Me enamoré

"I Fell in Love"

This past weekend I went to the city of Lagos on the southern coast of Portugal and fell in love. However, my weekend actually started at the Alcázar (fortress or palace) in Sevilla. We met one of the professors from the international college at the entrance and she took us on a tour through the building. It is a really fascinating place because it was originally built by the Arabs using many pre-existing Roman structures. This archway, for instance, was a Roman aqueduct which could date back to 200 BCE.

After the Arabs the Christians took over and modified parts of the fortress. Elements of all three eras are visible all over the building. At one point I was standing where Christopher Columbus met with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to ask them to fund his journey to the west. It is very ornate and beautiful but difficult to get good pictures because there are so many people inside. There is no entrance fee for students though so I'm hoping to go back sometime during siesta when it will be less crowded. Here are a few more pictures though.

In this picture, the columns on the first floor are Roman columns made out of marble. Even though they are over 2000 years old they are still in perfect condition. It is amazing.This picture shows how detailed everything is, even the ceilings.After touring the Alcázar for a couple hours my friends Denya, Ashley and I walked back to the Plaza de España to get on the bus to Portugal. Our shoulders hurt from carrying all our stuff so long, but it was definitely worth it. The bus ride was about three hours from Sevilla to Lagos and we arrived around 5:00 pm at our hotel which was right by the beach. Here are a couple pictures of the view right outside our hotel. After exploring the beach for a little while we met our group in the lobby of the hotel to walk to the center for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Nah Nah Bah which is owned by an American man. We didn't have Portugese food that night but it was still delicious. I had a pasta dish with penne, green peppers and chicken in a lemon pepper cream sauce. After dinner, we went to a bar nearby to have a drink. Denya's mother is Portugese so she speaks the language decently and we met lots of friendly people. Also, I large portion of the people we met also speak English so it was really easy to get around. The Portugese people as a whole were much nicer than Spaniards. Denya and I both felt like we were more welcome in Lagos than in Seville and the locals seemed less judgemental. When I get back to the US I would really like to learn Portugese so I can go back sometime. I really did fall in love with Lagos. It is difficult to compare it to Seville though because it is much smaller. Now I would really like to explore some small towns in Spain to see what they're like. Perhaps I'm just not a city girl even though I love St. Louis.

On Saturday morning we met with the group again to go on a sailboat ride and grotto tour. I've never been on a boat before so it was really fun. The sailboat holds about 30-40 people and then we divided up into smaller groups to ride in a small boat to explore the caves and grottos along the coast.We also jumped off the boat and went swimming. The water was freezing but definitely worth it. We spent the rest of the day on the beach and then went to Cabo São Vicente (Cape St. Vincent) on the southwestern coast of Portugal to watch the sunset. It was cloudy so we didn't get to see he most beautiful sunset in the world but the view was still amzaing. Supposedly, this is the spot people believed to be the end of the world. Regardless of whether that is true or not, it was definitely beautiful. The cliffs are really high right over the water. I can never bring my children there because I'd probably have a heart attack thinking they'd fall over the edge. We then went back to Lagos to eat dinner at a local Portugese restaurant. I had grilled salmon and it was definitely the best salmon I have ever had. I know I'm definitely going to be craving that again. After dinner, my friends and I walked around and explored the city. We found some shops that were still open and I bough a really cute and unique dress. I'll take a picture in it sometime for you to see. There were lots of hippies selling handmade jewelry on the street. One man was selling some handmade sandals. Denya and I each bought a pair because they fit us perfectly. I'm really excited about them. Once I get pictures up on facebook you'll be able to see what they look like and we took a picture with the man who made them. Uploading pictures to my blog is kind of a pain so I don't feel like putting anymore in this post. On Sunday we wandered around the city again and then came back to Sevilla. It was a great weekend. I can't wait to go back to Portugal some day.