El fin/Back home

I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to study Spanish in Spain, to travel around and visit culturally significant sights, and then to go to Portugal for a week after. It was indescribable and I hope that I can return someday; but more importantly, I hope that you all were able to travel along and see what I saw! Thanks for following, and this Swede in Spain is out. -Kjerstie O. 

Goodnight Madrid

I write this from my bunk in our hostel in Madrid. We arrived here from Lisbon safe and sound, but I will admit that while we were waiting to fly here I wished I was flying home to California instead! Tonight we grabbed some dinner and then hit our favorite spot-Puerta del Sol-before I leave early tomorrow morning for my 11:50 flight.

pistachio+arroz con leche. out with a bang.

sad face at the last porras con chocolate. and don't
worry, I shared :)

So the next time I blog will be in the States! So long Spain-this Swede has certainly had a blast here. I can't wait to return.

Cascais

Another day trip today, this time to the beach! Cascais is a lovely beach town 30ish minutes away from Lisboa. They're famous for good windsurfing conditions, Boca do Inferno (where waves crash into the cliffs and sound insane), and an extremely good ice cream shop. Plus it's pretty beautiful.

i mean-how amazing is this natural little lagoon?

The ice cream shop is called Santini's and it is DELICIOUS. Like, stop-after-your-first-bite-and-just-savor-everything-that's-right-in-the-world delicious.

cherry and pear. the pear was DIVINE.

I can't believe that we leave Lisboa tomorrow. It's been an amazing week and so much fun! Definitely a must-visit stop if you are in the Iberian peninsula at all :)

Sintra

Today we took a day trip out to Sintra! It's a cute little town set into the (many) hills of Portugal, with a lot of castles and ruins to explore in the mountains. And a lot of it looked like the Pacific Northwest, surprisingly enough!

feeling like a woodland fairy

rachel and I!

the view of the Moorish castle from Pena

crazy inside

the king's trophies?

I laughed at how the "preserved" the racks back in the day 

now THIS could've been the best chocolate cake in the world. 

Cristo Rei, Belém and a night on the town

Here's Tuesday's update! I know it's a day late, but it was full of fun and busy from dawn til dusk! For once we actually went out at night, because our roommate Grace, a teacher from Texas who's been at an international school in Italy, left this morning. But first-during the day, we visited Portugal's Cristo Rei, their version of the Brazilian giant stone Christ the Redeemer statue. We took the ferry, and then a little bus and then the elevator up to the top!

looking back from the ferry

looking up...

at the balcony at the top!

i loved this view. it's crazy how the pont 25 du abril
is the golden gate's twin!! sneaky builders. 

After that, we walked for a very long time to Belém, a little town next to Lisboa that's famous for their pastéis de nata. I already posted about how much I love these pastries, so I just had to stop in to try these famous ones.

it's a factory in there!

delicious.

And then we walked down to the water to see the monument to the discovery of America (since apparently Columbus set off from around here on his journeys. 

That night, we regrouped with Grace at the hostel and then she and I grabbed a bite to eat while Rachel finished up her blog (although she missed out on some delicious salmon ceviche). Then we all headed out to Terraço: Bairro Alto Hotel. It's the rooftop bar of a fancy hotel and was so much fun. And the food/drink was delicious! I got a coconut lemonade and lavender creme brûlée. Snobby comment: the brûlée tasted like regular brûlée, I couldn't taste the lavender at all. Oh well-it was still delicious! The lemonade was to die for. 

we could see the bridge and the cristo rei

candid

horrible lighting but here we are!

what a view, huh?

 So much fun. One of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I'm grateful I was able to have!

The Sea and some snails

Today was a big first for me gastronomy-wise: I ATE A SNAIL. Actually, I ate many snails, all Portuguese-style. And we visited the Oceanário de Lisboa (the Lisbon Aquarium) too!

So this morning we took it slow and then in the afternoon we went out to visit the aquarium. I love aquariums! It didn't hold a candle to Monterey Bay but it was great nonetheless.

the mascot

Found some penguins for a certain someone...

shoutout to my home aquarium!!

beautiful view

awesome water feature

And now. The snail tutorial. Watch it here: http://youtu.be/pxa56BAY6kE

the pot.

the goods. 

the little guy.

deshelled little guy.

the aftermath

I thought they were just fine! Honestly, they tasted like chicken but a more slippery texture :) Tomorrow we're going to Portugal's Cristo Rei statue and Belem! I'll keep you informed.

still alive

After tonight's Portugal vs. USA game, I was worried I might not make it out alive...but luckily it was a draw so I am still alive! Not super happy, but alive nonetheless :) But more on that later! Today was a busy busy and (like every day!) full of excitement.

Moral of the story: We tried to find the Museu do Azulejos, which is a famous tile museum. It took us waaaay longer than it should have. We found the water museum, so we thought we'd try that instead...

But it was closed. Darn. After much walking and complaining, though...we found it!

amazing church with tile AND crazy paintings

look left

look right 

look it's the actual thing!

AMAZING panorama of Lisboa pre-1755 earthquake/tsunami

beautiful tree out front

And after the tile museum we of course realized where we were and got home super fast. Then we watched the Belgium-Russia game with some of the girls staying with us at our hostel (because they're Belgian and apparently this is like the first time in 12 years that Belgium's qualified for the World Cup so this game was a big deal to them. Good thing they beat Russia 1-0!).

Then we went back home and rested up for the big game tonight.

crazy steep hill we have to climb like 2x a day if we want to go anywhere

pastel de nata-Portugal's famous dessert. SO GOOD

And now I'm blogging, writing some missionaries, and am off to bed because it's way late!!! Boa noite!!