The collective stop of Portugal and Spain was one to never be forgotten. Not only was it beautiful, but I also learned a lot about my travel style. First, let me go through an overview of my time in port.

Portugal Day 1- My roommates and I were up at 0615 for Early-Risers Club. The sunrise was breathtaking and coming into Lisbon was a completely different view than Gdansk. We came into port around 0700 and around 1000 I got off with my roommates and four other friends. The walk to Lisbon’s city center was only about ten minutes from our berth so we set out on our way to explore.

After stopping for a scenic view, we wandered around until we found a place to eat that my roommate, Abby, have seen good reviews on. The food was absolutely amazing and very reasonably priced. I had a croissant and quiche. I think the croissant was the best I’ve ever had.

After we finished eating, we wandered back up to where we had come from so a few of the girls could do a little shopping in a store they found. We then had to head back in the direction of the ship because my roommate, Haleigh, had to be back on the ship for a field class. There was a little gelato shop that we had stumbled across earlier that we went back to since it was close to the port.

After finishing our delicious treat, we started out for more wandering around and a little bit of shopping. We came to the main square and took so many photos before grabbing a bite at Can-Can, a small restaurant in the square. We hung out here for about two hours before checking out a small little beach and heading back to the ship. Once back at the ship, we got ready to go out and headed to a rooftop bar called Park Bar. The views from here were spectacular.

There were so many SASers there that I switched up my group when I left and went to McDonalds with some new found friends. While at McDonald’s, at like 0300, I met two really cool British people from Hong- Kong and talking to them was so interesting. They were only on vacation but they had done so much prior traveling and had some fascinating stories. My group finally made it back to the ship around 0430.

Portugal Day 2- I again switched up my group of who I hung out with. I ended up going to the beach with two other girls. We went to Paço de Arcos; a small town outside of Lisbon with a nearby, small beach. We just laid out for a couple hours after an eventful time of trying to get there via Uber, train, and walking. By the time we had finished laying in the sun, we were completely drained. We took an Uber back to our port and grabbed food at a nice place right along the strip. I then went swimming in the pool for a bit before waiting for Abby to get back from her field class.

Later that evening, once everyone was back from classes and programs, we headed out for dinner and going out. We ended up eating at the same place we had lunch at, but that was okay because the food was phenomenal. We ended up on Pink Street, which is a main strip in Lisbon, and I ended up running into the two people I had met from the night before, along with their group. Their whole group was from all over the world and they had such cool jobs and perspectives on the world and traveling. We bounced around Pink Street with their group until all the SASers decided to head back to the ship.

Portugal Day 3- By the third day, I was super interested in the surfing competition that I had heard about, and also tired of walking around, so I headed about an hour North to Ericeira where the EDP Billabonic Pro Ericeira surf competition was taking place. I knew Portugal had some of the best surf in the world, due to a “minizine (miniature magazine)” I had written in 7th grade, so I was excited to see this first hand. This trip was my favorite part of my time in Portugal. The beach was gorgeous and the surfers were incredible. I have never watched any live surfing as a sport before. I tried surfing once in San Diego when I was about 15, but I could barely give up. These professionals from all over the world made it look beyond simple. It was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen and it also gave me some good time by myself. After that, I would definitely go out of my way to find more surf competitions. (Hopefully the video will work, I’m not sure though)

Side note. I had two incredible Uber drivers, which was fantastic because the surfing was one hour each way. They were both very talkative and very insightful to life in Portugal and the world. My one driver was from Pakistan, although he had lived in Portugal for 15 years. Driving Uber was his side job and he was actually a poet who travelled all over the world to read his poems. He was so passionate about experiencing the world. My other Uber driver was born and raised in Portugal and he was very interested in the Semester at Sea program because he had a son who would be going to university soon. As we drove, he would point out different areas and explain little tidbits of information about them. One thing I found interesting was the windmills and that the goal in Portugal was hopefully to be able to rely on wind power and solar energy for all the electricity soon, which I think would be so cool.

After I got back from the competition, I had to quick pack a bag for overnight travel, since Abby and I, along with another girl, Sarah, had decided not to get back on the ship between Portugal and Spain. This is one of the only times we are allowed to travel between ports and to other countries by ourselves. We met up with a group of three SAS guys, one of which is Portuguese, so we were able to find an authentic Portuguese place for our final dinner. Then they headed off to catch their flight and we walked around a square which was getting set up for an evening show. While there, we had a final dessert of Pasteis de Nata and Malasadas. These were excellent. We then headed to the train station for our overnight train, only to find out that we had booked an overnight bus. Luckily the bus and train station were the same place, so we hung out, played cards, and stocked up on snacks. We got on the bus around 2300 and called it a night, even though I woke a lot during the seven hour bus ride.

Spain Day 1- We got into Seville around 0600 and even though our bus tickets weren’t until 0900, we headed to the station in hopes that we could catch an earlier one. Luckily there was one at 0645 that we were able to take and we got into Cadiz a little after 0800. Watching the sunrise from the bus was incredible. We walked around Cadiz for a little bit before settling on a place to eat a breakfast of churros. Churros? For breakfast? Right? I thought it was crazy too, but that was the main time you could find them unless you went to an actual churro shop. As we were eating, a market was being set up in the main square, so we decided to walk around for a bit after we finished. I bought an anchor anklet, which I thought was fitting given Semester at Sea. We then decided on another place to grab lunch before heading onto the ship.

Once I was on the ship, I met up with Hannah, a girl I would be traveling with to Seville and staying in an Airbnb. We got off the ship around 1300, even though our train wasn’t until 1530. We grabbed gelato and wandered around Cadiz for a while until we almost had to run to catch our train. The train wasn’t quite two hours long. We both slept on the train and once we got off, we had about a half an hour walk to our Airbnb. We quickly got settled in by our very friendly host, and then headed to meet a few other friends for dinner. I had a traditional seafood paella and it was exceptional. After that, Hannah and I just wandered around. We ran into a lot of people that we knew and made plans to meet up with them later.

We ended up wandering around until it was time to meet up with everyone. We stumbled upon a small Festival of Nations which was cool to walk around in. It had different vendors and food stands from countries all over the world. After that, the group we were trying to get together had so many people, it was stressful, but it ended working out and everyone was able to find each other. We had a long night out before returning back to our place.

Spain Day 2- We woke up around 0900 with the intention of meeting people for breakfast, which ended up falling, so we grabbed food just the two of us. Then we wandered around and ran into a small group of people whom we just sat and talked with until we went to meet up with my roommate so Hannah could stay with her group and I could head back to Cadiz early. I was able to catch a train that a bunch of other SASers were on. I was so dehydrated on the train because with breakfast we weren’t given the option of water and I didn’t have time to buy any. I thought I was going to pass out the whole ride back so I didn’t sleep or anything.

Story time: I’ve only passed out once before from being dehydrated and the was Spring Break 2k15 with my family in Arizona. I used to hate drinking water and my mom would always tell me to drink some, but it was such a dry heat that I didn’t realize I was losing so much water. Anyway, long story short, I started feeling super dizzy and my vision got blurry and I drank a little bit of water, started to try to walk to my mom, hit the wall everything went black and I woke up on the floor with people looking down at me.

That was super random, but this level of dehydration has not been reached since, but I was starting to feel that way on the train, but I was obviously okay.

I got back to the ship and kind of felt like a mess so I put on some music and just cleaned my room because I had left it a disaster. After that, I met up with a group to grab dinner and hang for a bit before I had to be back by midnight since I had a field class the next day. We ended up finding a bar where we ran into this group of people who worked on a Carnival cruise ship. They were talking about how Semester at Sea was such an incredible opportunity and how many people will never see as many places in their whole lives as we will have seen by our early 20s. They also said that if we loved it enough, there’s always the option to work for a cruise line in order to continue traveling.

We headed back to the ship with about a half an hour to spare and so many people were sitting outside the terminal using the wifi. I got grabbed on my way in and ended up sitting outside with a few friends until a few minutes before on-ship time. I ended up staying up late, talking about life, and looking at the stars.

Spain Day 3- I had a field class this day so my plans for the day had already been made. We started out the day by getting a driving tour around the outskirts of Cadiz (I was in and out of sleep because I’m not capable of staying awake in moving vehicle unless I’m driving). We then got out and had a walking tour. We walked through an alley and we were shown some old ruins (Roman?). We went to the big Cathedral in one of the big squares of Cadiz and went in the catacombs, which was super cool due to the structure of the room. The acoustics were amazing and we were told that they were loudest at high tide and quieter at low tide (or maybe vice versa), but either way it was fascinating that the tide affected the space. The echo was insane when we were there.

After that, we went to a Flamenco show which was absolutely fabulous. Flamenco is the dance/music style that Spain is most popularly known by. It involves high energy dancing and a very in touch singer. Both the guitarist and the vocalist were amazing and everything they did seemed so natural and effortless. The dancers were also incredible. They were mesmerising and it was hard to look away because they moved with such passion. The dancers ended up coming off the stage and grabbed a couple of us, and of course I was one. I found the dance style quite difficult and I couldn’t figure out how to move my hands and body like they did. Needless to say, a career as a Flamenco dancer is not in my future.

Lunch was next and it was about seven courses of tapas which were all excellent, but it was about 1530 by the time we finished and we were all so tired. Our professor ended up cutting our day short and taking us back to the ship early, which we were all thankful for.

Once back on the ship, it was so nice to take some time to relax and catch up with people, then I made a few last minute phone calls before heading back out to sea.

When I said in the introduction that I learned a lot about my travel style, let me now explain. This blog was really difficult for me to write because I didn’t feel I did anything exciting here, except the surfing competition. I don’t necessarily feel like I wasted these countries, but I’m a lot happier with how Portugal went than Spain did. The group I was with didn’t really care about doing actual activities or going to any really cool sites and only wanted to walk about the city, which is cool, but not what I wanted to do everyday. My cousin, who studies in Spain previously, had sent me this whole list of things I could do and although we only had a short time and I knew I wouldn’t be able to do them all, I wish I would’ve done at least one or two. This feeling though is on me because even though I did voice what I wanted to do, I could’ve just gone ahead and done them without my group (like I did with the surfing competition). This is disappointing because I was really looking forward to these countries. This isn’t to stay though that these countries weren’t amazing because they absolutely were. They were stunning with beautiful architecture and wonderful waters. The countries themselves were not a let down at all, more so just how I spent my time.

One of our deans said that after this port, we were 25% done with our voyage and this is when people start reflecting on their travel and who they’re traveling with and I’m definitely doing that. However, the good thing is that I don’t doubt that I will be back to these places and I will have more than just two and a half days in each!

Anyway, stay tuned for Croatia and a short Montenegro post.

With Bated Breath, Abby Lynn

P.S. – I apologize for the delay in all these posts. I can get them written, but it’s hard to upload them while I’m at sea and nearly impossible to upload photos since we only get seven minutes of wifi a day and it isn’t great quality. In addition, in countries, sometimes my service isn’t enough and I need really good wifi to get the photos added and the post uploaded, which can be hard to find. So, thank you for hanging in there while I navigate the best way to continue!