Portugal with the parents

After the europe trip with the EuroLeutes, I flew to Portugal and met up with my family. This was such a fun trip! I think I will always treasure this trip as an opportunity to spend quality time with my parents, just the three of us. It almost made me sad sometimes seeing them walk around and know that this wouldn't last forever. I love my parents.

Lisbon was beautiful. Lots of cobblestones and cool looking european architecture. We were also there during the Sardine Festival dedicated to the patron St. Anthony. A lot of people wore sardine hats and there was dancing and music in the streets.

We stayed in a cool neighborhood and had cheap grilled sardines on toast. It's interesting - portuguese food is very plain. A lot of the restaurants we ate at offered seafood with just olive oil and salt - they believe that they flavor should be derived from the food itself, not the sauce that it is cooked in. Another interesting note is that the portuguese national mentality seems to be one of suffering, longing and hardship. Portugal suffered from the brutal Salazar regime. Salazar economically benefited Portugal quite a lot, but also cost the country its individual freedoms and ability to speak out. A lot of the country was torn apart by the regime.

The cod industry is also an interesting example of the hardships internalized by the Portuguese people. Cod is an inherent part of the Portuguese cultural experience (bacalao). Fisherman would go long months fishing for Cod and would barely see their families. It was an incredibly dangerous business and many would perish.Read more