Meeting the Neighbors (aka~Portugal)

Neighboring Spain, Portugal was definitely one of my “must-see” spots during my time abroad. After spending the last two weeks in busy cities (Copenhagen, Madrid & Sevilla) I was ready to find a place with a little more serenity. Like any normal student studying abroad in Europe, I spend most of my free time googling places, flights and hostels. By the end of my time abroad, I might just go into the travel agency business. Anyways, after a variety of Google searches, I came across a company that takes study abroad students to Sagres, Portugal, called Outdoor Sevilla. The organization’s mission is to bring students together to experience adventure in places less traveled. In my case, the southern tip of Portugal. The trip was leaving the next day so I texted 2 friends from DU, and we all spontaneously booked our trip and packed our bags.

Bus to Portugal

The bus ride wasn’t too long and was the perfect place to meet new people. Sitting in front of us, were three girls from another program, who we later decided to room with. The drive from Spain to Portugal was nothing spectacular, but once we hit the Portuguese coast, the word beautiful became an understatement. As stated in the itinerary, our first adventure was a hike. The hike took around 2 hours, but not because of length, but because of the copious amounts of pictures taken.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I don’t think any picture could ever capture how magical and majestic Sagres truly is. I still attempted to do so, though:

New friends.

The rest of the night was spent dinning at one of the few restaurants in the small village of less than 2,000 inhabitants and then checking out the local bar. It was the perfect setting to start meeting new people and socializing with other travelers seeking adventure in this outdoorsy town.

Saturday was nothing short of perfect. We woke early to eat our free continental breakfast and then 1/3 of the group headed to the bus to go rock climbing and cliff jumping. Due to the 10-15 foot swell, cliff jumping was canceled, but we still got to hike around and rock climb. It was my first time climbing outside and I ended up getting the second highest out of all the groups. I guess when I get back to Colorado, I might have to try to venture to the mountains to try climbing some more.

Selfies with Javi (Our tour guide)

The second half of Saturday was spent enjoying one of the most magnificent beaches I’ve ever visited. It was truly picturesque; the cliffs that surrounded the beach beckoned up to the sky, the sand was golden, like a perfectly roasted marshmallow, and the color of the sea and sky were vibrantly dazzling. I could have stayed there all day, watching the surfers, taking dips in the refreshing water and playing beach volleyball with other beach go-ers.

Chasing the last rays of sunlight from the perfect day, we all drove to the southern-most point of Portugal to watch the sunset. At one point in history, this point was thought to be the “end of the world” because the Americas had yet to be discovered.

Surfing was on the agenda for Sunday, even though the weather was calling for rain. As soon as we arrived at Praia de Marinha, another local beach, the rain started to pour down. We were told to strip down to our swimsuits and head for a tiny shack to get our wetsuits. At that moment, I knew I picked the perfect program as I saw all my new friends sprinting to the shack, not intimidated by the weather. These were my kind of people, fearless and adventure-seekers. With wetsuits on, we headed down the beach with our foam boards and met our Portuguese surfing instructors. There were around 35 students eager to learn and after some onshore instruction we were all unleashed to race to the water. Quickly, I learned that the surfing part was fairly easy, it was dodging the bobbing heads that created the challenge.

Well, that about wraps up my first weekend abroad in paradise. I’m happy I got my fix of fresh air, adrenaline rush and am coming “home” with some new friends that appreciate the outdoors as much as I do.