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Europe 2022

August - October 2022
A 63-day adventure by Martine Read more
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  • TravelerEurope 2022
    Day 6

    Grandma Gift

    August 10, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Okay so buying this was pretty tacky and felt it was definitely something my grandma would buy if she were travelling. BUT. It felt so fitting because EVERYTHING here is built of tiles and trams and EVERYWHERE. (hot tip: if you're ever in Portugal and taking the team, don't take 28, the locals take 12 because it is basically the same route and way less busy - tip from Antonio). So here we are. Filling the shoes of grandma :) thought some people would relate and enjoy this post🥰Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2022
    Day 7

    Learning the lingo

    August 11, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Okay everyone is saying "it's so fab". I'm going to get with the lingo.

    Tonight has been soooo fun. I've met at least 20+ people from Africa, Brussels, USA, so many Aussies, Netherlands, Norway, and Canada?!?!? And many more!!! So cool!!! #sofab this hostel is honestly the best. Lovely every minute and having a blast😭😝Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2022
    Day 7

    Sintra Pt 1

    August 11, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Today I took the train from Lisbon to Sintra!! It was so good I have to make two posts. Omg. Sintra is the town of castles. I visited the top 3 but there were 8 or so in total. Sintra is also beautiful because the city is on a mountain so if you're high enough, you can get a full landscape view!!! I started at the Castelo dos Mouros. This was probably my favourite because I loved walking along the castle. Many many steps! After, I went to the Palace of Pena. This is for most the number one stop. The castle is full of vibrancy and the highest point. I only walked along the outside with the pillars because the line up to get in was ENORMOUS (I also heard it's totally not worth it) so I made the best out of it! Finally I ran by the Quinta da Regaleira. This is the number one stop on Trip advisor. Again, I'm more of an outside person so I did a quick walk by and that was good enough for me. All very magnificent buildings and stunning views. To finish off with the castles, I had a Portuguese tart. Oh. My. God. It was SO good. Right out of the oven and just mushed in your mouth. Amazing. But just you wait for the best part. Sintra pt 2!!!Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2022
    Day 7

    Sintra pt 2 JACKPOT

    August 11, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Just wow. This was the most west point on the European border. I don't even know what to say because it just kept getting better. Could not have asked for a better time. Originally I was like yeah I'll follow the oath out to the point. Then there was another point and I was like yeah let's keep going. And then this dude was like oh you can keep going! So I kept going until I got to the water and boy was it worth it. There were just some Italian guys chilling out but nobody else. None of the other tourists brought their walking shoes and boy did they miss out! Such a great time. Getting down was a little sketchy at one point when you had to use a rope to get yourself down but it was all good. Perfect weather. Perfect day. Perfect place. I love it. Portugal you are beautiful. Oh and might I add there was yet another castle but who cares about that when you've got the Atlantic ocean! (Sorry to those who disagree). What a day.Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2022
    Day 8

    Pub Crawl with the Irish!

    August 12, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    I will forever love these gals. My new besties. I met them on the walking tour yesterday and we booked tickets to do the pub crawl together and we stuck together. I was thankful that they had my back when I am a solo traveller so we could all have a good time safely. The pub crawl itself was meh. I just wanted to dance but they walked us around to a lot of TINY bars so most times we were sipping on the street. As for my fellow crawlers. There was A LOT of male energy. A lot. I will say the second bar we went to, there was this Italian lady who was absolutely hilarious. She was probably around 40 and said she didn't work there but was just talking to every single group, asking where we're from and if we're single. I said I was single and she matched me with a German guy. Good conversation tbh. My other Irish friend said she was engaged and the lady said she was attending the wedding. Every time she introduced us, we were from a different country, California, UK, etc. 😂😂 She was also the controller of the music and man, She needs to get with the vibes and the times. Finally, the last place we went to had a sign saying "you never know what you've lost until it's gone - toilet paper". And I can tell you they did not have toilet paper 🫠 all in all, grand time and happy I did it!Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2022
    Day 8

    Goodmorning Solo Traveller Hostel

    August 12, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    OFF TO BARCELONA TO MEET UP WITH MY BUDDY BEN!!! WOOHOO! This hostel experience was grand. Yet again I met SO many people. This hostel was super social because they served a banger of a deal of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and unlimited beer and sangria from 7-11 for only 12 euros a day!!! WHAT A DEAL! So obviously everyone's doing all-inclusive so we are all eating together at the same time and then shared some drinks and played many games in the evening. So fun! It was my kind of scene I loved it. The hostel was also VERY new and I really liked having the curtains across the bed to provide some sort of privacy!

    Alright. Train time. I've got a very very tight schedule and I can't miss any of the trains otherwise I will not make it to Barcelona before the train stations close. My first train is at 0841 out of lisbon and I arrive at 2358 tonight in Barcelona. Wish me luck!    Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2022
    Day 9

    Stuck in Madrid

    August 13, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    So I think I'm onto Plan C😂😭going from Lisbon to Barcelona has been adventure. I had 6 train transfers all with about 15 min between and if I missed only one train, I wasn't going to make it on the last train from Madrid out to Barcelona at 8:30pm. From the start, one of my trains was 15 min delayed so I was RUNNING. Luckily the next train waited for us but then we were running to the next one and the next one. What a whirlwind. ALSO. Some trains require you to make reservations prior to getting on the train but in Spain, you cannot book online and it has to be done at a train station WITHIN Spain. I know, you guys already know where this is going. So I said yolo and just kept going and paying on the train (usually that doesn't work but we didn't have time during train transfers and they not so willingly allowed it). Absolutely flying by the seat of my pants. Luckily, I met Esta who was 17 and backpacking from Germany and we were both headed for the same last train. So we were in it together. Along the way we also started travelling with Yennick who was 20 and from Germany as well. #squad okay so we were SHOOK that we had made it on all the trains to Madrid. At one point I was looking up hostels in the local towns because I thought there was no way. So when we caught the second last train to Madrid, we were celebrating because there was an hour transfer between trains from Madrid to Barcelona. When we got to Madrid and arrived at the ticket office to reserve the train, THEY WERE FULLY BOOKED UNTIL THE MORNING!😭 Esta was able to get on because she was only on the train for a short period of time so they had space. So here's Yennick and I stuck in Madrid until the next train out at 8:30 Saturday morning. At this point we met a guy named Max from California who was 22 and in the same boat as us. So here were, booking a hostel together in Madrid!Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2022
    Day 9

    Suprise Madrid

    August 13, 2022 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    Our unexpected visit to Madrid worked out and we made it a blast. The three of us were a trio and we walked around Madrid and grabbed a couple drinks (gotta say we did not make it to the drag queen show). What an adventure. We now have a group chat going after we just spent the past 12 hours together. #friendsRead more

  • TravelerEurope 2022
    Day 9

    Barcelona Day 1

    August 13, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    MADE IT TO BARCELONA AND FOUND BEN!!! WHOOHOO!!!! So this a good friend of mine from Dal Varsity, Ben! He's awesome and his family is from Spain and they have welcomed me to stay with them. So Ben has been my personal tour guide and we hit the ground running (day one we hit the ground running. Arrived at 11:30 and by the end of the day we walked 26km!) Wow. Barcelona has so much to see. We started with some classic Spanish food that Ben ordered - I will add the names of these later. Absolutely DELISH. Yum. My favourites were the octopus deep fried something and the chicken "balls" - honestly offensive to them to call them that but for now it will have to do. We went into the Picasso museum which I learned quite a bit from! He had very diverse art skills. We then walked all around the city, under the arch, through the park, along the water front. Then we went into a market area that was probably 1km long! So packed with people selling goods at stands and traditional treats and so on. We also pulled off into these squares which had additional stands and people dancing with music. We also walked through the gothic quadrants which was one of my favourite parts of the walk. This is the oldest area of Barcelona with streets 6ft wide and TALL buildings. Some may find this quite claustrophobic! Amazing to see the only wall that has remained over many many years. Finally, we went into a Barcelona market where everything is fresh. Fruit, fish, meat, everything! What a great day :) to cap it off we chilled out and played a game of chess. I lost not surprisingly. So great to see Ben and catch up after a long summer!Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2022
    Day 10

    Casa Batllo - Goudi Part 1

    August 14, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Today we started the morning at the Casa Batllo. AMAZING. This structure was built and designed by Goudi. The premise of Goudi's work revolved around nature and everything flowing. So nothing was really symmetrical and everything flowed. The outside and inside of the building was lined with glass that was recycled from other purposes (zoom into the picture from the outside...you'll be surprised! Goudi was also the first of his time to reuse material). This building had two stairwells in the inside which made me think of the sea because of how blue they were and the flow upwards. All of the windows allowed for natural lighting and airflow. To add, even the doors shape was asymmetrical around the edges and the stairwell railing was like a spine of a creature. Finally, the ceilings were never just ceilings they would have some sort of design and much were decorated with gold leaflets. So many fine details and truly spectacular!Read more

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