The cobbled streets and narrow alleyways make it fun to simply immerse yourself and get lost for the day, helping us to discover a tiny boutique that sold sexy brazilian cossies. The cute cafes and countless ice cream parlours around selling delicious fresh foods and never ending flavours as well as the ever so friendly hostel staff who provide you with copious amounts of information and will help you wherever possible. There is so much colour (something I absolutely adore in photography) in the streets and the buildings create a postcard themselves yet it was so hard to capture this 'feeling' in a photograph, instead making it all look like a 'paradise' (which it is that too). The people are so beautiful and welcoming as well, making you feel at home.
We arrived in shoulder season and even that was crazy for us. Intending to only stay 3-4 nights we lasted a week and had to force ourselves to leave before we died and burnt a massive hole in our pockets doing so. Everything is timed well..late morning rises, beach in the day, siesta in the arvo, late dinner, go out around midnight and be home just before the sun rises... perfect pattern. That is, until you have a night off and realise just how much rest your body is craving. The stories and memories that we have gained from this experience will be unforgettable and some definately not blog or facebook worthy haha but let's just say that for anyone going to Europe, Lagos is a MUST. As I said we could have stayed there for the whole of Summer but I simply don't have the guts to stay in one place for so long and know just how many more exciting countries we have ahead of us.
Believe it or not we even managed to sneak a few coastal walks in amongst the drinking and partying and they proved to be spectacular. It really did make us feel as though we were home doing the Coogee-Bondi walk, yet with the twist of looking at the apostles down the south of Australia. We had a piercing sun every day and a perfect breeze most nights. Our only regret is not doing the kayaking and the half day bike tour but we soon diminished any regret and simply decided that it will be done next time we come here-and there will most definately be a next time!
Finally, before we set off for Spain we broke up the time costly trip with a stop in Lisbon for the night. I personally, thought it would just be a transit city, kind of like Madrid, but it turned out to be a really funky place. We arrived at a really cool hostel (The G-spot) and for 15 euro p/n we were offered dinner, breakfast, a snack pack for any day trips and a prefect party atmosphere. We enjoyed a vegetable cous cous and a glass of wine then for 5 euro more unlimited sangria whilst we played the usual drinking games such as kings cup, beer pong, jenga (yes, jenga!) and some sort of wind-up chicken race. By midnight we hit the streets and made the unbearable trek up the steepest hill to all the bars.
The bars here are almost like pop-up shops where you only have space to go in buy a drink then mingle with everyone else on the streets. 1 euro shots and it wasn't long before we were blind, moving onto the next bar for free shots and a sweaty sweaty dance floor! The atmosphere was ridiculous and it pulled you in, making you never want to leave but we were tired and made it home before sunrise, sadly with empty stomaches as we struggled to find any form of drunk food before bed. Rested up we awoke the next morning for a free walking tour. There is no way you could do Lisbon in a day so we focused on the 'old town' and took in the beautiful views, made a pit-stop for Toma's Macca's per country hobby then raced back to the hostel to packs and try make the afternoon sleeper train to San Sebastian (which we did make and were pleased to discover the tickets cheaper than we expected!)
Time to rest up before the Bull Run and Ibiza... stay tuned!
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