I was super blessed to have the opportunity to take five weeks and travel to Portugal and Italy in September and October. Though I didn't do a great job taking notes on my trip like I have in previous travels I will try my best to remember everything!
Joel and I unfortunately had to fly on separate flights because he had come from a work trip in Sydney and flew direct with Emirates, the most expensive and direct way from OZ to Europe. Though I lucked out with finding round trip flights and stopovers that weren't bad at all. I flew
Melbourne to Singapore (8 hours plus 4 hour stopover)
Singapore to Istanbul (12 hours plus 4 hour stopover)
Istanbul to Porto ( 5 hours)
Singapore airlines was my first stretch of flights and they absolutely lived up to their name, and the airport in Singapore does not disappoint. Wifi strong enough to make skype calls, butterfly pavilions, sunflower garden, pools, lounge chairs, lounge beds, fish ponds, the list goes on and on. I spent most of my layover checking out all the cool things they have to offer!
When I arrived in Porto, the North of Portugal, I took a train from Porto to Aveiro where one of Joel's Ultimate friends picked me up. Eva brought me to her place for a shower and then dropped me off to meet some of the Germans who were in town for the tournament as she had more preparation for the tournament to do. The German Ultimate players and I walked around nearly every corner of Aviero. We explored the Venice of Portugal, the canals, the salt mines, and the adorable little streets with beautifully tiles homes. Shortly after meeting up with the Germans, Pontus, a friend who lived in Melbourne but from Sweden, arrived. Reunion beers started, and the Friday night tournament dinner.
The Silver Coast Hat was a great tournament with a great environment, great people, and lots of fun games and a mini olympics after the first day of games. Followed by an evening of way too much food, and dessert, and a party where I was way too exhausted and had to go and sleep in the car waiting for the boys to leave!
Our French friend Ao who also used to live in Melbourne also joined the tournament. So it was the four of us catching up and having a lovely time. We met Joel's parents all for the first time that day. I wasn't really too nervous to meet them because I had met them over skype a few times and knew they were very kind. They took us out for some delicious steaks for lunch and had to pick something up in Aveiro then drove back to Soito, a 3 hour drive. After spending more time with Joels friends and seeing Aveiro, and Joel working a few days, we headed on a road trip with Pontus to Algarve. On the way down there, we did stop briefly in Lisbon, or Lisboa in Portuguse! We all know I have a big sweet tooth, but ohhh my those Pastel de Natas were hard to resist. We went to the most famous bakery of Pastel De Natas and pigged out a little bit.. I dont even want to think about the sugar calories we consumed that day! We also had Chok Frit, which is fried squid and was amazingly delicious, but again was stuffed to the brim!
Cristina, Joel's sister lives in Portimao, Algarve. It is in the south, and was my favorite part of the trip. The beach was absolutely stunning. Sadly the water was a little bit chilly to get in, but the weather was perfect for the beach. I had been missing the sunshine so bad, so it was amazing. We were always always eating at Cristina and Ricardo (her boyfriends) place! I was always so full...
One funny moment was eating dinner there, Pontus and Joel decided to both try and eat hot chilly peppers from Cristina's plants.. well lets say they both died a little bit, but the Portuguese more than the Swede! There was also a perfect event running, which was called a taste of Algarve or something. .You got a little passport book, then there were participating restaurants where you got one small little taster item, from the region of Algarve, and a drink (beer and wine included!) for 3 euros! We had started a bit late after finishing a cross fit class, so were furiously racing but it was absolutely wonderful. I need Joel here to remind me the names of all the amazing things we ate!
After visiting with Cristina and Ricardo for a few days it was time to go relax in the country! From Portimao to Soito on the train took us nearly 8 hours. I was not feeling well and the train was not very comfortable because there was no air circulation! When we finally arrived Maria de Deus had prepared an amazing dinner and some salad as I had asked because I was dying as none of the restaurant dishes ever came with veggies. Just rice and french fries! It was really fun to see a ton of pictures of Joel when he was a cute little kiddo, and hear stories from his parents. One evening we literally did the meetings of all meetings. Every 15 minutes or so we went to someone elses house in the town, and met a different member of Joel's family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, great uncles, etc. It was funny to just stop in so quickly but I guess they usually see them all the time. Soito is really small and quiet and close to the border with Spain. One day we cycled up a big hill, picked wild berries along the way, and found a geocache up at the top. Going nearly downhill the whole was a ton of fun, might have been worth all the uphill! We visited one of the oldest castles in the province, and the tallest mountain in Portugal, which Cristina had
cycled up a few months prior.
Joel's parents are absolutely lovely people, and awesome cooks. They cooked up some amazing things, and one of Joel's favorites, I have now adapted and cooked successfully a few times now. At times it was hard to communicate, or my brain got tired from doing my best to understand what they were talking about, or Joel would get lazy explaining things to me in English, it was still so much fun. I felt like my Portuguese had definitely improved at least some, but I still have a long ways to go!
From his parents house in Soito, we drove back to Aveiro for the birthday party of Joel's friend Sara. The following day was Patric and Anna's wedding. I had too much red wine at Sara's birthday party without any water and wasn't able to fully enjoy all the drinking festivities of the wedding but despite that it was a lot of fun. The wedding started with something they called the cheese meeting I believe.. Usually the bride and groom have a separate location to eat breakfast snacks and start the drinking. As Vizieu was a meeting place, the groom was there for a certain time, and then swapped with the bride. From there, we headed to the church. The church ceremony seemed really long, maybe because I didn't understand or maybe the lingering night before red wine? Who knows, anyways there was a church choir singing really long songs. The church choir sat in the front of the brides side of the church. Most of them very casually dressed, one with a child doing whatever he pleased. After the church ceremony, the couple walked outside and had ride thrown on them. Then the car parade began. A friend had fixed up a really old car and everyone followed from the church to the reception and accommodation area in a winery.. People were translating this place as a farm to me.. so I was expecting cows to be walking around. But it wasnt anything like that. haha. When we arrived there, more drinks were served and snacks. After a ton of photos, we then were seated at our table. The table was friends of Joel's from university. Two of his closest friends, and a few others that he knew. The food just never seemed to stop coming. The main meal felt
like 10 courses! It was really good. Dancing, more food, etc, etc... It pretty much doesn't end. Apparently this was a shorter wedding and we started at 10am and finished at 1am... There is even a clown/babysitter hired to help entertain kids. She looked dead at the end of the night, and I felt terrible for her! The really neat thing about the location was the hotel. It was completely made out of stone, except of course the furniture. But the walls, and even the ground were of the natural stone. There was breakfast the next morning so we got to see everyone who stayed there again including the bride and groom before we headed back to Aveiro.
In Aveiro, we stayed in an adorable airbnb place right in the middle of the city centre. Joel had to work a few more days so I just relaxed and enjoyed some chill time to myself and some trip planning for Italy! Joel and I both flew out. He flew back to Melbourne, and I flew to Rome.
I found things like groceries and alcohol to be extremely cheap, as well as apartment rent. Eating out wasn't as cheap as I would have thought but not bad. Train tickets were really expensive to me in comparison to all of the other life costs. Fuel and Tolls when traveling between cities is also a lot. To travel from Portimao, to Castel Branco, near Joel's parents was like 50 euros for 6 hours on the train or so.
I had the best time in Portugal and it was so much fun to meet all the people I had heard stories about from Joel and meet his sweet family. I cant wait to go back again soon! :)
Joel and I unfortunately had to fly on separate flights because he had come from a work trip in Sydney and flew direct with Emirates, the most expensive and direct way from OZ to Europe. Though I lucked out with finding round trip flights and stopovers that weren't bad at all. I flew
Melbourne to Singapore (8 hours plus 4 hour stopover)
Singapore to Istanbul (12 hours plus 4 hour stopover)
Istanbul to Porto ( 5 hours)
Singapore airlines was my first stretch of flights and they absolutely lived up to their name, and the airport in Singapore does not disappoint. Wifi strong enough to make skype calls, butterfly pavilions, sunflower garden, pools, lounge chairs, lounge beds, fish ponds, the list goes on and on. I spent most of my layover checking out all the cool things they have to offer!
When I arrived in Porto, the North of Portugal, I took a train from Porto to Aveiro where one of Joel's Ultimate friends picked me up. Eva brought me to her place for a shower and then dropped me off to meet some of the Germans who were in town for the tournament as she had more preparation for the tournament to do. The German Ultimate players and I walked around nearly every corner of Aviero. We explored the Venice of Portugal, the canals, the salt mines, and the adorable little streets with beautifully tiles homes. Shortly after meeting up with the Germans, Pontus, a friend who lived in Melbourne but from Sweden, arrived. Reunion beers started, and the Friday night tournament dinner.
The Silver Coast Hat was a great tournament with a great environment, great people, and lots of fun games and a mini olympics after the first day of games. Followed by an evening of way too much food, and dessert, and a party where I was way too exhausted and had to go and sleep in the car waiting for the boys to leave!
Our French friend Ao who also used to live in Melbourne also joined the tournament. So it was the four of us catching up and having a lovely time. We met Joel's parents all for the first time that day. I wasn't really too nervous to meet them because I had met them over skype a few times and knew they were very kind. They took us out for some delicious steaks for lunch and had to pick something up in Aveiro then drove back to Soito, a 3 hour drive. After spending more time with Joels friends and seeing Aveiro, and Joel working a few days, we headed on a road trip with Pontus to Algarve. On the way down there, we did stop briefly in Lisbon, or Lisboa in Portuguse! We all know I have a big sweet tooth, but ohhh my those Pastel de Natas were hard to resist. We went to the most famous bakery of Pastel De Natas and pigged out a little bit.. I dont even want to think about the sugar calories we consumed that day! We also had Chok Frit, which is fried squid and was amazingly delicious, but again was stuffed to the brim! 
Cristina, Joel's sister lives in Portimao, Algarve. It is in the south, and was my favorite part of the trip. The beach was absolutely stunning. Sadly the water was a little bit chilly to get in, but the weather was perfect for the beach. I had been missing the sunshine so bad, so it was amazing. We were always always eating at Cristina and Ricardo (her boyfriends) place! I was always so full...
One funny moment was eating dinner there, Pontus and Joel decided to both try and eat hot chilly peppers from Cristina's plants.. well lets say they both died a little bit, but the Portuguese more than the Swede! There was also a perfect event running, which was called a taste of Algarve or something. .You got a little passport book, then there were participating restaurants where you got one small little taster item, from the region of Algarve, and a drink (beer and wine included!) for 3 euros! We had started a bit late after finishing a cross fit class, so were furiously racing but it was absolutely wonderful. I need Joel here to remind me the names of all the amazing things we ate! 
After visiting with Cristina and Ricardo for a few days it was time to go relax in the country! From Portimao to Soito on the train took us nearly 8 hours. I was not feeling well and the train was not very comfortable because there was no air circulation! When we finally arrived Maria de Deus had prepared an amazing dinner and some salad as I had asked because I was dying as none of the restaurant dishes ever came with veggies. Just rice and french fries! It was really fun to see a ton of pictures of Joel when he was a cute little kiddo, and hear stories from his parents. One evening we literally did the meetings of all meetings. Every 15 minutes or so we went to someone elses house in the town, and met a different member of Joel's family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, great uncles, etc. It was funny to just stop in so quickly but I guess they usually see them all the time. Soito is really small and quiet and close to the border with Spain. One day we cycled up a big hill, picked wild berries along the way, and found a geocache up at the top. Going nearly downhill the whole was a ton of fun, might have been worth all the uphill! We visited one of the oldest castles in the province, and the tallest mountain in Portugal, which Cristina had 
cycled up a few months prior.
Joel's parents are absolutely lovely people, and awesome cooks. They cooked up some amazing things, and one of Joel's favorites, I have now adapted and cooked successfully a few times now. At times it was hard to communicate, or my brain got tired from doing my best to understand what they were talking about, or Joel would get lazy explaining things to me in English, it was still so much fun. I felt like my Portuguese had definitely improved at least some, but I still have a long ways to go!
From his parents house in Soito, we drove back to Aveiro for the birthday party of Joel's friend Sara. The following day was Patric and Anna's wedding. I had too much red wine at Sara's birthday party without any water and wasn't able to fully enjoy all the drinking festivities of the wedding but despite that it was a lot of fun. The wedding started with something they called the cheese meeting I believe.. Usually the bride and groom have a separate location to eat breakfast snacks and start the drinking. As Vizieu was a meeting place, the groom was there for a certain time, and then swapped with the bride. From there, we headed to the church. The church ceremony seemed really long, maybe because I didn't understand or maybe the lingering night before red wine? Who knows, anyways there was a church choir singing really long songs. The church choir sat in the front of the brides side of the church. Most of them very casually dressed, one with a child doing whatever he pleased. After the church ceremony, the couple walked outside and had ride thrown on them. Then the car parade began. A friend had fixed up a really old car and everyone followed from the church to the reception and accommodation area in a winery.. People were translating this place as a farm to me.. so I was expecting cows to be walking around. But it wasnt anything like that. haha. When we arrived there, more drinks were served and snacks. After a ton of photos, we then were seated at our table. The table was friends of Joel's from university. Two of his closest friends, and a few others that he knew. The food just never seemed to stop coming. The main meal felt like 10 courses! It was really good. Dancing, more food, etc, etc... It pretty much doesn't end. Apparently this was a shorter wedding and we started at 10am and finished at 1am... There is even a clown/babysitter hired to help entertain kids. She looked dead at the end of the night, and I felt terrible for her! The really neat thing about the location was the hotel. It was completely made out of stone, except of course the furniture. But the walls, and even the ground were of the natural stone. There was breakfast the next morning so we got to see everyone who stayed there again including the bride and groom before we headed back to Aveiro.
In Aveiro, we stayed in an adorable airbnb place right in the middle of the city centre. Joel had to work a few more days so I just relaxed and enjoyed some chill time to myself and some trip planning for Italy! Joel and I both flew out. He flew back to Melbourne, and I flew to Rome.I found things like groceries and alcohol to be extremely cheap, as well as apartment rent. Eating out wasn't as cheap as I would have thought but not bad. Train tickets were really expensive to me in comparison to all of the other life costs. Fuel and Tolls when traveling between cities is also a lot. To travel from Portimao, to Castel Branco, near Joel's parents was like 50 euros for 6 hours on the train or so.
I had the best time in Portugal and it was so much fun to meet all the people I had heard stories about from Joel and meet his sweet family. I cant wait to go back again soon! :)
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