Cheers for following along from home. This is the ninth edition of the blogs that we put together to catalogue our travel! We hope to share some of the trip with all of you, and in turn have writing we can go back and read when we’re eventually back home.

We left off on a ferry heading across the strait of Gibraltar, from Tangier in Morocco to Tarifa in Spain. The crossing was just about an hour long - a little choppy, but otherwise a quick and easy trip!

Tarifa & Cadiz

We arrived in Tarifa some time around midday, to a windy but still pretty warm Spanish afternoon. Our journey still had a couple of hours in it, so we found a pub for a beer and some tapas as we waited for our bus up the coast to Cádiz - an ancient port city in Andalusia and our destination for the next couple of days. After a good feed of patatas bravas and a couple of beers we hit the road, with the bus journey taking an hour or so.

Upon arriving in Cádiz we realised we had a bit of a walk ahead of us, twenty-something minutes through old looking alleyways crowded with tourists. We got settled in to our AirBnB and began thinking about dinner, but what we hadn’t really considered was the fact that the Spanish people love a good siesta. As it turns out, the people of Cádiz take this mid-afternoon break very seriously, with places closing around 3pm and not opening again until 8-9pm. Being knackered from an early morning and loads of transit we made do with a trip to a supermarket, picking up some essentials like a little bit of white sherry, and all the ingredients needed to make a couple of serranito - a sandwich from Andalusia.

Cádiz, as well as being known as an ancient port city, is also a popular Spanish tourist spot - favoured for it’s sun, sand and seafood. After a wander around the city via a few landmark buildings and plazas we found a spot on the beach and hung out in the sun for a while. This all made for a pretty relaxing and easy day, a contrast to the previous week or so in the all-go cultural immersion of Morocco.

Our time in Cádiz came to a close, with our next stop being Seville. With a bit of time to kill, we walked most of the way over to the train station and found somewhere comfy to sit. Baylee indulged in a spot of shopping, while Jamie minded the bags and had a surprisingly good coffee from McDonalds.

Seville

We hopped on a train and made it to Seville, arriving mid-afternoon into a blazing hot day with quite a walk ahead of us to make it to our accommodation - a hostel where we’d booked a private room. Not wanting to get heatstroke, we opted for an Uber instead, dropping us right outside where we needed to go.

Seville is the capital of Andalusia, and aside from being full of some incredible history, it’s known for its rich cultural, culinary and nightlife scenes. Our accommodation staff were fantastic at giving us a run-down of the historical aspects of things when we checked in, and had organised a free group excursion for us in the evening to cover off the other bits! At 7pm we set off as a group to a tapas bar, where we got a choice of two dishes and a drink for 10 euro. We ended up getting different items off the menu, but everything was delicious. The next stop after dinner was a flamenco show, with free entry if you bought a drink. This was a pretty interesting watch, but with Baylee having a history of dancing she was a bit perplexed by the untimed, unrhythmic nature of the stomping and hair flicking. Our last stop for the night was a bar under the Setas de Seville - the largest wooden structure in the world. We left the group as they tended towards clubbing spots, and got some shuteye in advance of a day of exploring the historical areas of the city.

The next day we’d planned a walking trip around the city to check out the historical side of things. What we hadn’t prepared for was the heat - turns out, it still gets pretty hot in October! After a spot of brekky and a coffee from a specialty coffee shop we got to walking, only for it to reach close to 40 degrees celsius an hour or so later. The sights were still incredible, and well worth the effort to see, but having not booked timed entry tickets to some things we weren’t able to cover off all the UNESCO World Heritage sites the city had to offer. We ended our afternoon with a late lunch and a wander around the shopping streets, before spending some time cooling down in our room with the AC.

That night also happened to be the night the All Blacks were playing their second to last pool match in the Rugby World Cup against Italy, and we’d found an Irish pub to watch it in. Arriving half an hour early, we found a seat amongst a growing sea of kiwis in All Blacks jerseys, and settled in for dinner and a few drinks. The atmosphere at the pub was great in the first half, but died down as it became clear Italy didn’t have a chance. The Italian fella who blocked a good chunk of Jamie’s view made tracks during halftime, which was probably a good shout.

We checked out of the hostel the following morning, got a spot of breakfast, then headed out to the airport. We’d arrived a few hours early for our flight under the impression we’d be able to check in, drop our bags, and have a leisurely hour or so past security waiting for our flight. Unfortunately RyanAir had different ideas, with five departing flights scheduled within an hour of each other. We queued for a time before being told we couldn’t queue yet as check in hadn’t opened for us, sat for a bit, then rejoined the queue which had by then reached an hour long. After some minor incidents going through security (half-full water bottle, whoops), we made it to departures with just minutes to spare before our plane departed. Not a great experience, but we left in time for our short and comfortable flight to Portugal.

Porto

We landed in Porto, collected our bags, and made for the light rail for a trip in to the city centre. Getting off at one of the major stations in the city, we wandered down the hill and through town to meet up with our host and get access to our AirBnB. Seeing as we had a few days in the city, we opted for a laid back afternoon involving a trip to the supermarket for dinner and breakfast supplies, and that being about it. We also managed to get a four pack of Pastel de Nata, these delicious Portuguese custard tarts, which marked the first of many to be consumed during our trip through Portugal.

Our first full day in Porto saw us walking around the city centre and across Luis I bridge, a large bridge spanning the Duoro river. Our route took us past quite a few cool looking cathedrals and along a stretch of river known as the home of most large commercial port producers, such as Sandeman. We looked around for a spot for lunch, but unfortunately what we hadn’t realised is that most places are closed on Sundays! Instead we headed back for a quiet afternoon doing some trip planning, paired with some port tasting bottles and some snacks. Jamie made the hike up the hill to Fábrica da Nata to score his daily helping of Pastel de Nata, which ended up being far better than the supermarket ones.

We started our second full day in Porto with a food and wine tour, something we’ve been trying to do in most countries we visit to get a taste of traditional cuisine. The walking tour took us past many of the places we’d walked the previous day, stopping along the way for tasters of all manner of things: more pastel de nata with espresso, codfish cakes with vinho verde (green wine, often dry and white, and always drunk soon after fermentation - 3-6 months), cured meats and weird cheeses with red wine, bifana (classic pork sandwich) with beer, topped off with a port tasting from small producers by the river. Although it sounds like a lot, we were actually kinda hungry afterwards, so found a snack, did a spot of souvenir shopping, and looked around for a place to go for dinner. We ended up at a very well known local chain called Brasão, where Jamie attempted to eat another local delicacy - Francesinha. This cheese covered meat sandwich was absolutely massive, but he persevered and got it done.

After a well needed sleep post-food coma we checked out and made our way to the station for a train ride to Lisbon, and of course the compulsory pastel de nata while waiting for our connection.

Lisbon

Our train got into Lisbon, ending at Santa Apolónia station - a beautiful art-deco-esque station and a taster for things to come. A taxi ride up the hill and a short wait later and we were into our accommodation, another AirBnB in an apartment building. We settled in and headed straight back out for some errands that needed running - Baylee off to the supermarket for dinner ingredients, and Jamie off to the doctors to get some meds for a stomach bug he’d probably picked up all the way back in Morocco.

The next day was much the same as what we always do when in a new city, filled with walking around and seeing the sights. We wandered through the old suburb of Alfama past trams and old cathedrals, down to Praça do Comércio - one of the largest plazas in Europe at a whopping 30,000m2, and then along the waterfront and all the way out to a spot called LxFactory - an arty place for food and shopping. Having at this point clocked up more than 10km of walking, we opted to not continue out to Torre de Belém and instead save our energy for the next day - a trip out to Sintra.

Sintra is a town north of Lisbon, full of gardens and castles - the former home for the Portuguese monarchy. A short train ride from the city got us there, where we quickly stopped for lunch before heading up the picturesque main road to one of the many castles in the area. This castle had been preserved more-or-less how it was left by the previous owners, and was great for learning a bit about the area. Turns out, it’s one of the oldest areas of Portugal - archaeological findings date occupation of the area to a staggering 5th millennium BC - and also one of the wealthiest as a home for kings, queens and politicians.

Following the castle visit we checked out the town, getting a taster of Ginja (sour cherry liqueur) in a chocolate cup and visiting a bunch of artsy shops. Not wanting to spend loads of money we skipped on the Moorish Palace and headed back to Lisbon for a look around the main shopping streets and a bite to eat for dinner.

Our last night in Portugal was an early one, as our flight to Athens the next day departed at 6:10am! We booked a taxi for 3:30am and got straight to sleep. The airport experience was far less eventful than that in Seville, but we still ended up getting final called and had to fast-walk to the gate thanks to EasyJets early boarding policy.

Back again soon..

Our brief, week and a bit long excursion through Spain (again) and Portugal was jam packed with vibrant, ancient cities, and the best food and drink one could hope for. We definitely feel like we could have spent more time in Portugal, barely scratching the surface with our travel through the two main cities, and I’m sure we’ll be back.

We ended up having a pretty busy month since leaving Portugal so this blog was a little bit later than anticipated! We’ve just finished a month long trip through Greece and Italy alongside Baylee’s family, so our next blog will include some special guests, John, Karen and Hannah, who we met up with on our second day in the Greek capital of Athens. Stay tuned, a the next blog will be just around the corner!

Tchau (ciao but in Portuguese - it sounds the same),

Jamie & Baylee