Through My Eyes: Two week Spring Break in Portugal & Spain!

Hello family and friends! I hope everyone is doing well and the weather wherever you are is getting warmer. It definitely is beautiful here in Brussels which made coming back from break a bit easier to do. I'm not going to lie though, Portugal is an incredible country. Early on Sunday April 17th my friends Lauren (a fellow 1st grade teacher), Kat (a Middle School Math teacher), and I headed out on our two week adventure. We arrived in Lisbon completely exhausted after an early 7 AM flight. However, after being dropped off in the middle of this totally amazing city and a cup of coffee later we were off exploring. Over those few days in Lisbon we went from one end of the city to another, stopping along the way at all of the major attractions. One night we went to a traditional Fado (it's a type of live Portuguese music) dinner, which we learned can be hours and hours long. Once they start playing and singing they don't serve anyone until they're finished about 30 minutes later. Then after about a 10 minute break they start singing again. It was cool to see how this family ran the place. The mom, dad, son, and even grandfather all sang at one point!

After 3 days in Lisbon we headed back to the airport and picked up the car that we rented for the rest of the trip. I think that renting that car was one of the best things we could have done, honestly. We saw SO many cities that I would have never gone to without it. Plus, we even got to stop at some unexpected sites (like a National Forest and a Monastery that was also a Unesco World Heritage Site) and stay in places up in the mountains. While in the Northern and Central regions of Portugal we were able to see the towns of Obidos, Sintra, Batalha, Coimbra, Bucaco & Evora. Some of the highlights in this region were definitely the Pena Palace in Sintra, the oldest University in Coimbra, and that National Forest in Bucaco.

From Evora we made our way South to Seville, Spain for Easter weekend. What a cool city! Plus, it was fun to be there over Easter and see all of the parades and learn about traditions in a different country. No bunny there, that's for sure! Seville is also the home to the World's Third Largest Cathedral, which is huge and incredible!

Finally, for the last portion of the trip we headed down to Southern Portugal for some beach time. Not only was the water a beautiful and insane blue, but the rock formations and caves surrounding the beaches were so cool! At the place we stayed in Lagos (which definitely had the best beaches) we had a beautiful balcony that overlooked the water and led out to hiking trails that took you through these rock formations for some breathtaking views. It felt almost unreal to wake up and see such a beautiful place.

Of course now I'm back to work. It was fun to see the kids on Monday and they were all excited to tell me all about their breaks, which is always pretty cute. We're now in the last stretch before the end of the year is here. I can't even believe how fast it's going! Plus, it's going to be jam packed with assessments, report card writing, field trips, etc. until the end of the year now. Then before I know it on June 21st (48 more days) my parents will be IN Belgium and I'll be finishing school on the 24th. Also, for those of you who are wondering, I'll be moving home on July 8th after traveling for a few weeks with my parents. And yes, I would love to see all of you lovely people that I've been missing this year :)

Here are some photos from my trip and the links to see my facebook albums for more photos:
Lisbon
Northern/Central Portugal & Seville, Spain
Southern Portugal