman who had great hospitality like the others. He showed us into our house and we were truly amazed. The top floor was the kitchen and dining area, with an extra bed, if there were more people. There was also my parents' bedroom with a view across to the pool outside. On the bottom floor, was me and my sister's room, with two singular beds, a sink and another dining table if you wanted to eat there. We just used it as another place to study. On the bottom floor, there was also the bathroom and a door beside it, that led to the patio and table outside, as well as the pool. It turned out that there was also WiFi which Pedro, the owner of the holiday homes, had worked hard to install. It isn't the best but it's enough to publish a few blog posts and photos on Instagram.
My parents had packed a can of tomatoes, some corned beef, an onion, and some rice so we ate that for dinner. It was really nice because we didn't have any seasonings or oil so we scraped the fat off the corned beef and use it to try the onions and it tasted really nice. Pedro and his team had also laid out some fruit so we also ate that for dessert, as well as for breakfast the next morning.
The first day, we ate some pineapple, watermelon, plums, and melon from the fruit bowl provided, for breakfast and it was delicious. We also went to the shops in the next town to buy some essentials to last us for a long time since the nearest town, Agueda, was quite far away from where we were staying. We also returned home and spent the rest of the day at the pool, which was fun. I tried to mount a shark float but it was impossible as I and many others, kept falling off!😂 There was also a water scooter float for young children, which we also tried to mount, for jokes but it was also impossible. Haha.😂😂
On the second day, we decided to go to the beach. It was a small beach called Barra, near the town of Aveiro. We "swam" (more like paddled) in the Atlantic Ocean because it was so freezing cold that we could barely move, nor could we get our shoulders under. However, I was able to go in for a significant amount of time, considering how cold it was. Even my dad, who will dive into icy water any day, was taking his time.😂😂
We also bought some sandwiches at a cafe in town. We took a long time to find a place to eat because everywhere was full up with people but after some small disputes, we settled on a cafe by the sea. The sandwiches were okay and the pineapple that was mixed with slightly spiced chicken, was actually quite nice. However, we wanted to get some proper Portuguese food, so on the third day, we decided to go out to a better restaurant.
We decided to go to the university town of Coimbra on the third day. The day before, we visited the town of Aveiro, which was supposed to be like the "Venice" of Portugal. However, it was plastic and a heavy tourist trap, so we decided to go to Coimbra instead. It was so much nicer. The buildings were old and beautiful. We went to the library and museum of the university. There were bookshelves piled high with old, dusty books. The walls had gold painted all over them and the ceiling had paintings of cherubs and angels. Even the bookshelves themselves had gold leaf placed upon them. It was all very grand and it was a shame that we couldn't take any photos of it all. However, we could take photos of the chapel beside it and it was absolutely stunning. Portugal is a Catholic country so it's churches and chapels are so incredibly ornate, its very beautiful. The organ was placed up on a balcony with carved out flowers in the wooden frame and lots of colours and gold leaf poking out. The ceiling was colourful too with strings of red and green leaves filling it up.
Before our visit to this place though, we got our tickets to get in, which took a while because the Portuguese like to do things at their own pace. We also had some proper Portuguese food at this restaurant beside the main university building. The service there was wonderful and we ate amazing food. I had an octopus stew type of dish, which tasted very nice. We also had a pork and potato dish, which my mum ate mainly but there was also a pork, salad and chips dish, which my sister had and my dad had the traditional Backalau. However, we shared it all out and it was all very delicious.
In the evening, we watched the religious procession to mark the 15th of August. They brought out the decorated statue of Mary on a board and all the people in the village, even the children, held out candles and it all looked spectacular. I do not believe but I can respect those who choose to worship their religion and it's good to see something different from time to time.
On Sunday, we went to the village party to celebrate the procession that they just had. We walked past the village bread oven and saw them making a batch of bread for later on. They had a massive batch of dough in a box, from which they tore out sections and rolled them quickly around in a bowl full of flower and then took it to a man who put it in a bread oven that had been heating over night.
We then went to a viewpoint where there was a 360° view of the mountains. We could see the clouds rolling in and the windturbines on the next mountain. I took lots of photos and videos.
We went home and came back for some bread and food. We got two warm loaves of bread that tasted absolutely delicious with butter spread on them. The food was really nice as well. We had fried fish and fried chicken. We also had fried sardines and pork, potatoes, and salad, which all tasted really nice. However, it was raining quite heavily so me and my sister decided to head back early since my parents wanted to get more food. We stayed home and just did a bit of revision, since I'm about to enter my final year of secondary school. We then went on a short walk around the village and found a massive courgette hanging off the wall. We wondered why it didn't fall off as it was bigger than my hand.
On Monday, we decided to go on a walk by a nearby river in Alfusquero. We drove past this river on a bridge and it looked absolutely beautiful but when we actually arrived, we were heavily disappointed. Firstly, there were a lot of flies about and when we walked down further, we soon realised why. Walking across a bridge, we came across this path and it stank because some unintelligent people thought it would be a brilliant idea to go to the toilet there. Not in a private place in the bushes but right in the middle of the path for all to see and they decided to leave baby wipes and toilet paper strewn all over the place. I can't believe people can be so disgusting to a place that does not belong to them but animals that would thrive there if it was clean. We walked further up the path where it was a little cleaner but we soon realised that it led to a house so it must be private property. We thought it would loop round so that we could miss that awful path but we soon found out that it didn't so we had to go back down. We didn't bring any food with us and luckily so because none of us would have wanted to eat it had we seen what we saw. Before, we thought we would go swimming in the water because it looked reasonably clean but then we saw another poo right by the water and we decided against it. We actually left very quickly. It was quite humerous how my dad was running and slapping away the flies that kept landing on his face. However, it was absolutely disgusting and sorry for giving you the details, I've tried to be polite and honest at the same time but at the end of the day it's reality.
We went home and immediately washed our hands because we all felt pretty gross. We then had lunch, which was stew and it was very delicious. Me and my sister then decided to go in the pool. The Sun decided to come out since it was hidden behind the clouds on our short walk. The owners of the holiday homes had layed out a unicorn pool floatie and me and my sister decided to take some cool shots sitting on it. We nearly fell in but we surprisingly managed to stay on. I did fall off the shark floatie though when I tried to mount it. Haha!😂
In the evening, we decided to go for a stroll through Agueda. The way I can describe this town is very colourful and full of umbrellas. The umbrellas are hung up in rows, using string, above the old streets and it looks really beautiful. They also had colourful benches for you to sit on with pictures of umbrellas on them. We also walked past this colourful staircase that was packed full of people taking photos of each other. We decided to walk on further and come back to take some photos ourselves. We walked for a bit and then came back and took some photos. They looked really good because of all the bright colours. We then decided to walk up the staircase to see what was there and we found that it just looped back round to the street. After some more walking around and seeing little tiled pictures of Mary herself, we decided to go home and have dinner.
The next day, on Tuesday, we decided to go to the beach again but a little further up than last time. This beach is called Mira and it's in the district of Aveiro. According to the Telegraph, it's a really popular beach, as it has got silver sands and rushing waves and also apparently fishing boats but we didn't see any. However, we all thought it was spectacular as it was wild and the waves were huge. Due to the fact that it's the Atlantic Ocean, it was freezing. I thought that I would go in naturally but I ended up losing my balance and falling in. My sister and my mum were also struggling. We were all screaming when we went in because it was so cold. However, we ended up staying in for quite a long time, even though my dad was laughing at us. We also brought lunch with us, so we had lunch there. We also ate ice-cream in the afternoon.
We then went home and had a dip in the pool. My mum also took photos of me and my sister on the unicorn pool floaties as they added in an extra one so we had one each. They're really ridiculous but also quite fun at the same time. I also ended up reading a bit of my book, Call of the Wild by Jack London. I couldn't bring all the books they I mentioned in my post on The Book Hub because I didn't have enough space in my suitcase but I did end up bringing two books which I'm avidly reading now.
Have you been to Portugal before? Would you like to go? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!
See you next time,
Bye,
XOX, Juliette
My social media handles:
My Instagram
Watch all my Portugal holiday videos here!
My YouTube channel
My second blog:
The Book Hub
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