Spain, Portugal & Paris
Summer of 2024, I took a 4-week trip with my best friend from High school. An 18yr old (Mallory & and a 19 yr old (me) traveling around Spain, Portugal, and Paris. What a time.
Starting out with Paris, France
The first stop for us was 6 days in Paris. Get the craziest, most involved (most expensive) city checked off the list first. I had lots of people tell me “Paris is so unsafe” “So hectic” “Stressful, not worth the hype” and the list went on and on. I loved it. #sorrynotsorry. I have to acknowledge it was most likely in a lot better shape due to the Olympics coming within the next 3 weeks. We saw amazing sites, and tasted yummy food (this city I spent over 1/3 of my whole trip, solely on food here. Sadly we did not have a kitchen in our accommodation (would do that next time 100%). My favorite thing was a bike tour by a local. He gave us the ultimate guide to Paris. He also shined a light on current Politics that are not shown in the limelight, I appreciated that. Mallory and I went dancing at this underground jazz club. Jazz will be a reoccurring thing with this trip; we love jazz. The Eiffel Tower took my breath away. The first time we saw it, we had to do a quadruple take, it seriously looked fake.
Second Stop: Barcelona, Spain
Vibrant, young hip city. My partner Kip loves FCB Barcelona and was so excited for me to be in this city. The Sagrada Familia is the most beautiful church I have ever set foot in. I am so lucky I can say this. A true wonder of the world. I cannot even imagine what it will look like once fully constructed. I visited Park Guell and went on a hike to overlook the whole city and the grand views from up there. We took a little boat cruise to overlook the city from the sea so pretty. We happened to be visiting during the Sant Joan festival so things were a little crazy, but we loved it. One night we just sat on the beach with constant fireworks for hours before going to a bumpin’ club for the night (well….it was pretty far into the morning by the time we went to sleep). At the club, we even met some people from New York, how small the world can be. Just plain walking around the old town of Barcelona was amazing. Such beautiful streets, shops, and alleyways.
Second Stop Continued: Montserrat, Spain
We took a day trip to Montserrat. We took a train, and then a tram up to the Montserrat. Montserrat was such a beautiful space in the clouds. We hiked through the mountains and took in the spectacular views. A kid’s choir was singing on the steps of the Montessori, so angelically. Great day trip spent here. A step away from the bustle of Barcelona to spend some time up in the holy mountains.
Third Stop: Valencia, Spain
My Grandfather was a Spanish teacher most of his life and had been to Spain countless times. He loved Valencia the most, so I was excited to see what he was talking about. His only request for me was to have Paella on the beach. So we did that, our first day, and man that is delicious. A crazy thing that happened in Valencia; Verizon had an international outage. That was us. Anyone using any kind of Verizon international plan, well was screwed. Maps, internet, and messaging are all not working, crazy. But hey, we adapt and overcome am I right? Old fashioned way. Real maps, using my prefrontal cortex to the MAX. We went and explored the old town and wow Valencia is just elegant. The plazas and tiling were gorgeous. I could see what my Grandpa was talking about.
Fourth Stop: Mallorca Island, Spain
My favorite. Hands down. A favorite stop on this whole trip. As you already know I am a nature lover, and Mallorca hit the sport. Every day our days consisted of hiking in the mountains, or along the coastal shore, down to sea coves, beach days, and exploring mountain towns. I loved it. I did a solo hike and met some local Mallorcans’ who I chatted with for a while, they were very kind and were impressed by how fast I was hiking and the route I chose. The sea coves were perfect to swim in. Sheltered from the harsher sea, taking a dip and then laying in the sand was quite nice. Usually, I am not much of a beach person really at, but Mallorca was special. We were able to rent a car and stayed with a lady named Dorothy from Scotland. She was just an angel on Earth. She had a labrador and it made me miss mine back home. Being able to drive across the island in an hour was so great. I convinced Mallory to do a coasteering tour with me, crazy. We were free climbing on wet limestone over the ocean. Something I had never even thought of trying. It was tiring, challenging, and very extensive. I enjoyed it, whenever I missed a hold I just fell into the sea, no biggie. It was a small mental hurdle to tell myself it was going to be okay to just fall in the sea and not be tied into a rope or with a crash pad 3 feet under me (like back in CO). That just made it all the more challenging. We also went cliff jumping during the tour. We jumped from around 30 feet. My nose got a good clean out 100%. At our place, we cooked every night and packed lunches during the day, I barely spent any money other than groceries which was refreshing. Mallorca has something for everyone. If you are a beach lover, you’re covered. An avid hiker like myself, look no further. A foodie/small-town explorer, plenty where that came from. Seriously Loved this stop so much, that I would love to visit again in the future and possibly do a thru-hike of the whole island. Not sure. We will see what the future brings.
Fifth Stop: Seville, Spain
This was our landing spot after the flight back from Mallorca to Valencia then a train ride from Valencia to Madrid, then a train from Madrid to Seville. It was quite a travel day. We got in a little later than hoped, but we made dinner and went out and explored a little. I had a friend who studied abroad here and gave me a full list of things to do with the 3 hours we had the next morning until our bus to Lagos at 10 am. We stopped by Cathedral and tried a classic cocktail like my friend said to. Wish I had more time here. Such walkable streets, beautiful and delicate architecture, and an extremely welcoming ambiance.
Sixth Stop: Lagos, Portugal
Lagos for us boiled down to Beaches, Bars, and more beaches and bars. Which is not a bad thing at all, do not worry we enjoyed our time at the beach and the bars. We also walked the whole boardwalk to view the cliffs and the sea beyond. WOW. If you have ever been to La Jolla, San Diego it reminded me of that kinda. The best thing we did was a kayak tour that took us to Ponta da Piedade. We weaved through the arches, sea caves, and along the shore. It was so beautiful I would have done that every day if I could. We also went on a Pub crawl through our hostel so our other half to the “beaches and bars” was complete.
Seventh Stop: Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon was great, no complaints. Our hostel was the best hostel I have ever stayed in and by now I have stayed in 20+. Lisbon was extremely walkable. They are known for their 7 hills so wear proper footwear and be ready to hike a little bit. Coming from Colorado I felt at home:) We went to another Jazz club here and it was amazing. It was a trio that worked very well musically together, and we so happened to go to another jazz bar the next night and IT WAS THE SAME TRIO. Hopefully, they didn’t think we were following them, oops. Lisbon had so much history I had no idea about; the earthquake of 1755 destroyed almost the whole city except the Alfama district, Fado and it’s origin, their dark history with antisemitism and so much more. So much to learn from everywhere, this city just fascinates me.
Last Stop: Porto, Portugal
This city’s architecture, layout, and skyline made it one of my favorites. I had the whole city mapped in my head after a day. The bridge that crosses over to the city of Gaia is incredible, with views for days. I tried some Port wine, and that stuff is dangerous. It is so sweet but so dangerous, my goodness, be careful. Porto has over 70 churches and is surrounded by a beautiful wall that was once served as protection by the Church. The cathedral served as a lookout and a guard of who/what was entering the port city. One night, I thought I was going to a jazz bar, it turned out to be a punk/rock concert. Loved it. We watched the sunsets from Jardin Moro and overlooked the whole skyline of Porto from across the river. So gorgeous.
Overall
I think I will take a break from Europe for a while. being now to 17 counties and 13 of them being in Europe it is time to try something new. This trip was a great stepping stone in building more confidence in my traveling skills, a time for introspection and personal growth along with amazing history learned, food devoured, clubs hit up, beaches laid upon, hikes hiked, and sites that were seen. Every trip I have gone on so far has taught me so many new things culturally, globally, and personally, and for that, I could not be more grateful.
