We're on Holiday!

First off: Dad I screwed up your travel itinerary for me. Edes informed me on Tuesday that her flight out of Madrid wasn't until the 2nd, so we had an extra day in Lagos!! Which is great because there was just much to much to see that we hadn't gotten to. We were very motivated travelers and had the "sleep when your dead" mantra in mind so we could cram as much in as possible... however, our plans were slightly altered when we woke up Wednesday morning went to the bathroom (through the living room where people were watching the tele) and said "good morning" (only polite)... "good morning? It's 1:30.. but nice try!" 1:30? Yup. We slightly overslept our 9:30 intentions- just a wee bit as our new scottish mate would say. My rebuttal:  we're on holiday, which is her excuse for absolutely everything.

So instead of doing our early morning cliff hike, we cut that short to a nice walk along the cliffs and beaches. No more cliff jumping though.. guess no one is as adventurous as us! We are pretty crazy americans though. After a nice swim at the beach we decided to use the public fountains to rinse off. Not like public fountains that you throw pennies in, but the shooting fountains that kids run around in naked. And there certainly were a fair share of little naked kiddies running around in their underwear.. and then me and Edes in our bakinis. Just another interesting moment that could have made the front page of the local paper for us. It was actually quite nice, the water was really warm and it had great water pressure. I was hesitant to run back to the hostel and grab my shampoo! And since we were soaking wet we didn't put our clothes back on, but yet didn't want to walk back through town in our bakinis and towels. ( I know we were running through fountains with the kids but we have a least the slightest bit of decency to walk around town half naked). So as a result Edie put her very minimalist towel design techniques to use to wrap our towels around us like sarongs. "We use to do this as kids all the time and they would just look like dresses" she says. Well, now that we are grown, these towels wrapped like sarongs don't quite fit the same way. Quite a scene nonetheless.

We then raced back to the hostel for dinner. A very early dinner at that, our first dinner before 21:00 (9 pm), but we were told to get there by 7 to get a seat because the que fills up quickly. And boy they weren't kidding! By the time we had finished our traditional Portugese dinner of pork & clams and melon & ham (a european starter) the que was out the door, down the street. As if Indiana Jones had just opened at Disney Land and it was grand opening. And the crazy thing is people will actually wait in this line! Another American flaw with our lack of patience I suppose. It was great having Emily around (a Scottish gal that stayed in the same hostel) to give us all of the pointers on European etiquette. For example, it is frowned upon to request samples at ice cream places.. who knew!? You also are not supposed to ask to "take-away" your food if you do not finish your meal in the restaurant.

I did not carry the same self control as the previous night, and was the fist in line for gelato even after our extremely filling meal. We then walked around the town a little bit and met up with a group from our hostel at a local bar for a few drinks. Finally made it out to experience the night life! Great trip to Lagos.. for sure made the top of the charts. Definitely a young travelers destination as the beach city is populated with college aged students- never saw anyone over the age of 50. A very bohemian- everyone-has-dreads-kind-of-place.

After an excruciating wake up call at 5 am, Edes and I packed and walked our luggage through the city to the bus station. More like stampeded through the city with our luggage being wheeled over the un-even cobblestones (Very comparable to Sherman's March). Early morning bus put us into Sevilla around noon just enough time to spend 2 hours trying to figure out luggage storage in spanish. Check! So 4 hours for lunch, dinner and dessert! Pssh! Easy as pie.. or should I say Portugese pudding! With yet another traditional Portugese dish of an array of sausages and meets with bread and cheese we finished up our meal at the neighboring restaurant where they had flamenco taking place. We pretty much had a private show since we ate around 4ish which is when siesta is finishing up. We took advantage and enjoyed our last meal together with cappuccinos and Portugese pudding. We then checked the time and had 1 hour before my train! Quickly ran to the cathedral and spent just enough time there taking pictures- so as to not feel as guilty when purchasing a post card and saying "oh yeah mum and dad, I went here as well". Seven hours in Sevilla was a very short amount of time.. so most definitely need to make it back at some point.

I am now sitting on my bed in Granada in my very skinny, cute but quaint hotel single. I keep peering at the shower and stop myself from drooling at the thought of getting a decent wash and condition- to keep those Lagos dreads from forming! Tackling the city with Sum and Ash tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Oh and p.s.
I went through and capitalized for you mom :)