While planning my trip to Ireland, I wasn’t happy with just visiting Dublin. I felt that if I only saw Dublin, I was missing out on so much Ireland has to offer. So, I did something that worried many people: I drove a car. On January 3, I rented a car and started driving south on the left-hand side of the road.
It’s been almost two weeks since I went to Lisbon, but I’m still blown away by how awesome it was. Honestly, I went to Lisbon with no expectations, which I think was a great thing to do. I was able to experience the city and make my mind up for myself. Last week, I told you things you needed to know to enjoy the city, but today, I’ll let you know what to do and see in Lisbon.
Hey everybody! Sorry for another week without posting anything. They really pack our schedules tight here, so by the time the night time comes around, I’m just ready to watch TV and go to sleep.
So last Monday, we went to a beach city a few minutes away from here called Cambrils. Our excursion for the day was riding bikes from there to another beach city called Salou. I don’t know the exact distance we rode, but it felt like I was in the Tour de France. Some people told me it was five miles, others seven miles, seven kilometers, and eighteen kilometers, so who really knows? My bike was kind of small and it wasn’t in the correct gear, so it was so difficult to ride my bike. It was supposed to be a relaxing bike ride along the coast but it was definitely tiring. After that, we had some free time to walk around and buy stuff if we want. I got some gelato (of course), and some souvenirs, including a Fernando Torres Spain jersey for me. J By the time we got back to our house, it was after nine o’clock and we were pretty exhausted.
On Tuesday, we had a free day. Some people went to the mall, but I decided to go back to the house and catch up on some much needed sleep. Tuesday was no disappointment though. Melanie, Elizabeth, and I went with Pau to see the castells, or human towers. It’s pretty much like cheerleading pyramids, but even crazier. There is a base of people, who are supported by a big group of other people, while having about five to six different layers of people climbing on top of them. The craziest part is that the people at the top are children probably under the age of 5.
I didn’t get to take part in that, but I did get to climb on top of someone. Unfortunately, I’m not the best with getting my own body weight up, so I had to step on Pau to help me get up … but I was up there! We might go back this Tuesday. It was just so awesome! Ironically, there were people on our trip who went to see the castells on Tuesday, too, but they went to the rival one. Too bad Pau’s group is better and we got to participate a bit! At the end, we even got to press against people to form the base!
Wednesday’s adventure was a little boring. We went to the port area of Tarragona. After nearly getting lost to get there, we first saw a fish auction. People of the area come to this place and bet on different batches of freshly caught seafood. The price starts high and goes lower and the first person to press in for the fish gets it. Then we went to boat museum, which was honestly very boring. All of us were trying to prevent ourselves from falling asleep. At the end of it though, this guy who was reenacting someone from around the 18th century gave us a shot of this really gross alcohol called Chartreuse. It wasn’t very much, but it definitely cleared my sinuses.
We then had a bit of free time (during which I got a newspaper with Gareth Bale on the front), before heading to the boat. We went on a boat around the port and into the sea a little. The sights were pretty, although some of my friends made a comment that part of the journey looked like Newport News. We ate a little bit on the boat, but it wasn’t my favorite. Unfortunately, too, it’s been pretty cold and windy, but luckily we ate under a roof.
Thursday wasn’t a big joy either. Like I said, it’s been pretty cold for the month of May, like 60s and 70s. The water is still freezing, too. The director of our program has been going to Tarragona since the mid 1980s and said the water is the coldest he’s ever experienced in the entire time he’s been here. Well, after our beach day was cancelled the previous week, it was rescheduled for Thursday. We went to la Playa Larga and we did some water sports. Actually, the only thing I did was ride on a banana boat. It was fun, but it was exhausting. It would have been a lot better if the water didn’t feel like an ice bath.
After that, I decided I didn’t want to go back in the water. I just laid on the beach for a little bit, drying off my swimsuit, but quickly putting on my shorts and my hoodie. It was so cold and it was only 4:30! We stayed there until 10:15. I was pretty miserable the entire time. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been windy, too. We had a barbecue, too, but the food wasn’t spectacular. I was just really happy to get going by 10:15.
On Friday morning, we left for France at 9 AM. It shouldn’t have taken us more than three hours or so, but it ended up taking us almost six! Unfortunately for me, I didn’t stop at the rest stop because I was sleeping and my bladder almost exploded. We stopped in Coullioure, France. It’s a small city just over the border in France, but still in the Catalan region. The area was really pretty. We went around this castle, which had been around since the 13th century and had some stuff to do with Spain and their kings. It was so windy there, though, that a few of us found a room to go into where we ate our lunch and talked.
After that, we went on a mini-train ride up the mountain to see this fort. The train ride was really pretty, too. We drove through a bunch of vineyards. At the top, we stopped to get out and take pictures, but we almost blew off the top of the mountain because it was so windy. I’m pretty sure I got a facelift up there. After the train ride, we had some free time to go around the city because we went to our hotel. We were split up into three different hotels because we are a very large group and everything there was small. I was a little salty because my room didn’t have wi-fi, so I didn’t spend a lot of time in there.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of France. I think another part of it may have been better, but no one spoke English or Spanish, it was very small and claustrophobic, and everything closed there before nine. Unlike in Spain where things aren’t even popping by nine, everything was closed. We had a hard time trying to find a crepe place! After that, a few of us just went to another girl’s room and played card games before going in for a pretty early night.
On Saturday morning, we left France to go back to Spain. We went to Port Llegat, which is where Dalí lived. We could only go into his house in small groups because there wasn’t a lot of space in there, so we spent a lot of time in that pueblo. The house was pretty strange, which is what one would expect with Dalí. We also learned that his wife cheated on him a lot with many different guys and he knew and was ok with it. After this weekend, I don’t think there was something right in his head.
After Dalí’s house, we went to another little beach town called Cadaques. It was pretty there, but there wasn’t a lot to do, especially since it was siesta time. We visited a few tourist shops, but nothing really called out my name. We spent the night in Roses, Spain. The hotel was nice, but once again, the wi-fi only worked in one part of the hotel and there were a lot of older people there. I felt bad for the people who were going there for a vacation and had to deal with almost 50 college-aged students.
Today we went to a Dalí museum. That place was just weird. I don’t really know what inspired Dalí to do all of that artwork. Some of the things were cool, while others things were just plain weird. I tried to take as many pictures as I possibly could, so stayed tuned to Facebook for that. After the museum we ate a really intense lunch. We ate at an Argentine restaurant. We probably had at least five or six courses in our meal. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was really good! We also had a bit of free time there, so I bought some souvenirs!
Now I am back home in Tarragona. I keep getting a little anxiety and a little sad because I now have less than a week here. I’m not ready to leave my family or this city. I absolutely love it here and I want to come back and spend more time here very very soon!