Discovering Porto

I now know where I'm going to retire. Or I may not even be able to wait that long. I may run away there as soon as I graduate from college and get a job giving river tours on the "barcos." :) Portugal's harbor town Porto has got to be one of the most beautiful spots in Europe, but before this summer I had never even heard of it! I am so thankful that I got to discover Porto's charms in a little trip that Erin and I made this past weekend. We decided to split off from the rest of our group who were all going on a school-organized daytrip to Toledo, which I've heard is a really cute city only a couple hours away. Erin and I had our hearts set on Porto, however, and the freedom of being able to toodle around at our own pace was appealing as well. We took a bus from Salamanca that left at 11:15 and arrived in Porto around 4:30. Highlight of the bus trip: meeting an older couple from Charlotte, NC! I would have to say they were the epitome of the American tourist stereotype...rather loud, huge neck pillows, and I'll leave the rest up to your imagination. It was fun talking to a pair of fellow English-speakers though, not to mention Southerners! Yes, we'll count NC as part of the south in this case. ;)

(Side Note: I am sitting at a cafe in the Plaza Mayor with Erin, Irina, and Frederique as I type this and Irina has just told me to be sure to put in my blog that she just paid 3 euros for an orange juice and to bring your own OJ if you ever come to a cafe in the Plaza Mayor!)

Once we arrived in Porto we had no trouble finding the right metro line and making our way to our hostel. When we got to the metro stop for our hostel this is the sight that welcomed us to Porto:



I never knew that Portugal was known for its blue and white tile! We saw buildings everywhere decorated with tiles of all different colors, but particularly blue and white. It reminds me of my mom's kitchen! So lovely.

Our hostel was a great first-ever hostel experience! It was owned by a group of friends and had a laid-back, kind of hippy atmosphere that delighted and amused us. On Friday night they had a special dinner and jazz concert in the back garden for only 5 euros, so Erin and I were definitely down. They said it started at 9, so we arrived at 8:50 HUNGRY and ready to eat, forgetting that this culture never rushes mealtimes, let alone a hippy hostel sub-culture! It was almost 10 before we actually had food in front of us. It was really pleasant though to sip wine in a makeshift porch/bar area in the garden while watching the musicians set up and chatting with a French guy and one of the women who helps run the hostel who had lived in Porto her entire life. And the meal was definitely worth the wait! Grilled pork, rice, bread, and salad served in another makeshift kitchen area in the back of the garden...so good.










Saturday morning began with a visit to a nearby market that was full of interesting wares, mainly fish and flowers haha. I was a little obsessed with the fish...they had so many interesting types! Look at the creepy eel-like creature in one of the pictures! For the rest of the morning until we took a break for lunch mid-afternoon we were very productive and made sure we visited every major historical site that was marked on a map that our program director Maria gave us. I can't quite remember how many cathedrals we popped into, but we definitely saw our share. We also climbed the Torre de Clerigos, the tallest tower in Portugal, from which we had a fantastic view of the city. Highlights for me from the rest of our touring Porto Saturday were the Porto Cathedral, built in the 12th century, and the historic Porto Train Station, which had an absolutely beautiful interior decorated with that same blue and white tile. The picture in which Erin and I are together is in front of the Porto Cathedral, and the other Cathedral photos are different cathedrals that we saw...one of which was gilded with gold on the inside!



















We stopped in a supermarket to buy things for sandwiches and found a park to have a picnic and rest our feet. Last stop before heading back to the hostel: a tour of Sandeman, one of the many wine cellars in Porto that makes the Port wine for which the city is famous. We lingered around the harbor for a little bit looking at all the pretty boats and wishing we were on one, before finally making our way back to the hostel to freshen up and try to find somewhere for dinner. While we were walking around the streets looking for a restaurant, however, we came to a conclusion: people in Porto do not eat dinner out. They subsist on coffee, beer, and pastries. We couldn't find a single restaurant serving actual dinner food, and this was at 7:30! We didn't find dinner but we did stumble upon a super cute outdoor market, where it looked like it was mostly children selling little crafts or treats with their parents buzzing around to help supervise/socialize with each other. Erin and I ended up stopping in another supermarket and buying fixins to make spaghetti since the hostel had an open kitchen for guests to use. It was so fun to cook for a change!













We saved Sunday to be a restful beach bum day. :) The beach was only about a 30-minute train ride, and so we packed sandwiches and got there around 11 and stayed the entire afternoon. It was so peaceful to have absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to go for 5 straight hours. The beach seemed to be a popular spot for young families, but still wasn't at all crowded. After a blissful afternoon of napping, reading, and sticking our toes in the water (Zac Brown hollaaa!) which was frigid, and then waving to our friends and family across the Atlantic Ocean, we packed up and headed straight to the bus station. We arrived back in Salamanca around 2:30 a.m. two VERY tired chicas, but yet very rested from what was a perfect weekend.








In closing, here are a few more glimpses of Porto's character:

A Sweetly Different Kind of Birthday

Yesterday was my 21st birthday! If you'd asked me on my 20th birthday what I expected to do on my 21st birthday I never would've thought to reply celebrate with new friends in Spain. Two days before I left for my trip I was so blessed to have a fabulous birthday party with friends and family in Columbia, and so I felt as if my birthday had already come and gone before the actual day. However, yesterday was full of sweet little surprises in the way people here in Salamanca went out of their way to make me feel special! In my 9 a.m. grammar class, my professor left to make copies and asked my friend Irina to help her and then they both came back singing happy birthday and holding a little pastry with a candle stuck in it! So precious!





What are real birthdays without trick candles though? After I blew out the candle and absent-mindedly laid it on the table I was surprised/horrified/so confused to see the worksheet our fiesta had interrupted suddenly become engulfed in flames! Well, at least a small burning hole was rapidly expanding! Thankfully Ola had the presence of mind to grab her folder and beat out the fire before it burned down the table...what a fail ending that would've been to such a nicely-intended, peaceful fiesta. Besides charring a corner of my pastry, giving it a pleasant toasted marshmellow flavor, no damage was done. :) Lots of laughter of course!



The birthday celebration continued at lunchtime, when Isabel and Maria were so adorable to shower me with "Feliz Cumpleanos" and wishes thay I'd have many more and also coming up to me to pull on both my earlobes and counting my years with a double tug when they got to 21--a Spanish birthday tradition, I guess kind of like our birthday spankings? After lunch they surprised me with a delicious birthday "torta" complete with a 21 candle! Pictures are below--unfortunately the one of me with Matt and Marcel is rather dark; and then the third one is Isabel on the left and Maria (I'm thinking that's a birthday hurrah). :)







The day of little fiestas finished with a lovely evening of going out for tapas with friends. It was the first time I've tried this Spanish tradition, but I am a big fan! It was so fun crowding around a little table and ordering a bunch of appetizers for all of us to share. My favorite part about it was that we were such a diverse group of different nationalities--Zeneide and her husband Francisco from Brasil; Erin and I from the U.S.; Irina, Ola, Frederique, and Gabrielle from Canada (with Fred and Gabrielle's native language being French); and Fernando (or Ferdinand) from Germany--and yet we were all able to sit around and enjoy each other's company chatting in Spanish! The first photo shows the ecclectic birthday party group (from L to R): Francisco and his wife Zeneide from Brasil, Ferdinand, Irina, Erin (in the back), me, Frederique, Gabrielle (also in the back), and Ola.

A Saturday in Madrid

As I mentioned, it didn't take my roommate Erin and I long to realize how little time we really had in Spain....so little time and so many places to see while we're in Europe! We spent a lot of time on our computers after classes last week researching cheap flights and bus trips to relatively nearby destination spots. For this past Saturday we bought train tickets to take a daytrip into Madrid with three of our new friends from Canada (Irina, Ola, and Gabrielle). We got up early Saturday morning and walked to the station to get on a train that left Salamanca at 7:50. We arrived into the city around 10:30 and were greeted with a rainy, cold Madrid. We kept high hopes of it clearing up later in the day, though, and Ola helped us all keep sunny attitudes by pointing out that this would be a perfect excuse for us all to buy pretty umbrellas.





We were very pleased with how easy it was to navigate the Madrid metro and found our way to our first stop, the Royal Palace, in no time. Never have I seen such an ornate display of wealth! Each room was so detailed and unique. My favorite part were the gorgeous frescoes painted on the ceilings. We tried to sneak photos but every time I pulled out my camera a guard would happen to pop up at my elbow so I gave up trying after a while. Although I did get this one of one of the main halls:




Que fantástico, no?

After el Palacio, we hit up two museums: first la Reina Sofia (contemporary art), where we saw works by Picasso and Dalí, most notably La Guernica (which honestly I'd never heard of but apparently it was a mural commissioned by the Spanish republican government during the Spanish civil war--see third photo down); then the Prado, which was overwhelming but so worth it! The design of the museum was so confusing...we walked around in circles and probably spent double the amount of time we meant to in there, but we were determined not to leave until we all the most famous paintings there by de Goya, Velasquez, and El Greco.









Needless to say, after those three sites we were exhausted, but so proud of ourselves for being so efficient with our time in Madrid, with time to spare for finding dinner and doing a little shopping. For dinner we went to El Museo de Jamon (literally, "the Museum of Ham: what?? See the first photo down) which was a crazy experience--it was so crowded we had to push our way to the bar and order our food and then just keep our ground and scarf down the meal as quickly as we could because we felt bad about taking up precious space. I really enjoyed la Plaza Mayor of Madrid, through which we walked around some as well! There was SO much going on...it reminded me of some of the random spectacles you would see in NYC's Time Square. The giant bubbles were super fun! The headless man was a little disturbing.











All in all it was a perfect day with a great group of girls! We arrived back in Salamanca around midnight...Madrid: check!

(left to right: Ola, Irina, Erin, Gabrielle, and me!)

La Café de España

I feel like the coffee in Spain is worthy of some discussion. What I love about the coffee here is that it is STRONG. For a girl who enjoys a robust, bold cup of joe rather than the wimpy watery kind that at the smallest drop of cream is immediately cooled off and dilluted of what little flavor it already had, the Spanish coffee is perfect. HOWEVER where it supersedes typical American coffee in its intensity of flavor, it is sadly lacking in size. I know, I know--Americans want everything super-sized. A Starbucks "tall" is too large to really be considered a "small." BUT if you order a café con leche here, it is at least three times smaller than a Starbucks tall. Half the size would be understandable. But if I can only enjoy my cup of coffee for a few small sips, there is a problem. Perhaps this points to a cultural difference between Spain and the United States in the purpose of coffee? I don't know...in the meantime, I shall continue to enjoy the strength of the coffee and perhaps will get used to the smaller portions. :)

Viva la Salamanca!

Hello all! It's been a while since I've blogged...so I suppose now this will become like the summer travels of Rebecca Kneisley blog. I am now at the end of my fourth day of my month in Spain! The days pass by SO quickly here! Ihad an overnight flight that left from Atlanta Saturday evening and arrived at the Madrid airport early Sunday morning. Our dear new friends the Humes who are missionaries in Madrid were so gracious to pick me up from the airport and let me spend the rest of the day with them on Sunday and sent me on my way to Salamanca Monday afternoon. The Humes invited me to go to church with them which, even though I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to last that morning, I was really excited about! And that ended up being my favorite part of my trip so far! Their church is a precious little Spanish Baptist church with much of the congregation comprised of American missionaries. The pastor who spoke was actually visiting from London, so they had someone translating his message into Spanish for most of the congregation and I didn't end up having to use one of the translating headsets they normally offer visitors. It was so exciting to be able to understand the Spanish prayers and worship songs...what a fantastic way to have my first immersion into Spain! The rest of Sunday afternoon was a wonderful day of rest with the Humes family...spaghetti lunch (which was delicious at the time but I should've appreciated it more...I already miss my American food!), then a MUCH needed nap, a walking tour around the town with Mr. Humes and their son Ethan, and finishing the day with an old Frank Capra movie (this family is SO like mine!). And it was a definite blessing to have such a restful day to prepare me for what turned out to be a rather hectic travelling day on Monday from Madrid to Salamanca! Who would've known it would be such an ordeal to get from one city to another that's only three hours away? It took me what seemed like forever at the Madrid airport to figure out how to get a bus to Salamanca! After a couple of VERY unhelpful Spaniards working at the little information desks (I think as soon as they heard my accent and I started stumbling over my words they stopped listening), and after dragging my luggage at least 3 times across what seemed the entire airport (I fluctuated between having drama queen pity party moments and being pleased that I was having one of those terrible transportation problems in Europe that I feel like everyone has to experience at least once in a lifetime), I finally made it to the metro station which got me to the bus station 30 minutes later and I was finally in a bus on my way to Salamanca at 3:30 (which is when I was originally supposed to be arriving). The ride to Salamanca, however, completely erased all the stress of the three hours before! Breathtaking views of the Spanish countryside--wide open fields sprinkled with vivid yellow and red flowers interrupted by the occasional rambling little stone wall...and BIG BLUE sky! That's one thing that I have loved about Spain...the sky has been a beautiful clear blue every day so far! When I arrived in Salamanca my program director Maria met me at the bus station and took me to my host home, where I met my host mother (an elderly woman in her 70s named Isabel) right away informed me that she was about to go meet some of her friends and wanted me to come with her! Next thing I knew I was in a taxi with her and her daughter on our way to a restaurant where we were greeted with a large table of her loud elderly Spaniard friends. That was my second favorite immersion experience, and so much different from the Spanish Baptist church experience! The Spaniards periodically would start banging on the table with their hands and heartily singing what Isabel told me were university songs. Then these old men from another table would turn around and join in too and it was just one big happy fiesta. :) Since this is dragging on to be super long (sorry I'm so bad at being concise!), I'll sum up Tuesday and today with a few highlights:
1) I started classes yesterday and love them so far--they're just at the right level for me to be challenged while not overwhelmed. I'm taking Grammar, Conversation and Composition, and Spanish Culture. My grammar professor is my favorite--her name is Andrea and she is HILARIOUS--and so full of energy and really stylish too...I want to find out where she gets her clothes!
2) My favorite spot in Salamanca so far is the Plaza Mayor (see pic below)! The architecture is phenomenal and there are so many fun cafes with tables set up outside--perfect place for an afternoon cafe con leche! My roommate Erin and I strolled through the plaza today with a couple new Canadian friends who are in our classes and got helado (icecream!).
3) Travel in Europe is so cheap! We are sad we only have three weekends to make little excursions. This weekend we're planning a daytrip to Madrid...there will definitely be photos!

Please keep me in your prayers. I know many of you have been praying for me and I am so amazed and thankful for how the Lord has so graciously answered so many prayers! Some particular ones that He's answered so far were for safe travels, my luggage arriving fine, getting along well with my roommate, and adjusting well to my classes! He is good, and He is in Spain!

Photos: My friend Mateo entertaining us with some of his jazz piano skills at a cafe in la Plaza Mayor; la Plaza Mayor; me with my wonderful new friends Mrs. Humes and Adrianna