As I said in the previous post, Karolina and I went to Portugal. So let me expand on that, as we spent 7 days in my home country.
We waited for about 1 hour and a half for our flight, it was long but we made it. The imagine meme started that day. With that, I mean that we started going around giving somewhat unreasonable scenarios and saying imagine. Well... Guess what, we didn't need to imagine much as it did indeed happen 100% of the time.
We arrived in Lisbon and most of my family was waiting for us. My grandma had flowers and a paper with Karolina's name, while my aunt had a paper for me. It was nice to see everyone straight up as we got there. But I don't think Karolina was ready for it. Auntie asked to spend time with us and even though we wanted to, we didn't have a chance.
As soon as I showed Karolina the house, there was only one comment. "You have 5 bathrooms!" This stayed until the end of the trip.
This was the first time Karolina saw me driving, and also the first time I drove after the crash. Let me just say that someone was not very happy with my driving. We went to the mall and after to the beach. It was good, both the weather and the whole experience, even though we decided to go to Belém as we left the beach. Ana was supposed to meet us at the beach but things didn't go according to plan.
Going to Belém did not work out as we planned. We ended up going to Alfama as we went on the fast train (aka the one that doesn't really stop in Belém). It was a good experience. For our actual first day spent in Portugal, we decided it was good to walk and to see things. Karolina managed to see the '25th April Bridge', or as she calls it 'The San Francisco Bridge', and then we went back home.
Dinner was waiting for us. After food, nothing relevant happened.
We went exploring the city of Lisbon. We hopped on the train and it took us on a journey to Cais do Sodré. We walked instead of taking the tube; you will miss the best parts of a city if you only see its underground. We walked up to Terreiro do Paço, it was around lunch time and all we wanted was food. We checked all the restaurants but nothing appealed to us. We kept on walking, the promise of Baixa-Chiado (Downtown) was near. Instead, we stopped next to Rua da Prata (Silver Street) for lunch. The decision of Portuguese food over Italian was easy and it took us to a fancy restaurant. Karolina tried Bacalhau à Brás whilst I had Steak medium-rare. Food was good though expensive. Overall it was worth it and we enjoyed our time.
We finally made it to Chiado and had a look around, we saw the store, the St. Just Elevator and stopped in Starbucks for a Peach Ice Tea Lemonade. It wasn't as good as the airport's but oh well, that's life. This marks the beginning of our love for Nizzy Nizz's song. Stepped In became a thing in the basalt and limestone steps of Chiado's disregarded stairs.
On the way back home, we stopped in Belém - finally!- and went sightseeing. From the train station to the monuments we wanted to see was such a long walk in the hot sun that we couldn't help but ask every 5 minutes if we were tanned yet. By then we must have been tanning at least a bit, we spent most of the day in the torrid sun, walking around and looking at everything and nothing. In Belém, we saw Padrão dos Descobrimentos and the Tower of Belém. Both of them amazing places filled with the history of Portugal.
We decided to walk our way to Algés train station rather than walking back to Belém. I spent half of the time blabbing about how that was next to the Nos Alive arena where The Weeknd played a couple of months before.
We went back home, with the promise of a beach day ahead of us.
The day started in the pool. Karolina and I started by getting some sun - never tell me to wake you up in the morning, I might actually follow through. After a quick lunch, we went to Marta's house with Ana. As the official driver, she hurried us to go to Sintra, more specifically to Praia Grande (aka the Big Beach).
Somehow, we found a perfect parking spot right across the street. It was so unexpected that we never thought that day would happen. The beach was mainly empty. We took it upon ourselves to feel at home and quickly built up our space. We were forced to move by the daring waves that threatened to wet us. It wasn't that much of a big deal, more like a false alarm every time the water came too high. Ana and I played volleyball while Karolina insisted that she doesn't play games, instead she lay on her towel tanning. Soon followed the mandatory photoshoot.
Is it a complete beach day without a thousand pictures proving you were actually there? We all took turns in taking pictures and getting the best ones out to show off the #guccipucci to get all the boys to #DMme.
By now, we have listened to Stepped In more times than we ever thought we would. The song started to become the theme song of the trip.
At the beach, we drank Sommersby like any true Polish would, and had icecreams, like any true Portuguese would (sadly there was no one selling Bolas de Berlim at the beach or we would have gone for those). The small cafe was right next to the entrance, the lady served us with a smile and joked that we came just in time to get the last 2 Oreo Corneto icecreams. They were amazing.
Soon after we made our way out, but not before a quick nap at the beach, and on the way home we stopped to take some more pictures with the sunset.
Before dropping us home, Ana took us to a Chinese restaurant. The food was good and so was the company so we enjoyed our time.
We watched Power for a bit and went to sleep.
As we knew we would be leaving for Évora in the evening, we decided to simply go to the mall and spend our time there. Afterall, we still had an outfit to choose and a night out semi-planned with Ana.
We went shopping and soon we were returning home. Karolina commented that my driving was improving, with every trip we made, I was becoming a more fluid driver.
Arriving home meant getting ready so we quickly started preparing ourselves with the essentials for the trip to Évora and the party we were about to attend. Makeup was done and soon we were waiting to go. We had just received the news we would be staying in the room with Grandma the day before so we were still getting used to the idea.
Whilst at first we were not very happy with the plan, Karolina and I ended up traveling with Grandma. She talked all the way, for a whole hour, about how Dad was going too slow and that she wanted to get to the party soon. We finally made it there and she wondered if she had time to change - unlike us, she had not come prepared for the party. Elegantly, we made our way through the hotel, singing Stepped In at every chance we had.
Nuno was at our table for the dinner, we wished we had had the same luck for the roommate. He was calm and collected the whole time, he didn't eat much. On the contrary, I had as much as I possibly could and Karolina tried a bit of everything.
Note: Orange cake was everything but orange cake; do not trust people.
The funniest moment of the evening was when we tried to get Vodka. The busboy told us only after dinner we would be able to have it and so when we finished - and were completely ignored for 20 minutes - Dad and I made our way to the drinks table and we told them a sob story on how Karolina is finding things so difficult to grasp. The culture difference was so big that she was lost at the party. As any true polish should, we drank Vodka (mixed with coke). Soon we grew bored of the party and ditched it.
Nuno, Karolina and I wandered up to the rooftop. We sang Stepped In, at the toilet, in the lift, on the rooftop... Wherever we went, the song was played. I swear by then, half of the 'views' were ours. We went back to the hotel room and watched some TV. It was alright, by the time we got a phone call, they had already sung 'Happy Birthday'. We hurried to eat a bit of the cake and see the surprise my Cousin had from his wife's family. We were not very impressed with it and wanted to ditch it again. However, we stayed until the end. Then, music started playing and people got ready to dance. We were not too keen on staying but upon a good song start, we made our way to the room to drop Grandma off and after a quick goodbye, we went back to the party. Turns out, good songs only played when we were not there. We left the party once more in favour of exploring the city of Évora at night.
It was around half twelve when we made it back to the room. We had wandered around the long, narrow streets and managed to find our way back to the hotel.
At the moment we sat in bed, Despacito started playing - again, the good songs only played while we were not there - and with an eye roll, we decided to just go to sleep. We were ready for it.
The next day started with a big breakfast at the hotel. We then left to explore the city with the rest of them and soon we were walking next to the old buildings and -at least Nuno and me- touristing as we took pictures that we would never look at ever again. As we Stepped In at the Chapel of Bones, we started thinking about how our little holiday was almost over. We wanted it to last a bit more, however, we were about to have enough in Portugal. We liked it, but it would have been amazing to go just us and do whatever. Waiting for others to decide when and where to go was a drag.
Lunch was good in a small restaurant. This one was located on the same narrow street we had been the night before. I remember smiling in recognition of the place, no one would ever know we had been there just us, walking around in the middle of the night dressed up for a party with no idea where we were going.
After food, we went to my cousin's house and while it wasn't the worst thing, we wanted to go back. We had decided to go to the movies - all of us - and then we would have dinner and go out with Ana to have one last night of fun.
The movie was alright, although not our first choice. Dinner never happened, instead, we had communication problems between ourselves and Arroz de Pato in the fridge. Ana took us to the McDrive just before we went to Cascais. The bar was full of people and when we arrived, we started having a good time immediately. As neither me or Karolina were driving, we indulged in drinking some Vodka Coke and danced the night away - until 2am when they kicked us out. We met some guys that broke our hearts and we went back to the real world.
At home, we thought about what we should do the next day.
We stayed in the pool all day and as a last minute thing, we decided to go to the Mall - someone broke their glasses and we had to try and fix them. Dad made fish for dinner and it was absolutely delicious. So after the amazing food, of which I had half of Karolina's portion plus mine. We made our way to Oeiras Parque - the Mall - and I made sure to fix Karolina's glasses or at least to find a temporary solution for them. Turns out glue is life and we should always turn to it as the lady simply glued it back. I met up with Karolina - who wasn't feeling very well - and we went outside for a bit. She smoked and we went back inside. There we got her a juice from one of the restaurants and went shopping once more. We bought trousers, t-shirts and I even bought a jacket.
Afterwards, I decided to take her to the beach. There she smoked and we walked in the sand next to the sea. The moonlight up our way as we walked next to the fishermen who were posted waiting for something to happen.
After walking for a while, we made our way to McDonald's. And that, ladies and gentleman, is where we met Carlos, a Portuguese guy who worked for McDonald's that left us more confused than ever. He had no guts to come up to us and ask for my number, so instead he sent his friend. Only after that did he come and make conversation.
As we left, I drove us past some of the places I had frequently been to before. It was both a way for me to practice and to avoid going home. In that Cherry Nissan Micra, we were allowed to talk about anything and in that moment, we had a lot to talk about. I drove past my house to the top of the hill and stopped the car to show the view to the city. We spoke for a while and then I drove us back down.
As the official last day, we spent the day in the mall. I returned the jacket I bought and got myself another one. As well as we spent a bit more money on a few more clothes. At that point, it was Mom, Nuno, Karolina and me hanging out. We had our moments of fun before having to say goodbye.
The way back to the airport was alright, as usual, I managed to change the radio station to something we liked and then we simply went, carrying on with conversation every once in a while to make time pass faster.
As we got to the airport, we met Grandma. She said goodbye to us and told us to come back soon. I nodded and soon we made our way out to go through security. In the end, we had fun and Karolina managed to swap her early the next day for a late. Overall, I would say it was all worth it. We worked our asses off the week before and the week after, but during those 8 days, we did no cooking, no work and definitely we managed to get some tan.
This marked the end of our trip and now? Now, I can't wait for Karolina to take me to Poland with her.
So there we go, folks, that's the very detailed story of our time in Portugal.
'In a bit!
Day 1 - Arriving
Lisbon
We waited for about 1 hour and a half for our flight, it was long but we made it. The imagine meme started that day. With that, I mean that we started going around giving somewhat unreasonable scenarios and saying imagine. Well... Guess what, we didn't need to imagine much as it did indeed happen 100% of the time.
We arrived in Lisbon and most of my family was waiting for us. My grandma had flowers and a paper with Karolina's name, while my aunt had a paper for me. It was nice to see everyone straight up as we got there. But I don't think Karolina was ready for it. Auntie asked to spend time with us and even though we wanted to, we didn't have a chance.
As soon as I showed Karolina the house, there was only one comment. "You have 5 bathrooms!" This stayed until the end of the trip.
Day 2 - Driving Around
Oeiras, Alfama
This was the first time Karolina saw me driving, and also the first time I drove after the crash. Let me just say that someone was not very happy with my driving. We went to the mall and after to the beach. It was good, both the weather and the whole experience, even though we decided to go to Belém as we left the beach. Ana was supposed to meet us at the beach but things didn't go according to plan.
Going to Belém did not work out as we planned. We ended up going to Alfama as we went on the fast train (aka the one that doesn't really stop in Belém). It was a good experience. For our actual first day spent in Portugal, we decided it was good to walk and to see things. Karolina managed to see the '25th April Bridge', or as she calls it 'The San Francisco Bridge', and then we went back home.
Dinner was waiting for us. After food, nothing relevant happened.
Day 3 - Train Rides and Tanning
Lisbon, Belém, Algés
We went exploring the city of Lisbon. We hopped on the train and it took us on a journey to Cais do Sodré. We walked instead of taking the tube; you will miss the best parts of a city if you only see its underground. We walked up to Terreiro do Paço, it was around lunch time and all we wanted was food. We checked all the restaurants but nothing appealed to us. We kept on walking, the promise of Baixa-Chiado (Downtown) was near. Instead, we stopped next to Rua da Prata (Silver Street) for lunch. The decision of Portuguese food over Italian was easy and it took us to a fancy restaurant. Karolina tried Bacalhau à Brás whilst I had Steak medium-rare. Food was good though expensive. Overall it was worth it and we enjoyed our time.
We finally made it to Chiado and had a look around, we saw the store, the St. Just Elevator and stopped in Starbucks for a Peach Ice Tea Lemonade. It wasn't as good as the airport's but oh well, that's life. This marks the beginning of our love for Nizzy Nizz's song. Stepped In became a thing in the basalt and limestone steps of Chiado's disregarded stairs.
On the way back home, we stopped in Belém - finally!- and went sightseeing. From the train station to the monuments we wanted to see was such a long walk in the hot sun that we couldn't help but ask every 5 minutes if we were tanned yet. By then we must have been tanning at least a bit, we spent most of the day in the torrid sun, walking around and looking at everything and nothing. In Belém, we saw Padrão dos Descobrimentos and the Tower of Belém. Both of them amazing places filled with the history of Portugal.
We decided to walk our way to Algés train station rather than walking back to Belém. I spent half of the time blabbing about how that was next to the Nos Alive arena where The Weeknd played a couple of months before.
We went back home, with the promise of a beach day ahead of us.
Day 4 - Beach Day
Sintra, Oeiras
Somehow, we found a perfect parking spot right across the street. It was so unexpected that we never thought that day would happen. The beach was mainly empty. We took it upon ourselves to feel at home and quickly built up our space. We were forced to move by the daring waves that threatened to wet us. It wasn't that much of a big deal, more like a false alarm every time the water came too high. Ana and I played volleyball while Karolina insisted that she doesn't play games, instead she lay on her towel tanning. Soon followed the mandatory photoshoot.
Is it a complete beach day without a thousand pictures proving you were actually there? We all took turns in taking pictures and getting the best ones out to show off the #guccipucci to get all the boys to #DMme.
By now, we have listened to Stepped In more times than we ever thought we would. The song started to become the theme song of the trip.
At the beach, we drank Sommersby like any true Polish would, and had icecreams, like any true Portuguese would (sadly there was no one selling Bolas de Berlim at the beach or we would have gone for those). The small cafe was right next to the entrance, the lady served us with a smile and joked that we came just in time to get the last 2 Oreo Corneto icecreams. They were amazing.
Soon after we made our way out, but not before a quick nap at the beach, and on the way home we stopped to take some more pictures with the sunset.
Before dropping us home, Ana took us to a Chinese restaurant. The food was good and so was the company so we enjoyed our time.
We watched Power for a bit and went to sleep.
Day 5 - Traveller's Tales
Oeiras, Évora
As we knew we would be leaving for Évora in the evening, we decided to simply go to the mall and spend our time there. Afterall, we still had an outfit to choose and a night out semi-planned with Ana.
We went shopping and soon we were returning home. Karolina commented that my driving was improving, with every trip we made, I was becoming a more fluid driver.
Arriving home meant getting ready so we quickly started preparing ourselves with the essentials for the trip to Évora and the party we were about to attend. Makeup was done and soon we were waiting to go. We had just received the news we would be staying in the room with Grandma the day before so we were still getting used to the idea.
Whilst at first we were not very happy with the plan, Karolina and I ended up traveling with Grandma. She talked all the way, for a whole hour, about how Dad was going too slow and that she wanted to get to the party soon. We finally made it there and she wondered if she had time to change - unlike us, she had not come prepared for the party. Elegantly, we made our way through the hotel, singing Stepped In at every chance we had.
Nuno was at our table for the dinner, we wished we had had the same luck for the roommate. He was calm and collected the whole time, he didn't eat much. On the contrary, I had as much as I possibly could and Karolina tried a bit of everything.
Note: Orange cake was everything but orange cake; do not trust people.
The funniest moment of the evening was when we tried to get Vodka. The busboy told us only after dinner we would be able to have it and so when we finished - and were completely ignored for 20 minutes - Dad and I made our way to the drinks table and we told them a sob story on how Karolina is finding things so difficult to grasp. The culture difference was so big that she was lost at the party. As any true polish should, we drank Vodka (mixed with coke). Soon we grew bored of the party and ditched it.
Nuno, Karolina and I wandered up to the rooftop. We sang Stepped In, at the toilet, in the lift, on the rooftop... Wherever we went, the song was played. I swear by then, half of the 'views' were ours. We went back to the hotel room and watched some TV. It was alright, by the time we got a phone call, they had already sung 'Happy Birthday'. We hurried to eat a bit of the cake and see the surprise my Cousin had from his wife's family. We were not very impressed with it and wanted to ditch it again. However, we stayed until the end. Then, music started playing and people got ready to dance. We were not too keen on staying but upon a good song start, we made our way to the room to drop Grandma off and after a quick goodbye, we went back to the party. Turns out, good songs only played when we were not there. We left the party once more in favour of exploring the city of Évora at night.
It was around half twelve when we made it back to the room. We had wandered around the long, narrow streets and managed to find our way back to the hotel.
At the moment we sat in bed, Despacito started playing - again, the good songs only played while we were not there - and with an eye roll, we decided to just go to sleep. We were ready for it.
Day 6 - The City and the Chapel of Bones
Évora, Oeiras, Cascais
Lunch was good in a small restaurant. This one was located on the same narrow street we had been the night before. I remember smiling in recognition of the place, no one would ever know we had been there just us, walking around in the middle of the night dressed up for a party with no idea where we were going.
After food, we went to my cousin's house and while it wasn't the worst thing, we wanted to go back. We had decided to go to the movies - all of us - and then we would have dinner and go out with Ana to have one last night of fun.
The movie was alright, although not our first choice. Dinner never happened, instead, we had communication problems between ourselves and Arroz de Pato in the fridge. Ana took us to the McDrive just before we went to Cascais. The bar was full of people and when we arrived, we started having a good time immediately. As neither me or Karolina were driving, we indulged in drinking some Vodka Coke and danced the night away - until 2am when they kicked us out. We met some guys that broke our hearts and we went back to the real world.
At home, we thought about what we should do the next day.
Day 7 - Last Moments of Fun
Oeiras
We stayed in the pool all day and as a last minute thing, we decided to go to the Mall - someone broke their glasses and we had to try and fix them. Dad made fish for dinner and it was absolutely delicious. So after the amazing food, of which I had half of Karolina's portion plus mine. We made our way to Oeiras Parque - the Mall - and I made sure to fix Karolina's glasses or at least to find a temporary solution for them. Turns out glue is life and we should always turn to it as the lady simply glued it back. I met up with Karolina - who wasn't feeling very well - and we went outside for a bit. She smoked and we went back inside. There we got her a juice from one of the restaurants and went shopping once more. We bought trousers, t-shirts and I even bought a jacket.
Afterwards, I decided to take her to the beach. There she smoked and we walked in the sand next to the sea. The moonlight up our way as we walked next to the fishermen who were posted waiting for something to happen.
After walking for a while, we made our way to McDonald's. And that, ladies and gentleman, is where we met Carlos, a Portuguese guy who worked for McDonald's that left us more confused than ever. He had no guts to come up to us and ask for my number, so instead he sent his friend. Only after that did he come and make conversation.
As we left, I drove us past some of the places I had frequently been to before. It was both a way for me to practice and to avoid going home. In that Cherry Nissan Micra, we were allowed to talk about anything and in that moment, we had a lot to talk about. I drove past my house to the top of the hill and stopped the car to show the view to the city. We spoke for a while and then I drove us back down.
Day 8 - Return day
Oeiras, Luton
As the official last day, we spent the day in the mall. I returned the jacket I bought and got myself another one. As well as we spent a bit more money on a few more clothes. At that point, it was Mom, Nuno, Karolina and me hanging out. We had our moments of fun before having to say goodbye.
The way back to the airport was alright, as usual, I managed to change the radio station to something we liked and then we simply went, carrying on with conversation every once in a while to make time pass faster.
As we got to the airport, we met Grandma. She said goodbye to us and told us to come back soon. I nodded and soon we made our way out to go through security. In the end, we had fun and Karolina managed to swap her early the next day for a late. Overall, I would say it was all worth it. We worked our asses off the week before and the week after, but during those 8 days, we did no cooking, no work and definitely we managed to get some tan.
This marked the end of our trip and now? Now, I can't wait for Karolina to take me to Poland with her.
So there we go, folks, that's the very detailed story of our time in Portugal.
'In a bit!
Why wasn't I there :'(
ReplyDeleteWas that the party I crashed by facebook video chat?
Also, why don't I know about the boys that broke your hearts??
You've got a lot of explaining to do..... ;)
Sorry about the late reply! Yes, it was the party you crashed ahah
DeleteDon't take it so seriously, it was basically some guys that looked really nice and we never had a chance to speak to them. </3