Pulling into Aveiro, the weather was kind of questionable. We were supposed to be spending the day on the beach, but it was gray and misty. It also smelled kind of bad, but that was because of the salt marshes. After getting past the salt marshes, we drove into the main part of Aveiro. It's known as the Venice of Portugal because of its canals. Beautiful....
Instead of being brown or stucco or the "Salamanca" stone, the buildings in Portugal were more American. Mostly white with colorful trim. However, they put really decorative tile on the fronts of their buildings. The tiles are beautiful and they make the town look really "kitsch-y".
Also, the streets were just very crowded but comfortable looking. The streets were so quiet and there were cats wandering around. This is weird, but it kind of reminded me of my grandparents' farm.
We were dropped off at our hotel and given an hour to get ready for a day at the beach- Costa Barro. By the time our bus came to take us back to the beach, the gray fog had disappeared, and the sun was out.
Before going, I was very aware of how strong the sun in Portugal is. Every person from my house who has gone for even a day has returned a lot darker and usually pretty sunburned. I, with my trusty bottle of SPF 50+ for babies, tried my best to avoid returning to Salamanca looking like a lobster. I was really vigilant and reapplied sunscreen every hour, but despite my best attempts the sun still got the best of me. After the first day, the backs of my legs were crimson (and they still are- very painful for sitting), and you could see where I had not been able to reach to put sunscreen on my back.
While we were on the beach on Saturday, I actually went into the ocean for a while. While there, I realized that the last time I swam in the ocean was when I was in Costa Rica 7 years ago. The wind in Portugal is strong so it was cold, but the waves were good, and we did some body surfing. In Aveiro, it is typical for people to use these things called "wind screens" on the beach which are very practical. We didn't have one, but the wind wasn't too terrible. Anyways, the beach is full of all these colorful umbrellas and windscreens.
Halfway through the day, we decided to get out of the sun for a while and eat some ice cream. Luiza and I tried this sundae of raspberry sorbet, banana ice cream, and whipped cream. The raspberry sorbet was amazing. The banana ice cream fell quite short though- it had the "fake" banana taste as well as real banana chunks in the ice cream. It was pretty terrible, but at least it looked amazing. :)
After returning from the beach Saturday night, we all showered and went out to dinner. Only 2 of the girls didn't come (as they went to see the new Harry Potter movie in English because Portugal doesn't dub their movies).
Lindsay, Luiza, and Me Before Dinner the First Night (you can kind of see how red I am)
After failed attempts at trying to find restaurants that could accommodate a vegetarian and a lactose-intolerant person, we finally ended up in a Chinese restaurant (to the other Lindsay's delight). I wouldn't say it was the most amazing food, but just to have something other than Spanish food was a nice break. The staff were really nice too and very accommodating to us despite the language barrier.
On Sunday morning, we woke up, went down for breakfast(provided by the hotel), and chatted for a while with the other girls. Lindsay, Luiza, and I went for a quick walk around the canals and through a few of the streets just to see what was up.
Finally, we returned to the hotel and were taken to the Costa Nueva- the second beach. As it turned out, Costa Nueva is really the same beach that we were on the day before, but a bit further out on the peninsula. We were dropped off on the side of the water where a lot of people go fishing. The houses of the fisherman are all decorated with stripes.
We weren't out on the beach for long before we all decided to get food. We were all hungry, and the wind was colder and stronger than the day before. After a long search for restaurants, we found a place that made pizzas. It took a while to be made, but it was worth the wait. After stuffing ourselves full of pizza we returned to the beach with a cheap windscreen that one of the other girls bought and better moods thanks to the food. I decided to tag along with Stacy, the lactose-intolerant girl, to a place that made burgers so she could eat too. Plus, I didn't need to be in the sun all day. We spent the rest of the day goofing off and reading on the beach. It was very relaxing.
This a church near the beach
The boardwalk, of course
Hanging out at the beach with Lindsay and Luiza
By the end of Day 2, my sunburn was definitely worse. At one point on Sunday, Lindsay asked me if I had put sunscreen on the back of my legs- which of course I did. She pointed out that you could see the outline of my fingers were I had applied sunscreen and missed the spots around it. I was not looking forward to our bus ride back.
We gathered up our stuff from the beach and headed back 30 minutes early to do some quick shopping and be ready. I was amused by this last trip with the travel agency because our tour guide was Violeta- the same guide we had for Madrid and Pamplona. When we went to Madrid with Violeta, I decided that I disliked her and that she was a horrible guide. When we went to Pamplona, I decided that she was just annoying. After Aveiro, I just decided that Violeta is a funny person who is a little bit scatterbrained. She is very nice, and after having our last tour guide Carmen yell at us for no reason, I decided that Violeta is much better. Despite her rambling, she just wanted us to enjoy Spain and Portugal and learn as many interesting things as possible. The trip back took about 5.5 hours because of traffic and required breaks, but at the end of it, Violeta told the whole bus how much she had enjoyed traveling with us. I think it was a perfect weekend overall.
Our group with Violeta- our notorious tour guide through Madrid, Pamplona, and Portugal.
Goodbye Portugal!
The Sunset on our way back
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