Dear Spain, I fell in love with Portugal

Wouldn't you fall in love with this?

 

and this?
 



In my last post I mentioned how nice the Spaniards are...well that was before I traveled to Portugal! I just got back from a fabulous trip to Lisbon & Porto.  We stayed in Lisbon for 2 nights and Porto for 3 nights, which felt like 5 weeks.  This was our first vacation, here in Spain they call them "puentes".  Puente means bridge however they use this term for vacations.  Thursday, November 1st was "All Saints Day", a holiday meant to celebrate the lives of those who have passed.  Since the holiday fell on a Thursday, the Spaniards go ahead and take off the Friday too--connecting the days to make a long weekend (get it? puente?) All I know is I had an opportunity to travel and I took it.  I had such a fantastic time in Portugal and I know I will be returning since Lisbon is a short 3 hour bus ride away. 

Why Portugal is so great

 

English Speakers: One of the things I noticed right away about Lisbon was that everyone, okay A LOT of people speak English.  I did not expect such a small country to have such diversity and knowledge of several languages (English, Spanish, French).  Portuguese differ from the Spaniards in many ways; they are more open to other cultures and definitely have a higher level of English. From my experience, they actually can get offended if you speak Spanish to them. When in doubt, speak English.  I was told that the Portuguese have reasons to feel inferior, being a smaller country landlocked by Spain, which may be why they don't like to speak Spanish.

 

 

The landscape and architecture: Most of my pictures are from Porto, Portugal.  A port city known for it's Port wine.  I spent most of the vacation there and pretty much walked around the entire city.  The vibes that Porto gives off are somewhat of a melancholy feel, its like the city is longing for something and has a sad yet enchanting look.  Most of it has to do with the lack of modernity.  Porto appears to be much older than Lisbon; the buildings are not maintained very well but they still have charm.  I love the old streets, the endless cafes, colorful buildings and doors, the rivers, bridges, everything!

 









One of the biggest attractions in Porto; Ponte D Luis

Beautiful apartment terraces

The colors add such personality

River tours are another popular tourist attraction



Great hostels: Another part of our great experience was our accomodation. Our hostels in Lisbon and Porto were fantastic and I highy recommend them for young travelers (Trattva in Porto & Oasis in Lisbon).  We started the trip in Lisbon where we celebrated Halloween, we had a cozy hostel in Porto and ended with a relaxing night again in Lisbon (with the most amazing dinner!) One of the employees was an Italian girl and she cooked for us. 

 

If I haven't convinced you enough already, you need to visit Portugal!