While I was in Seville, I managed to pick up a roll of expired film – Kodak Gold 200 – from a small corner store for my Suntone camera. The film seemed to be more sensitive to lights and darks but it still produced some nice colours. I loaded the film the night before we headed over to Portugal where our first stop was Albufeira, a beach town in the Algarve. On the way there I was frantically finding a Portuguese phrase cheat sheet so I could at least say please and thank you.

The beach had the most beautiful yellow cliffs surrounding it and, because it was March, it wasn’t very busy. Even though it was a little chilly and the wind made big waves, my friends and I all had to go for a swim after lunch which was nice and refreshing. I ended the afternoon by trying some pastel de nata flavoured ice cream which was so delicious.

I packed up my wet bathing suit and got back on the bus to drive the rest of the way to Lisbon. We met up with one of our friends from the first have of the trip for dinner who gave us a good itinerary of what to do and see the next day.

Our first stop in the morning was the São Jorge Castle. It had a great view of the city and there were so many peacocks all over the grounds.

Up next, we had to catch Tram 28 to ride around the city. After waiting in a line for a few trams, we finally got on, only to be stopped after 20 minutes or so of riding by a car that had parked on the tracks. While we were trapped there for quite a while as we waited for the driver to finally move his car, the stop was almost worth it because I was able to get the best videos of the tram behind us driving through the city.
Tram 28 is definitely worth your time as it drives past many of the notable sites in the city and is much easier than walking up and down the many hills within Lisbon. We got off to see Rua da Bica de Duarte Belo, the most beautiful street in the world, and continued walking over to Livraria Bertrand, the oldest bookstore in the world. I bought myself a copy of James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room from their selection of English language books and got it stamped to certify that it was bought at the oldest operating bookstore in the world.

The following day, it was time to start driving over to Porto but not without making a few stops on the way. Our first stop was at Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring a Gothic-style palace and surrounding park with mysterious ties to the occult. One of the highlights of this site is the Initiation Wells and connection underground tunnels, believed to have been used in ceremonies by the Knights Templar.

We spent our second stop in Cascais, Portugal, where I spent most of our time in the water and finding iridescent seashells on the beach, before heading up to a restaurant for lunch. We got into Porto before dinner, where I had to try a Francesinha, a traditional Portuguese sandwich which was super rich and filling.

Porto served as a big inspiration for Harry Potter, as JK Rowling had lived there at the time of writing the first book, so I had to check out some of the sites that inspired her. And since tone of the prettiest bookstores in the world was here, I had to stop in and buy a book, Orlando by Virginia Woolf, from their own published collection.

After four days in Portugal it was time to return to Spain. We spent a night in Salamanca, a town filled with students who attend the University of Salamanca. To get into the centre of town from our hotel we had to walk over the Roman Bridge, a bridge originally constructed in the 1st century, over the Tormes River.

The next day we drove back to Madrid with a short stop in the quiet and picturesque town of Ávila, the city which famed American director Orson Welles said he would most like to live in.

In Madrid, I joined my friends on a guided bike tour of Retiro Park, with a much needed sangria break to beat the heat.

With a final dinner in Madrid, it was time to say tearful goodbyes to all my new friends and fly back home.