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12 décembre Spain & Portugal RecapHola!
Well we are back
 . After driving around Barcelona and Valensia, The Gruesome Twosome (Adam & Jordo) picked me up at the airport in Madrid  . We spent that evening at a hotel in Madrid and the next day shopping and sight-seeing around the huge city. Adam bought me new boots! Yay! Okay, enough about shopping. The addition of Jordo means that Adam is no longer out-numbered by women and, as a result, I have learned that shopping and shoe-outfit combos AREN'T EVERYONE'S FAVE TOPIC. Je ne sais pas porquois, il est tres bizarre. So where was I. Right. After the boots (which are really nice)... sorry - we drove allllllll the way to Portugal (Lisbon, to be exact). It was here that we discovered we could tap into a wireless internet connection if we sat at the bus stop outside our hotel. It was a little cold, but a real step up from the bathtub. Lisbon was a really cool city - all of the building facades are made of different coloured tiles and the people (who, surprisingly, ALL speak English) were so nice. The food was good, but what you ask for is what you get - Adam and Jordo were craving hamburgers, so we stopped at a restaurant and I got pizza while they ordered "burgers and fries". I was laughing all the way through my pizza as I watched them struggle through their meals - two plain beef patties and French fries. I guess you have to order the bun, lettuce, pickles and tomato seperately. We had planned to spend the next night in Lisbon as well, but were surprised to discover that there was not one room at ANY hotel/hostel in the entire city. We literally got a list of all of them and called them all, and NOTHING. As it turns out, our mini-vacation fell exactly on a Spanish holiday which resulted in ALL OF SPAIN coming to Portugal for vacation. We finally found a room in a small town outside Lisbon, called Sintra. Sintra is the "Sidney" to Portugal's "Victoria". I actually preferred it, because I believe you can get a far better feel for the culture of a country by hanging out in the residential areas and seeing how they live, rather than navigating yet another massive city. In Sintra, we stayed at a big, beautiful bed and breakfast, and once again we were extremely impressed with the Portugese hospitality. We thought it was really neat how every time you go to a restaurant in Portugal, you see giant 20 person tables of entire extended families eating and laughing (and smoking) together. They would be there before we got there and long after we left. It seems that the culture all over Europe (but especially in the South) is to make dinner last all night, with as many people as possible. Not a bad philosophy if you ask me. I like dinner. The next day we checked out the town of Sintra and drove part way up a giant mountain that had a castle on top. When we got back into the car to leave, the CRAZY West-coast Atlantic weather (within 5 seconds) turned the beautiful sunshine into a freak hail storm! We sat in the car for about 10 minutes to wait it out. After it let up, we went to leave, and realized that the road on the mountain was one-way, so we had to drive up and over to get down. No big deal, right? Wrong. This road was made of super-slippery old cobblestones, and due to the hail, was causing all the cars to slide all over. Oh yeah, and it was like a 65 degree incline. Oh yeah, and that Spanish holiday meant ALL OF SPAIN was in their manual transmission vehicles trying to get up this hill at the same time (the hail made everyone want to leave). So, every second car got stuck in a ditch and the air was thick with the sound of burning rubber and clutches. Wow. Good driving, Adam! After that ordeal, we drove BACK to Spain, this time heading South to Malaga. We spent the night just outside of Malaga in Torremolinos. The next day we drove into Malaga, which was BEAUTIFUL (as you can see from the pictures). If this is what it looks like in the middle of December, I can only imagine what a paradise it must be in the summer. We had beautiful weather in Southern Spain, but not a whole lot of time. So, with what little time we did have, we drove up yet another big hill (with better luck this time) overlooking the city and were able to get a good look at the whole picture. Definitely a place I would like to return to one day when I have more time! After Malaga we drove from the South of Spain ALL THE WAY home to Eastern France. It took a little over 12 hours, and because Adam was the only person insured on the rental car, he drove the whole way, only stopping for gas and potty breaks. Very impressive. What was my role, you ask? I filled the key position of being stretched out in the back sleeping most of the time. Tough work. Sleeping in cars is not comfortable, but someone's got to do it.Well that marks my last trip within this big trip - which, sadly, is coming to an end. I am looking forward to coming home in 11 days, but not looking forward to the many exams that stand between me and my return. Adam's adventure is not over, however, he and Jordo are going to Switzerland today by train (I don't think Adam ever wants to drive again), leaving me to my studies. See you all very very very soon!
XOXOX Erin  CommentairesPour ajouter un commentaire, connectez-vous avec votre identifiant Windows Live ID (si vous utilisez Messenger ou Xbox LIVE, vous avez un identifiant Windows Live ID). Connectez-vous Vous n'avez pas d'identifiant Windows Live ID ? Inscrivez-vous RétroliensL'URL de rétrolien de ce billet est : http://erinandadam.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!527ACB37A809C93C!1467.trak Blogs Web qui font référence à ce billet
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