Lisbon, Lisbon, Lisbon. Words are starting to fail me. The city isn't beautiful in the traditional sense of the word, that is, there are ugly corners, debris lying around, caved in houses, piles of rubble...but all that serves to do is add to the charm that is Lisboa.
The winding maze-like streets, the cathedral, the castle, the brightly coloured houses on the hill, the coffee (oh god the coffee...I never want to leave for that sole reason) and the people. Life is a little slower here, people are less rushed and more, mellow. They take their time to appreciate things, to walk and look around, to sip their coffee and in this atmosphere I'm finding myself right at home.
I ate lunch today in this little family-run restaurant where at night they have non-professional fado - traditional Portuguese song - (more local and authentic), and there in that magical place I had the BEST sea bass ever. Honestly, that meal was heavenly. I didn't know food could be such an experience. The dessert was pear cooked in red wine and cinnamon - don't get me started on how good that was (I took pictures). And, in traditional Portuguese fashion, I spent a good 3 hours savoring it.
Basically, I love Lisbon and will thoroughly enjoy the next 2 days here. This morning I got in after a LONG train ride from Santiago, I was in Porto from 10pm until 1:30am when my train left for Lisbon. In the hopes of getting some sleep I drank half a bottle of red wine in Porto, passed out on the train, then stumbled my way to my hostel where I found a couch and slept some more, then after a shower I felt nearly human again. Sometimes train travel wears you down, certainly I've never felt so dirty as after a long train ride. That and apparently Santiago is the final stop of a pilgrimage (Le chemin de St. Jacques) and my train was full of ecstatic Russian pilgrims (complete w. guitar); clearly this did nothing to enhance the sleeping bit.
So those are my recent adventures, after Lisbon I'm off to Madrid to meet up with Bridget and party (party hard), then Barcelona (Barcelona, it was the first place that we met! Oh good ol Freddy Mercury). I'll try to post more pictures soon =)
Cheerio
Petra
PS - To all my KW folks, hopefully things are good back home...what's new with you all?
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Santiago de Compostela
One word to describe this city, beautiful. In every sense of the word, just extremely beautiful. The cathedral was amazing (and I heard a spanish mass!). I spent a long time just walking around in this dazed sense of awe.
Antonio (a very cool italian guy from my hostel who spoke french) and I went to a contemporary short-film festival last night held in the old town market area till midnight...although I admit to not understanding the good majority of the spanish (though some were subtitled), it was still an enlightening night out.
Today, on Antonio´s recommendation, I went to try "Langostinos" which he described as being amazing fish...it turned out to be massive shrimp. Eight huge dead shrimp staring up at me (clearly I´m not a sea-food person). But having paid 10€ for it, I ate it anyways.
I also bought my first THING today! That´s right, until now I have not shopped at all, and let me tell you, I have been tempted. I bought an amazing, one of a kind, artisan-made leather messenger purse at a little market vendor in Santiago because I needed something to remember this place by, that, and the purse is fabulous and occasionally my female instincts get the best of me.
Im Italy, I am totally buying shoes.
Next today I´m off to Portugal (Lisbon) via Vigo and Porto. A night of train-riding awaits me, so I shall go find a bakery and stock up on some provisions.
Till next time,
Petra (who now has a messenger bag and is super-content with it!)
Antonio (a very cool italian guy from my hostel who spoke french) and I went to a contemporary short-film festival last night held in the old town market area till midnight...although I admit to not understanding the good majority of the spanish (though some were subtitled), it was still an enlightening night out.
Today, on Antonio´s recommendation, I went to try "Langostinos" which he described as being amazing fish...it turned out to be massive shrimp. Eight huge dead shrimp staring up at me (clearly I´m not a sea-food person). But having paid 10€ for it, I ate it anyways.
I also bought my first THING today! That´s right, until now I have not shopped at all, and let me tell you, I have been tempted. I bought an amazing, one of a kind, artisan-made leather messenger purse at a little market vendor in Santiago because I needed something to remember this place by, that, and the purse is fabulous and occasionally my female instincts get the best of me.
Im Italy, I am totally buying shoes.
Next today I´m off to Portugal (Lisbon) via Vigo and Porto. A night of train-riding awaits me, so I shall go find a bakery and stock up on some provisions.
Till next time,
Petra (who now has a messenger bag and is super-content with it!)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
San Sebastian
So I've finally arrived in Spain (along with half of France who is currently on holiday) and today its RAINING. No joke, I thought I left that all behind me...clearly I need to move inland. But otherwise so far Spain is very beautiful, very different than the rest of Europe...and english is not frequently spoken.
Language wise, I'm a little bit screwed. At least there's always mime, you can't go wrong with mime.
Tomorrow I'm off to Santiago de Compostela, supposedly the most beautiful city in Spain, and then onwards to Portugal.
Alas I must go and explore, see stuff, the usual..
but until next time,
Adios!
Petra
Language wise, I'm a little bit screwed. At least there's always mime, you can't go wrong with mime.
Tomorrow I'm off to Santiago de Compostela, supposedly the most beautiful city in Spain, and then onwards to Portugal.
Alas I must go and explore, see stuff, the usual..
but until next time,
Adios!
Petra
Monday, July 16, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The LONG awaited update!
Hey everyone,
Well if I was lazy with the updates its only for a lack of comments, where's my supporting audience?
Currently at Natacha's in le Massif Central, in the region of Cantal, in the little village of Yolet getting some much needed rest. Since photos are worth a thousand words I'm going to bombard you with images and small captions and let you go from there...
First one is me with Foucaults Pendulum in the Pantheon in Paris, followed by me and the little mermaid of Copenhagen (Miriam, I sang the song!), then my Austrian backpacker buddy and all our stuff in the back of the train (we couldnt find seats for a while) looking like gypsies, next a coffeeshop (that I , ummmm, visited briefly), and me among Rembrandts "Night Watch" in Amsterdam in the Rembrandt place (go figure). Followed by yours truly in Copenhagen in the free community of Christiania having some good clean fun, next, again me in Copenhagen looking very backpackery in front of the finals of the European Triathalon.
The rest need no captions, mainly cause I'm tired and searching for housing (aka multitasking) so just enjoy and marvel...
Next I'm off on tues to San Sebastian in Spain, then I'll work my way along the atlantic coast to Santiago de Compostela (the most beatiful city in Spain), then to Porto in Portugal, Lisbon, return to Spain via Madrid (meet up w. Bridget), Bacelona, and that's all I have planned for now!
Leave lots of comments, miss you all terribly,
Petra
PS - If you have friends or family and know of places I can stay in Switzerland, Austria, or the Black Forest...gimme a shout!
PPS - Click on this text to see a really cool photo which I couldn't get back into the original document because I suck with HTML...
Saturday, July 7, 2007
The end of the Netherlands...
Sorry for the long silent spell but things have been hectic!
From what I remember of Amsterdam (ha, kidding parents!) it was a smashing good time. I rode the canal boats, got lost (because even w. a map the city is impossible to navigate), saw the Van Gogh museum, and, of course, went on a pub crawl (we'll always have the canals Ross!) which rocked. Then I day-tripped a bunch through Holland to Den Haag, Delft, Rotterdam (biked alongside the windmills) and Maastricht.
The Netherlands were very beautiful, fast paced, and there aren't enough words to describe how much I like Amsterdam (and not just for the Coffee Shops, although I did indulge myself w. space cake). What a country...too bad I can't speak Dutch.
Now I'm in Antwerp (in the Flemish part of Belgium, sigh, my french is no use here) after visiting Brugges and Ghent (the beer and chocolate were well worth it). Tomorrow, after I check out Antwerp, I'm off to Bruxelles for a night and then me'thinks Paris. Followed by a nice break in le Massif Central at Natacha's (where I will likely have a BIG update for you all).
So far I can say that traveling alone like this is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Sometimes I want to take a day off and not be self-sufficient and plan whats next, or where I'll sleep, or go...but thats not really an option. So there are lows, but also many highs: never having to ask permission, always meeting new people, making your own schedule. It's strange because you also go through these really brief and intense backpacker relationships...you meet people but it never lasts (like a timed interaction) but you never think about the ticking clock. I've swapped life stories with people, discussed politics or art and never even got their names because at the time it wasn't that important...what they had to say was more interesting than the little encyclopedia version of who they were. Which is a really unique way to go about making friends.
Trains are also the perfect breaks between hectic city exploring, a good time for reflection of thoughts that I usually can't write down because the regional trains are all too freking shakey!
I promise to post up lots of pictures when I get to Natacha's in a few days, and till then, thanks for tuning in!
PS - Checking my IB grades at an internet cafe in Brugges was so much cooler than looking them up at home. It made even that menial task more enjoyable.
From what I remember of Amsterdam (ha, kidding parents!) it was a smashing good time. I rode the canal boats, got lost (because even w. a map the city is impossible to navigate), saw the Van Gogh museum, and, of course, went on a pub crawl (we'll always have the canals Ross!) which rocked. Then I day-tripped a bunch through Holland to Den Haag, Delft, Rotterdam (biked alongside the windmills) and Maastricht.
The Netherlands were very beautiful, fast paced, and there aren't enough words to describe how much I like Amsterdam (and not just for the Coffee Shops, although I did indulge myself w. space cake). What a country...too bad I can't speak Dutch.
Now I'm in Antwerp (in the Flemish part of Belgium, sigh, my french is no use here) after visiting Brugges and Ghent (the beer and chocolate were well worth it). Tomorrow, after I check out Antwerp, I'm off to Bruxelles for a night and then me'thinks Paris. Followed by a nice break in le Massif Central at Natacha's (where I will likely have a BIG update for you all).
So far I can say that traveling alone like this is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Sometimes I want to take a day off and not be self-sufficient and plan whats next, or where I'll sleep, or go...but thats not really an option. So there are lows, but also many highs: never having to ask permission, always meeting new people, making your own schedule. It's strange because you also go through these really brief and intense backpacker relationships...you meet people but it never lasts (like a timed interaction) but you never think about the ticking clock. I've swapped life stories with people, discussed politics or art and never even got their names because at the time it wasn't that important...what they had to say was more interesting than the little encyclopedia version of who they were. Which is a really unique way to go about making friends.
Trains are also the perfect breaks between hectic city exploring, a good time for reflection of thoughts that I usually can't write down because the regional trains are all too freking shakey!
I promise to post up lots of pictures when I get to Natacha's in a few days, and till then, thanks for tuning in!
PS - Checking my IB grades at an internet cafe in Brugges was so much cooler than looking them up at home. It made even that menial task more enjoyable.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Amsterdam, it begins...
Day one in Amsterdam, hooked up w. an Austrian backpacker on the night train from Copenhagen to the Netherlands. We didn't have seats booked to we had to sit gypsy style on the floor in the back car. Very noisy, but authentic. We finally got a cabin but didn't really sleep...we chatted about life and laughed into the morning. So, without sleep I've crossed Denmark, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and spent the day exploring the coffee shops of Amsterdam w. the Austrian. Now, I'm thinking an evening boat tour, then catching some Zzz's before tomorrow when I will seriously explore this place.
Till Later
Cheers,
Petra
Till Later
Cheers,
Petra
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