Bec & Dave's Blog: September 2008

Our week in Portugal and Spain was fan-bloody-tastic!! One of the best trips we have done since we have been overseas. Our first stop was Lisbon, Portugal's capital. Hopping on a packed bus from the airport, we managed by a combination of luck and skill to get off at the right stop, pretty much right outside our hostel, which was located just off the lovely-named Avenida de Liberdade, smack bang in the middle of the city. So off to a good start. After dumping our stuff and changing into shorts (the weather was glorious) we headed out. As we were strolling, there seemed to us to be an unusually large number of football jersey-clad people about, so we decided to ask at the tourist office if there might be a game on. Turns out there was a World Cup qualifier that very night - Portugal v Denmark, and there were still tickets available!! For 10 euro!! So after snapping up a couple and stopping for coffee and a Portuguese custard tart each (the best pastries I've ever eaten in my life), we headed up to the Alfama district, the old part of Lisbon, crowned by the Castelo de Sao Jorge. 'Headed up' is no exaggeration, but we were rewarded with some great views. That night, we attended the game. Denmark ended up winning 3-2 in the last minute of injury time, so it was a very entertaining game with lots of world class players (but no Ronaldo, to my eternal disappointment).
Most of the following day was spent walking! After a bit of a sleep in, we took a massive walk down to the beautiful Belem district, via the waterfront and the Alcantara, where we were planning to have lunch but all the restaurants looked WAY too posh and expensive (I think all the Beamers parked outside gave us the clue.) Instead, we had a lovely seafood meal in Belem (for me - mixed grill for Dave), and later on visited the shop with the best Portuguese tarts in the city (so they say - we're not about to disagree though.)
Our last day in Portugal we took a day trip out to Cascais, a seaside town. We had been tossing up between Cascais and Sintra; we SO made the right decision! It was another gorgeous day, and Cascais was just glorious and beautiful. Among the sights to see were the Santa Marta lighthouse and the Boca de Inferno (Hell's Mouth). Back in Lisbon we had dinner up in Alfama and watched the sun set over the city.
Saturday we had an 8 hour bus ride to Seville in Spain. We arrived at 5; the sun was shining still and it was 32 degrees! Again, we had a lovely hostel in a great location. We headed out across the river to check out the bars, and found one with a great position overlooking the water. Later, we headed back across to check out Barrio de Santa Cruz, where we ate dinner at a few tapas bars.
The following day we mainly just spent walking around Seville. We had planned the cathedral because it is free on Sundays, but turns out it was closed because of an event on that night (the start of our bad luck with Seville's sights). But we had a lovely tapas lunch, and saw the bullring and the beautiful Plaza de Espana. That night, by a very happy coincidence, Garcy came to town!! So the three of us spent the evening drinking and eating yummy tapas at another great little bar by the water.
Our last full day in Seville we visited the cathedral and climbed the tower, then headed across to the Alcazar, only to get there and find that it is closed on Mondays! And we were leaving tomorrow morning! So we went souvenir shopping instead, before meeting up again with Garcy, and MY GOD, what a massive night that was. Great fun though, as he took us to a great little sandwich bar (a regular haunt for him in Seville), we went to yet another great tapas bar, and a free flamenco show.
The next day, both of us feeling more than a little sore and sorry, we headed back to ol' London Town.
What an amazing week!!! We are back at work now, but Friday we head to Munich for 4 days for Oktoberfest with Jarratt and Bec. Will update again soon, hope everyone is well!

On the beach in Cascais

Cascais

The Santa Marta lighthouse

The Boca de Inferno

Someone's happy about the football

At the top of the Alfama District in Lisbon

At the football, in our complimentary Portugal shirts

The Belem District in Lisbon

Sunset over Lisbon

Sunset in Seville

The cathedral in Seville

Plaza de Espana

With Michael, this one is taken at the awesome sandwich bar

At the free flamenco

Well September has arrived marking the official start of autumn. Now it starts getting colder and colder and we have to dig our winter clothes out of storage. However, the final week or so of summer was pretty eventful, culminating on the 30th (we'll ignore the grey skies and drizzle on the 31st) with a glorious, hot (for London) day. Here's a rundown of what we've been up to.
Notting Hill Carnival
The carnival runs on the Sunday and Monday of the August bank holiday weekend, incidentally the first long weekend that we haven't been away. We decided to go down and check it out on the Sunday, and had ourselves a great day walking around, eating Jamaican food and drinking Jamaican beer, and watching the colourful parades.
Day trip to Oxford
On the bank holiday Monday we took a train to Oxford (I got us really cheap tickets and was incredibly pleased with myself). We took a tour of the town, going in to some of the colleges of the University and learning some interesting history. A greyish morning turned into a lovely afternoon, so we headed down to a riverside pub to while away the time till we had to get the train back to London.
Pimms Summerfest
On a Wednesday night a week ago we made our way to Holland Park for this event. A whole area of the park was sectioned off, and there were a few bars, a BBQ serving hamburgers and sausages, and lots of space to sit, have a drink and relax. The main event was comedy in the outdoor theatre - we saw 4 comedians. It was a lovely evening - warm but with a nice cool breeze - and we were left regretting that we hadn't taken advantage of more of our summer evenings by picnicking in London's parks.
London Eye and Thames cruise
We had booked, through last minute, a 40 minute Thames cruise and flight on the iconic London Eye. Saturday was, as mentioned, absolutely glorious, and as a lot of August has been grey and overcast, we couldn't believe our luck. We started with the cruise, complete with commentary, followed by the Eye. The whole day was fantastic, I would highly recommend the cruise especially to any visitor to London. It was the kind of day that really makes you love London. Afterwards, we paid a quick visit to the second hand book market on the South Bank (where Dave even let me buy a couple of books), before meeting up with Jarratt and Bec in Clapham for a few quiet ones...well a few anyway.
We are now looking forward to our trip to Lisbon and Seville in a week, where we plan to relax and fill ourselves with tapas, paella, sangria, seafood, and Portuguese custard tarts. Hope everyone is well.