Week 2/Final week update - My Holiday to Portugal
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
Over the past few days, me and my family have been enjoying the swimming pool, since next week we will be back at home. On Friday, it was a hot day, so we decided to stay home. My sister and I had to do some revision and work anyway so it was convenient for us. Me and my sister tried taking some photos of each other by the pool in the morning but we soon left and went back inside because it was just so hot; a drastic contrast to the other days. After lunch and revision, we went into the pool, at around 3:00pm. We swam around for a bit and ended up meeting this French family, who were also lodging at one of the holiday homes in the village. We got along pretty well, but later on, we soon realised that they owned very different opinions to ours (let's just put it that way). They had a 10 year old girl and her 14 year old sister there. The ten year old was very sociable and willing to talk to us. She couldn't swim, habitual for a lot of children in France, so we helped her to swim. She was a very good swimmer, her parents just didn't expose swimming to her earlier, but again a lot of children in France can't swim at her age. Her 14 year old sister, was not as sociable, we reckoned probably because that was just not her personality. We finally thought for once, that there was a French family that we got along well with but the mother began talking about her political opinions, who she voted for in the election, and some pretty distasteful things about Arabs and religious people in general from the middle east. I understood where she was coming from, judging by what my parents had told me, but I believe that you can make a legitimate and justifiable argument about immigration, without having to use the language she used to describe that particular group of people. At the end of the day, they're bargaining for their lives, and that is pure fact. The family also had a problem with a Portuguese girl who apparently was jumping up and down on their unicorn pool floatie and completely destroyed its head. Even though I thought it belonged to the holiday firm. Lol.
However, they didn't ruin our holiday at all in the slightest. We had a great holiday and despite their wrong ends at times, they were not rude to us personally so I guess there's no point in causing such a big fuss anyway. On Wednesday, we went to a small town called Guarda. It was a bit like the town of Coimbra that we visited on Tuesday, but it was a lot more peaceful. At first when we drove into it, we thought that it was just like any other town. We parked near a few shops and apartments, and not far from that, a massive shopping centre. However, after walking along further past the shopping centre, we came across a collection of old buildings. Here, we had entered the old town, and it was much more picturesque than the more modern area. There were little streets and bypasses and right in the middle, there was a beautiful medieval Catholic church, to go with the medieval town. We ate at this brilliant restaurant where we really had the real deal. In Coimbra, the food we had at the restaurant was nice and the service was excellent but delving into the more local town of Guarda, we really had excellent food. The starter was like any other starter, it was olives and traditional bread, which was delicious. However, the main meal was outstanding. Me, my sister, and my dad had steak, egg, chips, rice, and tomato which was amazing. It was like the more fancy version of ham,egg, and chips. My mum had baccalau (cod), with greens and that looked really nice and apparently it was. Then the waitress came and gave us a dessert menu and me and my sister had a chocolate mousse with biscuit on the bottom and cream on the top. It was really rich but delicious. My parents both got a black coffee, which my dad drank in one go. How?!
After lunch, we walked around the town a bit and saw the old Jewish quarters, where the Jews were once persecuted by the church. Today, it is just a living space for people and their families. The buildings were beautiful. We walked down the narrow streets and it felt like we were in Spain. People hung their clothes out to dry on the balconies and the doors leading to abandoned buildings, were all chipped and worn. It was great to see.
After walking around a bit and visiting the tourist information office, we decided to go to the church that was standing proudly in the centre of the old town. We got some tickets and when we went inside, it was truly spectacular. It's not that I don't like the Protestant churches that we have at home in England. I love the story behind how they became independent and how people were questioning what religion truly meant to them. However, seeing the ornate sculptures inside the Catholic church, the history behind religion really comes to life and everything is not as austere. We did tour of the inside and saw a centrepiece sculpture that explained the biblical story. We also went up the towers and had an excellent view of our surroundings. We also went along this narrow corridor, which made us slightly claustrophobic, where we could see the whole main church from above through a window in a door.
Before going home, we'd thought we'd see another church but we soon realised that there was some sort of service on so we just decided to quietly peak our head through. This church was spectacular. They had a sculpture of the biblical story but instead it was dressed in gold. I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to be rude but believe me when I say this, it was truly extraordinary. I still remain an atheist to this day but there's something about worship that science can never outdo.
On Thursday, we watched the beautiful sunset on the 360° viewing point in the village. It was amazing. We just had lunch after a long day of doing absolutely nothing, and we decided to go out and watch the sunset. I love a bit of spontaneity! We were literally chasing the sun; trying to get it before it went away. We caught it just in time and we sat on the rocks watching it go down, with a clear view of the sea from miles away. It was amazing!
On Saturday and Sunday, we went to the beach of Costa Nova in Aveiro. On the first day, we took a picnic with us and we swam in the water. It was freezing because as I've mentioned before, we were basically swimming in the full Atlantic Ocean, with nothing separating ourselves between Portugal and America. It still took us a while to get in but we managed to do so eventually and it was so much fun. We got knocked about a bit by the massive waves and there were life guards out on patrol because the flag was yellow and it could have gotten dangerous. However, we had a great time and the feeling of the ocean was exhilarating. We had lunch, which was just some cheese,sausage, and bread, then we went and visited the fisherman's houses which we were told were really pretty and they were. They were all stripey like the ones we have in England, and they were also very colourful. We also had ice-cream at this amazing place called Domini Gelateria Artigianale. I got Oreo ice-cream with lemon meringue pie ice-cream underneath it in a pot. It was delicious but there was another one which looked like marshmallow and bubblegum, which I also thought was intriguing.
On Sunday, the weather was not as nice so whilst we tried to go in the water, it didn't actually end up happening for me because the water was too rough and the shells kept on smashing into my legs which was painful. We did still have a picnic on the beach and after that, we took a walk along the promenade. We could see all the fishing boats and the water was so clear. My dad reckoned it was because the sediments in the water are rocks so they don't make the water go murky. They also really look after that beach and there's no litter or pollution of any sort so that's a plus also. After that, we went to the fish market, which was just incredible. There was octopus, squid, mackerel, and cod which all looked so fresh. There was also some fish that came pre-prepared with pepper on it. We also went to the fruit market where my mum could finally buy some figs, like the ones she had in Croatia. The first time we bought them, they were 2 euros per kilo and we ended up eating them all because they were so nice. The second time they were 5 euros because that was what the stall next door priced them as!😂Haha. However, it didn't bother us, as we still ended up buying them and they tasted like honey, it was amazing.
On Monday, we decided to go to Porto for breakfast and eventually lunch. After waking up at 7:00am and struggling to find a parking space, we eventually made it to the cafe for breakfast. The building was beautiful and it was all very vintage and fancy. We thought that the food would be good but it actually turned out to be mediocre and we soon realised we had fallen right into the tourist trap. Me and my mum had a "croissant" (sweet brioche bun), with ham and cheese and I had a hot chocolate with cream to drink on the side. My dad and my sister had "French toast" (toasted bread with a sweet sauce on top) and my sister had a a hot chocolate like me and my dad had a coffee like my mum. It wasn't the best, but I suppose we couldn't really complain because we had something to eat and the building was truly fantastic.
We walked on a little further, past an artsy church that we took photos of, to the tourist information bureaux where we got tickets for a boat tour around the city. It was amazing. We went under a massive iron bridge that we walked across to get there. We also went under many other bridges before turning around to go towards the sea. It was nice because the wind from the sea was hitting our faces and whilst we put on a lot of sun cream, we were not quite prepared for the 30°C weather. We thought it was only going to be 24°C so we brought our jackets with us! Haha. 😂 On the way, we took lots of photos of the houses and buildings that lay on either side of the river. We also took plenty of photos of each other sitting on the boat. I tried taking a photo of the opening to the sea but it was slightly unclear so the photo didn't really do it justice. However, it looked amazing and I was so glad that we decided to do the boat tour because we saw things that we may have not seen without doing so.
We also saw a wine cellar which wasn't very interesting for me because I was under the legal drinking age. Lol. So was my sister but she's nearly 18 so she got to sip a bit of some of the wines. I only really enjoyed the tour of the wine cellar because it was cool inside! Haha.
After that, we had lunch at a restaurant by the river. We sat down and ordered our food and we were talking for ages because our food took a long time to turn up. Someone on the plane to Portugal told us that the Portuguese were particularly slow at doing things and I guess he was right. However, it this case, it was annoying because my sister had to go to an art gallery for school and she wasn't able to go because we were held up. The food wasn't very good but I ate it all anyway because I was hungry. We tried to get to the art galleries but they were all closed and we were tired from walking up so many steps so we were ready to go home more or less. I took some photos of the beautiful streets on the way though.
On Tuesday, we went to a nearby river called Sao Joao do Monte. It was beautiful and we thought that it was a shame that we didn't go sooner. It was in a small neighbouring village and the water was crystal clear and we could swim in it. It wasn't as cold as the sea but it was cooler than the swimming pool. It took a while for me to get in but once I was in it was brilliant. There were also two swings which me and my sister sat on under the bridge. It was a lot of fun. My mum came and 5ook photos of us too!
We then came back and enjoyed the rest of the day at the pool, swimming, and enjoying our last day. My dad even taught me how to dive which was scary but I managed to do it!
It's now Wednesday and I'm finishing up my blog post. I really enjoyed my time in Portugal and despite having a bit of drama with the French family it was brilliant and the hospitality of the Portuguese was great!
Did you enjoy your summer? 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
Portugal playlist:
Portugal
My social media handles:
My Instagram
My YouTube channel
My second blog:
The Book Hub
Over the past few days, me and my family have been enjoying the swimming pool, since next week we will be back at home. On Friday, it was a hot day, so we decided to stay home. My sister and I had to do some revision and work anyway so it was convenient for us. Me and my sister tried taking some photos of each other by the pool in the morning but we soon left and went back inside because it was just so hot; a drastic contrast to the other days. After lunch and revision, we went into the pool, at around 3:00pm. We swam around for a bit and ended up meeting this French family, who were also lodging at one of the holiday homes in the village. We got along pretty well, but later on, we soon realised that they owned very different opinions to ours (let's just put it that way). They had a 10 year old girl and her 14 year old sister there. The ten year old was very sociable and willing to talk to us. She couldn't swim, habitual for a lot of children in France, so we helped her to swim. She was a very good swimmer, her parents just didn't expose swimming to her earlier, but again a lot of children in France can't swim at her age. Her 14 year old sister, was not as sociable, we reckoned probably because that was just not her personality. We finally thought for once, that there was a French family that we got along well with but the mother began talking about her political opinions, who she voted for in the election, and some pretty distasteful things about Arabs and religious people in general from the middle east. I understood where she was coming from, judging by what my parents had told me, but I believe that you can make a legitimate and justifiable argument about immigration, without having to use the language she used to describe that particular group of people. At the end of the day, they're bargaining for their lives, and that is pure fact. The family also had a problem with a Portuguese girl who apparently was jumping up and down on their unicorn pool floatie and completely destroyed its head. Even though I thought it belonged to the holiday firm. Lol.
However, they didn't ruin our holiday at all in the slightest. We had a great holiday and despite their wrong ends at times, they were not rude to us personally so I guess there's no point in causing such a big fuss anyway. On Wednesday, we went to a small town called Guarda. It was a bit like the town of Coimbra that we visited on Tuesday, but it was a lot more peaceful. At first when we drove into it, we thought that it was just like any other town. We parked near a few shops and apartments, and not far from that, a massive shopping centre. However, after walking along further past the shopping centre, we came across a collection of old buildings. Here, we had entered the old town, and it was much more picturesque than the more modern area. There were little streets and bypasses and right in the middle, there was a beautiful medieval Catholic church, to go with the medieval town. We ate at this brilliant restaurant where we really had the real deal. In Coimbra, the food we had at the restaurant was nice and the service was excellent but delving into the more local town of Guarda, we really had excellent food. The starter was like any other starter, it was olives and traditional bread, which was delicious. However, the main meal was outstanding. Me, my sister, and my dad had steak, egg, chips, rice, and tomato which was amazing. It was like the more fancy version of ham,egg, and chips. My mum had baccalau (cod), with greens and that looked really nice and apparently it was. Then the waitress came and gave us a dessert menu and me and my sister had a chocolate mousse with biscuit on the bottom and cream on the top. It was really rich but delicious. My parents both got a black coffee, which my dad drank in one go. How?!
After lunch, we walked around the town a bit and saw the old Jewish quarters, where the Jews were once persecuted by the church. Today, it is just a living space for people and their families. The buildings were beautiful. We walked down the narrow streets and it felt like we were in Spain. People hung their clothes out to dry on the balconies and the doors leading to abandoned buildings, were all chipped and worn. It was great to see.
After walking around a bit and visiting the tourist information office, we decided to go to the church that was standing proudly in the centre of the old town. We got some tickets and when we went inside, it was truly spectacular. It's not that I don't like the Protestant churches that we have at home in England. I love the story behind how they became independent and how people were questioning what religion truly meant to them. However, seeing the ornate sculptures inside the Catholic church, the history behind religion really comes to life and everything is not as austere. We did tour of the inside and saw a centrepiece sculpture that explained the biblical story. We also went up the towers and had an excellent view of our surroundings. We also went along this narrow corridor, which made us slightly claustrophobic, where we could see the whole main church from above through a window in a door.
Before going home, we'd thought we'd see another church but we soon realised that there was some sort of service on so we just decided to quietly peak our head through. This church was spectacular. They had a sculpture of the biblical story but instead it was dressed in gold. I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to be rude but believe me when I say this, it was truly extraordinary. I still remain an atheist to this day but there's something about worship that science can never outdo.
On Saturday and Sunday, we went to the beach of Costa Nova in Aveiro. On the first day, we took a picnic with us and we swam in the water. It was freezing because as I've mentioned before, we were basically swimming in the full Atlantic Ocean, with nothing separating ourselves between Portugal and America. It still took us a while to get in but we managed to do so eventually and it was so much fun. We got knocked about a bit by the massive waves and there were life guards out on patrol because the flag was yellow and it could have gotten dangerous. However, we had a great time and the feeling of the ocean was exhilarating. We had lunch, which was just some cheese,sausage, and bread, then we went and visited the fisherman's houses which we were told were really pretty and they were. They were all stripey like the ones we have in England, and they were also very colourful. We also had ice-cream at this amazing place called Domini Gelateria Artigianale. I got Oreo ice-cream with lemon meringue pie ice-cream underneath it in a pot. It was delicious but there was another one which looked like marshmallow and bubblegum, which I also thought was intriguing.
On Sunday, the weather was not as nice so whilst we tried to go in the water, it didn't actually end up happening for me because the water was too rough and the shells kept on smashing into my legs which was painful. We did still have a picnic on the beach and after that, we took a walk along the promenade. We could see all the fishing boats and the water was so clear. My dad reckoned it was because the sediments in the water are rocks so they don't make the water go murky. They also really look after that beach and there's no litter or pollution of any sort so that's a plus also. After that, we went to the fish market, which was just incredible. There was octopus, squid, mackerel, and cod which all looked so fresh. There was also some fish that came pre-prepared with pepper on it. We also went to the fruit market where my mum could finally buy some figs, like the ones she had in Croatia. The first time we bought them, they were 2 euros per kilo and we ended up eating them all because they were so nice. The second time they were 5 euros because that was what the stall next door priced them as!😂Haha. However, it didn't bother us, as we still ended up buying them and they tasted like honey, it was amazing.
On Monday, we decided to go to Porto for breakfast and eventually lunch. After waking up at 7:00am and struggling to find a parking space, we eventually made it to the cafe for breakfast. The building was beautiful and it was all very vintage and fancy. We thought that the food would be good but it actually turned out to be mediocre and we soon realised we had fallen right into the tourist trap. Me and my mum had a "croissant" (sweet brioche bun), with ham and cheese and I had a hot chocolate with cream to drink on the side. My dad and my sister had "French toast" (toasted bread with a sweet sauce on top) and my sister had a a hot chocolate like me and my dad had a coffee like my mum. It wasn't the best, but I suppose we couldn't really complain because we had something to eat and the building was truly fantastic.
We walked on a little further, past an artsy church that we took photos of, to the tourist information bureaux where we got tickets for a boat tour around the city. It was amazing. We went under a massive iron bridge that we walked across to get there. We also went under many other bridges before turning around to go towards the sea. It was nice because the wind from the sea was hitting our faces and whilst we put on a lot of sun cream, we were not quite prepared for the 30°C weather. We thought it was only going to be 24°C so we brought our jackets with us! Haha. 😂 On the way, we took lots of photos of the houses and buildings that lay on either side of the river. We also took plenty of photos of each other sitting on the boat. I tried taking a photo of the opening to the sea but it was slightly unclear so the photo didn't really do it justice. However, it looked amazing and I was so glad that we decided to do the boat tour because we saw things that we may have not seen without doing so.
We also saw a wine cellar which wasn't very interesting for me because I was under the legal drinking age. Lol. So was my sister but she's nearly 18 so she got to sip a bit of some of the wines. I only really enjoyed the tour of the wine cellar because it was cool inside! Haha.
After that, we had lunch at a restaurant by the river. We sat down and ordered our food and we were talking for ages because our food took a long time to turn up. Someone on the plane to Portugal told us that the Portuguese were particularly slow at doing things and I guess he was right. However, it this case, it was annoying because my sister had to go to an art gallery for school and she wasn't able to go because we were held up. The food wasn't very good but I ate it all anyway because I was hungry. We tried to get to the art galleries but they were all closed and we were tired from walking up so many steps so we were ready to go home more or less. I took some photos of the beautiful streets on the way though.
On Tuesday, we went to a nearby river called Sao Joao do Monte. It was beautiful and we thought that it was a shame that we didn't go sooner. It was in a small neighbouring village and the water was crystal clear and we could swim in it. It wasn't as cold as the sea but it was cooler than the swimming pool. It took a while for me to get in but once I was in it was brilliant. There were also two swings which me and my sister sat on under the bridge. It was a lot of fun. My mum came and 5ook photos of us too!
We then came back and enjoyed the rest of the day at the pool, swimming, and enjoying our last day. My dad even taught me how to dive which was scary but I managed to do it!
It's now Wednesday and I'm finishing up my blog post. I really enjoyed my time in Portugal and despite having a bit of drama with the French family it was brilliant and the hospitality of the Portuguese was great!
Did you enjoy your summer? 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
Portugal playlist:
Portugal
My social media handles:
My Instagram
My YouTube channel
My second blog:
The Book Hub
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving your comments! I really enjoy reading your positive and constructive messages. They really make my day! 💜