On the road again...

Last post from our vacation (probably)...

We ended up spending 2 nights in Nazaré (in favour of going to huge, far too touristy Lisbon) and went to the lovely little pub we found from the night before and downed a few ports while watching the Portugal vs Holland match. As you can imagine, the streets were ablaze after that victory and we made a few friends out of it! Oh forgot to mention, we did head down to Sintra (via Coimbra and Obidós - the latter having a specialty cherry liqueur which is served in chocolate cups - mmmmmm yummy!)

We drove to Guarda the next day (highest settlement in Portugal) - close to the Spanish border, and enjoyed some more local cuisine. This time I had Bakalhou com ..... (something) which was like a potato bake but including cod. but before the meal, we were given some of the local specialty - a very unique type of sheep cheese. The fat content is somewhere between 50-65% (so you could feel the layer thickening on the roof of your mouth!) but I thought it was pretty yummy.

We decided to head to spain today (currently we are in Salamanca) for the match between Spain and France - then tomorrow we will head the final 100km north to Valladolid before we head home :(

Have totally fallen in love with the lifestyle here - everything is about making the most of life in Portugal. They have such a strong sense of national identity and are so proud to be who they are. Every house is old, rundown and tiny (yet charming, cozy and bursting with life) yet everyone has a plasma flat screen huge TV. We have not been hungry here for one minute - food and drink are a very important aspect of life also - not how little you weigh, or how your hair is cut. Although coming from 'friendly' Australia, these people are far more genuine, and am so glad I have had the opportunity to have met them. Definitely have to come back...

Just a super quick note before Tom gets to work.... for any of you who didnt know (or have the slightest interest), Barcelona won against Chelsea yesterday, much to the delight of our neighbours, I'm sure. At least our couch still only has one broken plank (no additions to this were made yesterday - I threatened Tom that if he broke the rest of it, he would have to go out and buy a classy couch to support his jumping weight...). For football, it was actually not that bad - 2 own goals and a red card. But dont expect any more football entries from moi...

Graçias!

Here is a small preview of our trip to Barcelona in November 2005. We stayed in a cute little appartment in the middle of Barri Gothic (5 minute walk to Ramblas) so we were stoked about that!. Basically, the four of us (Ingrid, Tom, Tim and Tash) hopped on a tourist bus for 2 days and just saw everything. The architecture absolutely blew me away! If I lived a hundred and 50 years ago, I wouldn't have minded if Gaudi designed my house. At least this is one city, where you remember the cathedral. Not all old and brown looking, but completely colourful and mosaic.

While we were here, we had to try the cuisine - first thing ordered - Sangria. We werent really expecting 600mL per person! But, it tasted fine!