IN.PORTugal

I am an import from Portugal. Because this country changed me and here is how the change happened:

Nazaré

the first time i was in nazaré was with my erasmus friends of leiria, peniche and caldas (IPL) on the international day. we just drove up to the viewpoint and relaxed in the sun, taking photographs. especially my brazilian friends really enjoy taking a lots of them (giovane, my best brasilian friend, is a photographer in rio grande de sul [south-brazil]). but the extra of time on the second trip, brought me to places i haven’t seen before.
the second time i went to nazaré was with my mum. we saw downtown, which is really down, because it’s down at the ocean and the beach, and we saw the upper part of nazaré with its cliffs and beautiful far views of downtown nazare (all dressed in white and shining in the sinking sun) and the long-stretched beach. another old city-part is also located on the cliffs. you can climb up there by using the electrico with an angle of 45° – i guess – going up. there are two always going up/down at the same time, meet in the middle and change places on the one way rails.
i took some time to think twice this shiny day. iclosed my eyes and let the sun touch my skin, listening to the breaking of the waves. once on the viewpoint next to the church and the second time when we were at the lighthouse (before the storm came up) and the waves were breaking fiercely on the cliffs right below us, where the wide atlantic ocean and the mainland touch.
the city is full of dogs and they walk past you like citizens of the city. with no sign of owner or name. it’s and awkward feeling.

Peniche

the first and only time i saw peniche was on the first of february 2009. it was a day with mixed weather. most of the time it was sunny. my mum was my accompany and together we checked out the coast and the prison. we got close to the cliffs on many different points. we even found the ocean and the long (very long) beach of peniche. it is important to know, that peniche is located on the tip of the mainland of portugal’s central region.that means on all edges of the city you can get in touch with or get a glimpse of the sea. so it is no surprise that the magnitude of the time my mum and me spend on the beach and coast. also on that day the weather was moving the sea and produced huge, ferocious waves.
we also saw a couple of surfers using the waves and – i think – they were something like a class.

Óbidos

in óbidos i have been four times since i came to portugal. it is a city or more a village and or within a castle. this village is surrounded on all sides by a high wall, made out of greenish-brown massive stone. in christmas time they turn parts of it in “villa natal” (christmas village) with special attractions and people dressed up as fantastic creatures. it is even covered in artificial snow. and this is one example of many for the striving of the portuguese for fantastic goals by neglecting the budget you have to invest. and portugal is definitely not one of the richest countries in europe.
i mean, it is definitely fascinating on the other hand. it is mainly consistent of tourist-attractions and shops. you can even walk the whole wall and see over óbidos and the surrounding region. especially at sundown it is beautiful to be there. my first time was with the other erasmus on the international day. after that, one more time with giovane and janis, with my mum and with franziska.
other than in nazaré you can see a lot of cats sitting and running around in the village.

Porto

when i was in porto, i went with pedro (who comes from gaia – the city next to porto), sophie, leon and madeira (real name: joao). but in the time being there i had the pleasure to meet pedros parents, pedros girlfriend and his/ his family’s  friends. we spent the weekend there and got precious amazingly tasty food from his mum and great vinho do porto, sightseeing and a very comfortable place to sleep.

it’s the best to go to a city in portugal with someone who knows the best places, mainly because he lives there. we passed the garden far up the river, from where you could see the bridge and the riverbank of porto. we were lucky with the weather so we saw peacocks and the public library, which is huge and another bookstore more in the centre that reminds me of the architecture of gaudi or – at least – of the art nouveau-design at the beginning of the twentieth century. we also went to the ceralves museum and viewed an exhibition of three artists. one was chrisopher wool and his works were mainly silkscreen. another big one from an installation artist named ‘Juan Munoz: uma retrospectiva’ and a photo-exhibition of newcomers in the lowest part of the museum. then we even took a walk in the garden belonging to the museum. one night pedro invited us to the private bar of his father with collections of all kind of things from all kind of times. E.g. lucky luke cardboards, caricas (crown caps) as bikinitiops or bronze-plates from budweiser or signs from germany saying: ‘Lieber besoffen und glücklich als nüchtern und doof’ on the door of a toilet, that has concrete behind it instead of a room.

Foz de Arelho

in foz do arelho – a city on the beach of the nearest accesspoint to the ocean from caldas da rainha, you have a strip of the beach where you can stand in the waves of the open sea.But there is a long strip that reaches into the mainland where you can fish or search for shells or stones, because the waves don’t reach so far. it’s like a big lake of saltwater. my first time i was there was alone with the bike. fortunately i met a nice girl from belarus that helped me taking photographs of me in front of the ocean standing on the shore. it was a nice day. she even told me how to get back to caldas in a nicer way for a biker. this knowledge helped me a lot on my last visit to foz do arelho. i came with the bike too and was joined by arta(erasmus from latvia) and sarah(erasmus from germany/hildesheim). there was also jimmy. it was really nice, everytime i went there. Only two times more i wen’t to see the ocean from there. once with my best portuguese friend rafael and once with my mum. on the trip with my mum i discovered the new village they are building on the hill of foz do arelho. where every house has its own swimmingpool and you have an amazing view over the coast and the ocean. we also walked the (very strange) streets of foz do arelho. awkward feeling. clouds in the sky, noone’s out. but through that visit i found my favourite bar. made of wood with a glassed inside and an iron palmtree at the entrance.

Lisbon

i have a lot of stories to tell about lisbon. starting with my first meet with an old portuguese friend from germany at the airport and ending with my soon departure from portugal.
well and so rafael brought me to vila franca de xira on my first day in portugal on the 16th of september 2008. he passed lisbon with the car, so i didn’t see much back then. the next day he took me to caldas. i was in my third home.

the second time i came to lisbon was on the 27th of september. there was a party in cascais. the birthday party of a friend of rafael. i came to lisbon, he picked me up and we went there. great partynext day i said goodbye to rafael and bruno took me to lisbon. he even showed me around the sights in belém and we went to a fado-concert in jardim de estrela.
his brother drove me back to sete rios station, where i took the bus back to caldas.

then i came to lisbon to meet with rafael and go shopping. we also went a second time to vila franca de xira to take a trip to the city center and meet a friend of rafael who gave us a lesson in yoga/thai chi or something. sorry rafa. can’t remember the name. (18/19th october 2008)
next time i came to lisbon for a reason was to pick up franziska from the airport on her first visit in portugal. we went to the city center and looked around for a place to have breakfast near marquês de pombal and i had to pick up photography paper in a special kodak-store. we went together to caldas at the end of the afternoon.

before franziska left portugal -and throughthat me- for the first time we went to lisbon on the night before her flight at 6 in the morning the next day. we moved in the black&white hostel and walked down avenida de liberdade to cais do sodré and a little bit along the rio tejo. we found a very nice place with a beautiful park and trees around. principe real. the café made of glass offers the most delicious chocolate cake ever tried. on our trip in the night through lisbon we saw the elevador santa justa, the praca at the end of avenida, the huge illuminated buildings and couple of pracas along the avenue and the tram going up the upper region of lisbon to bairro alto. we had dinner there in a typical portuguese restaurante with bacalhau and vinho de mesa, unfriendly empregados da mesa and footballscarfs all over the ceiling.( 2nd of november 2008)

after that i visited lisbon to go to a football match with three friends of mine. Rafael, Giovane and Janis. on the 21st of december 2008 was the match fc barcelona against sporting lissabon in the champions league. rafa (a big fan of sporting) gave us scarves of portugal or sporting and made us support his team. but as it turned out sporting lost 3:5 and there was no party afterwards. the next day we (this time meaning janis, rafa and me) went to oriente station to go to the shopping mall to have breakfast/lunch. we walked along the rio tejo and looked at the vasco da gama bridge, the oceanario from outside and the chinese garden ….. we saw the first works on the new haven for the yachts of the rich and famous being built in near future.
before christmas i picked up 50 pasteis de belém to bring to franziska as a christmas present. unfortunately they didn’t survive the flight very well, but she was happy anyway.

then i saw lisbon another day when i picked up my mum at the airport, once in between to go shopping in oriente shopping mall and see belém. a last time with her when i brought her back. finally i saw lisbon again, when i picked franziska up at the airport. i went to marquês de pombal to the central hostel of lisbon where we brought the bag and then walked for two hours through the streets of lisbon to find our favourite café in principe real. it was closed so we went on to the viewpoint. we sat in the park and then went back home. for the next day we checked out the same places by daylight, having a closer look at the big tree with the far reaching branches in the park principe real and at a couple of other parks we passed on our way to belém. we saw jardim de estrela and walked the coast from the bridge 25. do abril until the descobrimentos memorial. this is not far from the pasteis de belém- bakery with its famous pasteis. made of puff paste and vanilla pudding. served warm on your plate and surrounded by the atmosphere of the beginnings of the place. you can still see the women preparing the pasteis continuously on the conveyer belt in the hightechnological and superhygenic kitchen.
we lunched in pao pao queijo queijo and had a pita shoarma with the legendary sauce (which is tastes best there). i love to go there everytime i am in belém. we also saw the mosteiro dos jeronimos.
another time i came to lisbon when was, when i brought my girl to the airport. i also went to see pasteis de belém and our favourite kebap place again. after spending enough time there and picking up some special presents for our people in germany we went to spent the rest of the day at the airport. i then moved in a friend’s place to see the lisbon coast from cacilhas. so the other side of rio tejo. and go shopping in bairro alto, the new in-district of lisbon. my friend there and his brother went to go for a drink in bairro alto with me, mas !! other than portuguese > only germans, italians, spanish and scandinavians !!
anyway i was happy for accompany, because this “bairro” is very dangerous at nights. so i could have gone for a fado play in a bar there the next evening but i didn’t feel like going alone. …
when i finally went back to germany i took a lisbon cab with a german driver to the airport and had up to seven layers on my body to prevent overweight. SUCESSfully!
and finally to all my beloved friends in PORTUGAL:

I MISS YOU ALL VERY MUCH, PEOPLE who spent time with me IN PORTUGAL!!!!!
i send special wishes to carla, arta, janis, andreas, joana’s (jane, ju, joca, sá), ines, maria ines, rita, ana, yannick, sarah, giovane, ana paula, gabriel, pedro, joao “jonny star”, madeira, diogo “poppy”, catarina.worp, RAFAEL, santa, liana, bruno, valeria, talita.