Most Memorable Portugal Trip: 24-31, Dec, 2007

Well, it began when i visited my friends in Bremen one weekend in the end of October, 2007, when an idea of having a holiday trip sprout out. I left Bremen for Oberhausen dreaming all about the vacation we may be planning for the Christmas. Different choices, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and Egypt. I went for work on Monday and then i was bombed with a news that i am expected to go to Sweden for onsite. I could not no, though i had a choice. I know it will be tough, new project, new country, and chilling weather, yet, i did not want my boss lose confidence of me. I informed my friends, that i had to go to Sweden and their assurance that they shall sort out the Holidays stuff has relieved me. It was quite hectic in Sweden, yet, i was happy for i know i will have a wonderful vacation in the end as i totally trust my friends. After a overhaul of all the options, we decided to visit Portugal for Christmas vacation. I was so excited with the option though somewhere in my heart, i was little skeptical about the climate in December in Portugal, yet i was quite happy as i know i will be having wonderful time with my friends. Thanks to them for organizing a wonderful dream vacation for me.

I returned from Sweden on 21.12 late-night and i left for Bremen on 23.12 after all the preparations for the holidays, though i had only a day for me to do so. I was so excited to meet my friends after two months in Bremen. We had a good gapshup and did all the final planing for the trip.

24.12.2007: The day began quite early, as we had to travel all the way to Hamburg to take the Air Berlin Flight to Lisbon. We arrived at Hamburg Airport well before the time. We checked in our baggage and headed to a cafeteria for the breakfast. We started rolling our cameras already. Flashes went in different poses until we boarded the flight. Since we are 4, we were given seats in a single row (ofcourse requested). The exciting journey has began. This flight was bound to Palma Mallorca, Spain, where we have to change to another for Lisbon. We tried to capture the beautiful aerial views of Alps from the windows of the flight. It was quite a clear sky. We were hoping for the same in Portugal. We arrived at Palma Mallorca after a two and half hours of flight journey. We had a lunch there and took our connecting flight to Lisbon by Nikki Airlines. Hmm! the flight had a quite cute and young air-hostesses.
We reached Lisbon and booked our car and started our journey towards the hotel. We had a tough time finding our hotel though we relied a lot on Navigation system to direct us there. The confusing lanes of the Lisbon roads always prompted us to take the wrong lanes. Atlast we ended up reaching somewhere near our hotel, yet we do not know how to approach hotel. After a brief or i should say long search, we traced our hotel. We parked our car and checked in the hotel.
Hotel was quite good for that price. We took some rest and refreshed ourselves to embark on the journey to discover the land which belongs to Vasco Da Gama. In 1400 he explored India. Well, we did not have any intentions to take away anything from these Portugese. We picked our cameras and took a tube to the centre of Lisbon. Flashed on everything we felt impressing unware of the darkness. Yet, we managed to have fun and capture some good locations. 'Docas', a very well known in Portugal for restaurants and night life. We were quite excited too. Ofcourse we were quite hungry then. We hired a taxi and set for Dacau. Taxi, a special mention, in Portugal, is quite cheaper and we were amazed with the passion the driver riding us to Docas. We reached there in no-time and just for 4 euros, to find out that it is closed for Christmas holidays. Damn, nobody did tell us. We were quite hungry. We had some snaps there and set our journey back. We could not find taxi anywhere. We had to walk a long way until we found a taxi at the traffic signal. When we reached the city centre, the restaurants were closed too. We remembered that there is a restaurant close to our hotel so then we quickly hired a cab and drove there as fast as we can before it gets closed too. Thankfully it was open. It looked quite traditional. We ordered 'some strange food' we never heard of. Fact is that we had not any choice too. Somehow we managed to eat what we ordered and then went back to hotel walking and had a good night sleep after an adventurous first day in Lisbon.

25.12.2007: Merry Christmas! We began the day with a good breakfast at the hotel. We hired a cab and set for Belem district of Lisbon. Cab driver dropped us at Jeronimos Monastery. It was at this hermitage, that Vasco Da Gama and his men spent time praying before departing for India in 1497. Since it was a holiday, it was closed. We enjoyed its splendor from outside and posed for some funky snaps. Then, we saw the hoarding for Dakar Rally. Hey! you might well know, what Dakar Rally is! We did leave no option to click the stage from where the rally will be hoisted off! Then we walked towards Belem tower making all sorts of fun with amateur photography. When we reached Belem, I was so full, that i needed to piss somewhere. Thankfully, i found a toilet, but to my horror, it was locked. I had no choice to pee on the banks of the great Tagus River. Come on !! Don't laugh it is no fun!! Belem Tower was built to commemorate the expedition of Vasco Da Gama to India. And it resembles a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon. We enjoyed the beautiful views of the Vasco Da Gama bridge from here and took lots of pictures. We did some shopping of souvenirs.
Then we walked towards the victory tower and then hired a cab and headed to Castelo Sao Jorge (Castle of Saint George). It is built on the highest hill of the city of Lisbon in 2nd Century B.C. Wow! Thats cool! It is from B.Cs yaar!!!

We had loads of fun! Though we could not enjoy the castle much and it did not appeal that much when we actually in it than to viewing it from the distance. But we enjoyed the panaromic view of the Lisbon city from the castle. Hey! we did some silly things here! Actually we were tired, so we did all crazy things here! We sat on the cannon and posed for the picture, the cannon was slippery and i was sitting on the top and two of my other friends sat behind me. We were holding each other, since it was so slippery and slant, we all were slipping down. It was tough to hold our bases on it till our friend manage to take the picture. It was real fun!! After exploring the whole Castle, we boarded a mini-bus which sloped down the hill and dropped us down the hill. Hungry! Hungry! was the cry from everyone. We rushed in search of a restaurant and fortunately, we found an Indian Restaurant. After savoring the delicious Indian food, we set towards our hotel. And then we embarked our car which we left parking at the hotel and started towards the Algarve.
Wait!!! You may be wondering, why we have not used the car though we hired one from Airport for the entire journey. Dude!! We were afraid of getting lost in crazy Portugal traffic and roads of Lisbon. We preferred to use Public transport to save time so that we can enjoy more.
Our journey for Algarve began around 5pm. The start was not so good, we got so confused with the Navi, that it took us 1 hour to find the Highway. Atlast, we managed and by the way, we traveled onto the famous 'The Ponte 25 de Abril' bridge (25 th April Bridge), one of the sixteenth largest suspension bridge in the world inaugurated in 1966. It was an amazing sight. We listened to Bollywood music all the way to Alvor of the Algarve. Somehow, without any difficulty we managed to reach Alvor. By the way one funny thing happened on our way to Alvor. The battery of the Navi was dying and nobody knows where the charging point is in the car. Somehow fortunately enough, one of our great friends discovered it. After reaching Alvor, we went to Clube Bismarck (Bismarck Club) where we have put up for the rest of our stay in Portugal. We got a nice Apartment with all the facilities. But there was no lock to the toilet. So we came to a solution that we will declare to everybody before we use the toilet. We got refreshed and hired a cab and went to an Indian Restaurant for dinner. Made good gapshup recalling all our incidents in Lisbon. Went back to Apartment and had a good night sleep.

26.12.2007: Wow! It was a great morning. I went along with one of my friends to Alvor Center to buy something for breakfast. Alvor is so small that while walking in that pleasant morning, quite sunny and warm, we reached the end of Alvor. It is nothing but the great Atlantic Ocean. I was jumping all over when i saw the beautiful sea. We decided that we will come later. So we bought some stuffs for breakfast and cooking later. After a relaxing breakfast, we planned to go to Portimao. We went to Partimao's Pria da Rocha (Beach of Rocks).
It was wondeful! I was spell bound by its scenic beauty. I felt like dancing to the tunes of bollywood song. We climbed onto the rocky bay laid in the water and posed for pictures.
We spent quite sometime there enjoying the beauty of nature. We somehow managed to climb the rocky bay, but while going back there were high tides. We had to remove our shoes and wade thru the waters to go onto the beach.
Then, we went to the Partimao city hunting for any Indian shop to buy some groceries there. Unfortunately, we could not find any. It was already Noon and hunger carved in again. We went to a Brazilian restaurant. We ordered some strange food. But they took hell lot of time to serve the food. Thou after a long waiting we got this:
Hmm! Yummy!!!! Grilled Prawns!!!!!!!
We shopped the grocery items for rest of our stay and loaded in the car and then we went to Continente, the shopping mall of Portimao. We visited some shops and then decided to watch Golden Compass movie. Hey!! We were dying to watch an English movie in the theater. It is hard to find one in Germany. Had our dinner in Pizza Hut and then enjoyed the movie, thou it was not as good as expected but for the only reason that it was in English. Went back to Apartment and decided to play cards. One of our friends taught us how to play Poker and we played Poker for an hour and slept.

27.12.2007: On 27th we decided to have a peaceful morning without traveling much. So we went to Alvor beach. We spent the whole morning at the beach playing cards, walking on the beach, collecting shells, making crazy poses for the pictures, and playing in the water.
We took lots of pictures jumping in the air. It was very relaxing and happy time there. Indeed, i tried my hands on photography with this picture:
Then we had some refreshments at the beach cafe and set towards Albufeira. We roamed around in the city center and went to the beach. But did not spend much time here. It was a nice town but flocked with English people. We had Chicken Piri Piri here. It was something similar to Grilled Chicken but a bit spicy.
We then set for our next destination Silves. Journey to Silves was good. It is not bordering the Ocean. Silves was once the capital of Kingdom of Algarve. It stands on a hill and it has a history which dates back to 1000 B.C. There are some remains of the old Castle.
And also there is an Archaeological Museum where one can find the locally discovered items, some of them dating back to Stone Age.
The day ended in cooking a nice supper and having funny rounds of Poker.

28.12.2007: Our next destination was Faro, the capital of Algarve. It began with funny incident where I asked a Kiosk keeper (beautiful Portugese girl) the way to Faro Tourist Information. She replied to me in Portugese knowing that I cannot understand or speak Portugese. Despite that I nodded for everything. One of my friend who accompanied me was awed. Then he asked me if understood everything. Then I told him yes! He was shocked. Infact, i understood most of it as she was trying to tell me to go to the City Townhall with Arches which I have seen before asking that Portugese girl the way. So somehow i deciphered what she was telling! Intelligent ya!! But somehow my friends started teasing me that I can understand Portugese and they used to push me everywhere. Hmm!! But I liked Portugese language :-)
Faro was a very nice city, a little modern but with its historic flavors. We roamed around the city, to explore its historic sites.
Faro Cathedral:We walked into the old streets of Faro.We posed at Faro Marina.
Then we tried our hands on Photography taking snaps with different modes and colors like Sepia etc. We had our lunch at Marina restaurant and then we strolled in the shopping streets. Bought some Souvenirs. Then we headed towards famous Faro beach. It was away from the city. We had a great fun at the beach. We did all crazy things. We played with the high tides. We played in the sand.
We stayed there to experience the romantic sunset. It was amazing. Some of our friends tried their hands on photography by capturing sunset in different angles. Yet, it left an everlasting impression on our hearts. I think I have not enjoyed a sunset like this before. I have no words to describe its splendor. Wait!! I sound like too romantic now! Dude!! It's just a way to vent my thoughts off to express how much I enjoyed it!!
Hey!! there is a Chapel of Bones in Faro. We missed it. When you visit Faro, don't forget to visit it. It is quite scary but it is very special.
We relied on Navi to drive us back to Alvor. We cooked a nice supper and savored it to the full and we did not play poker today. But we played Remmy. Again, I did not know how to play. I was taught. We had lots of fun playing Remmy as it was a little strange for the newbies.

29.12.2007: We planned to visit Sagres and Lagos. On our way, we stopped at the Alvor Muncipal Airport to have a look at Para-gliding. We wanted to try tandem diving as none of us have any experience in para-diving. We approached the information center to know that it was little expensive than what we expected. It would have been life time experience to dive from a height of 3600 metres, yet we felt our pockets are already becoming lighter, so we just enjoyed others doing it.After a while we started for Sagres, the most South-West point of Europe, known as Cape St. Vincent. We had to drive a long way leaving behind many vine yards, Orange Farms and small villages on either sides of the road.
By the way, there is a interesting Speed limit technique being used in Portugal. You can find Traffic signals on the roads every now and then and if you cross one traffic signal beyond the speed limit specified, you would be shown the red light at the next. Interesting ya!! So mind your speed always, otherwise you will be shown red lights all the way.
After collecting the information from Tourist Info at Sagres, we started towards one of the numerous cliffs you find here. The plant-life is unique here adding interest to the walking on the cliff top. It was a perfect day with only light breeze and plenty of sun shining through the breaking cloud, so it was difficult to believe why the plant-life is so low-lying, but seems like the usual gale force winds you find here shall explain it. Fortunately, it was a perfect day for us to wander around explore these cliffs. We left no choice to capture all the angles of these beautiful cliffs. There is a fort on one of the cliffs which was used as a Navy College during 1400s to train all those world adventurers. We were expecting a Museum or like there, but you can find a small Chapel where voyagers offered their pre-voyage services and the giant pebble wind compass. Lots of fishermen sitting on the edges of the cliffs, throwing their lines approx. 60 meters down the cliffs and waiting for their bites can be a treat for the visitors. But I wondered, isn't it much dangerous. Yet, we left it to them.
Then we moved towards the famous Light House of the most westerly point of Europe. Unfortunately, it was closed. This point seems to be popular among Germans. You can find lots of Germans, drinking beer and savoring sausages from a opportunely located 'Bratwurst' stand. We found a memorial stone which mourns the death of a German and his friend by falling down the cliff from this point. And this memorial warns all the visitors not to go close to the cliff's edges. We also savored our chicken rice which we carried along with us enjoying the eternal beauty offered by this cliffs and the great Atlantic Ocean whilst watching the fisherman waiting for their bites. There was a beach too but we skipped the beaches for that day. By the way I posed with a Cowboy hat which turned to be one of the best shots of mine.
We set our Navi to lead us to Lagos our next destination. We went to Ponte da Piedade (Mercy Point). It did not appeal that much as it did in the postcards. We refreshed here by having a coffee and enjoying watching Portuguese children disobeying their parents in peeking over this cliff. Children are children, the more you say no to them, the more they do it. But it is fun! Children fill our lives with happiness. I forgot all my tiredness and tardiness of the day when i watched them playing and enjoying themselves. I wished i should have childhood again. No worries, no tensions!!!
Lagos was very important during 15th Century period of Portuguese explorations of the world. After traveling through narrow lanes with highs and lows of the old city of Lagos, we embarked onto the Vasco Da Gama road bordering the Ocean. We stopped at Ponte Da Bandeira. This squat fort guards the entrance of the harbor. The terrace offers the splendid view on the town, beach and the harbor. We spent the whole evening there, watching the boats entering and leaving the harbor. We enjoyed the beautiful sunset and tried to capture along with the passing fishermen boats in our cameras. Well those pictures turned out to be masterpieces!!!
Then we drove to Portimao Continente Shopping Mall to do some shopping. Then we drove back to the Alvor, cooked our supper and spent rest of the day recalling all the crazy things we did in the day by viewing the pictures.

30.12.2007: The last day of our stay in Algarve. So we decided to make it more relaxing. So we planned to spend time on the other side of Alvor beach. We packed our food stuffs, a ball to play on the beach and shorts and Ts. We drove to Alvor beach and looked for a comfortable and warm place for us to arrange our things. Then we dressed into our beach wears. We played Beach Volley Ball with all the diving things. It was lot of fun. Soon we were tired due to scorching sun. Friends of mine went into the water, I restrained myself from the water as I was feeling a little uneasy that day. May be because, I was too tired after all those 6 days of explorations or may be because it was the last day of vacation. Then we had our lunch which we carried along with us. After relaxing for a while in the sun, then we played cards and football. At around 5pm we started towards our Apartment as it was already getting a little colder. We were full of sand, so we all took a nice warm shower. We thought we shall go for a walk into Alvor Town. Then we strolled into the little town of Alvor checking at the restaurants we find in the way if they serve any crabs. Returned home and packed our laundries so that we do not forget anything next day. Then we cooked the rest overs we bought and had a relaxing supper without any 'crabs'. We decided to go to bed early so that we can get up early the next day. Everybody looked tired and little gloomy too as the vacation has almost ended.

31.12.2007: The farewell day. We got up early, had a shower and breakfast and then left the apartment. It was a little cloudy. May be even the nature is sad that we are leaving. Hmm! too emotional!! We started towards Lisbon. It was a long drive may be it appeared too long for us. It was all foggy on our way to Lisbon. We felt like we are driving in clouds. Somehow our Navi got crazy it troubled us a lot and we lost our way couple of times. By the way, on our way back to Lisbon, we drove onto the famous Vasco Da Gama bridge, the longest bridge in Europe, 17.2 kms long. We were pleased with the idea of driving onto the longest bridge of Europe. We were trying to capture its glimpses from our car windows. Yet we manage to get some beautiful pictures of it thanks to our friend who is sitting in the front.Somehow we managed to reach Lisbon airport well in time. Had some refreshments and then boarded Nikki Flight bound to Palma Mallorca from there we took Air Berlin flight back to Hamburg. It was already 10pm when we reached Hamburg. So we decided to enjoy the Sylvester celebrations in Hamburg. Took the late night train back to Bremen. We had a tough time in Bremen to hire a cab and atlast reached home around 5am.

So this has been my most memorable trip I ever made thanks to my friends who organized and made it more memorable with their love and I am greatly indebted to them for making this trip wonderful. By the way, you may be wondering who my friends are. Here we are:Thanks again to Gul, Aman and Kishore for everything.

So friends if you have liked and enjoyed my trip to Portugal, please leave your comments.