Portugal with Mom and Dad

It has been a while since I went on this trip, but things have gotten so crazy since then! On March 19, I stayed up all night and flew to Lisbon, Portugal to meet up with my parents. It was so good to see them!! We decided to take a train over to Sintra to see the palace and castle that are over there.

When we made it back into town, we were overwhelmed with hordes of loud obnoxious teens so we sought out higher ground to escape the chaos. We found a secluded restaurant with a grill on the patio and a great view. Lots of cats came up to beg for fish scraps. They didn't seem to have anything we ordered, the man would say "No, no we don't have that. You have this instead". I ended up with an excellent fresh Goldenbream.

The view from the patio.

The next day we went for a walk through central Lisbon and visited another castle.

Salted cod EVERYWHERE.

That night we had a walking tour through a different part of the city and a dinner with Fado music show.

Mom and dad didn't seem to like it, but I did! Clockwise from top left: Cold sardine and tomato bruschetta, salted cod, Iberian ham, sausage, shredded cod with onions and potatoes, cold cooked carrots with vinaigrette, and cheese.

The Fado was good and reminded me of Spanish flamenco.
Saturday we went on a day-long wine tasting adventure. We went to two different wineries in the Portuguese countryside and stopped for lunch in a cute little town called Evora. Lots of cork goods everywhere.

On the way back, we passed the Christ (identical to the one in Brasil) and drove across the bridge (nearly identical to the Golden Gate). Beautiful sunset. Photo credit to my mom. That night we ate in the hotel which was a very strange experience. ("....cauliflower...")

On the last day, we had some time before our flight so we went to the Gulbenkian art museum. It was small but diverse and was laid out chronologically, which was interesting.

On the left is a typical Portuguese custard tart and on the right is chocolate sausage.

After we flew back to Seville, I got the opportunity to show my mom and dad around my beautiful city. AND I got to translate for them in restaurants, which was very fun. We went to the University of Seville, the Cathedral, Maria Luisa Park, the Plaza de Espana, the bullfighting arena, Triana neighborhood, and more. Plus they helped me prepare for my Skype interview for an internship with Diablo Magazine, which I was hired for! Wooo!!

These are two of my favorite people in the world. I cannot say thank you enough for this once-in-a-lifetime experience of study abroad. It means more to me than you know. I had so much fun with you in Portugal and Seville and I can't wait to see you again in the States :) I love you!