Madrid, Lisbon, Lagos, Sevilla

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  Seville, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands
Saturday, October 17, 2009

I will apologize in advance to everyone. Iīm a horrible person and keep forgetting to update this. Anyways after Dublin I flew into Madrid where I waited for the Olympic bid. As you all know that was quite the disappointment. The first night I was there I met a guy from New Zealand and we instantly hit it off. We ended up going out for tapas with a girl named Rebecca who happened to work for the Department of Homeland Security. This becomes ironic later. After tapas and cervezas we headed back to the hostel where I was greeted by 5 asian women in my room, none of which could speak English of course. I spent the rest of my night trying to lull myself to sleep amongst the 3 women who were snoring unbelievably next to me. The next morning I got up and went to see the Museo Del Prado and Palacio Real. The Museo del Prado which is rated amongst the best as far as art museums kind of flew over my head. I realized very quickly that I donīt have the same appreciation for art that Gammy or Aunt Laura do. The Palacio Real on the other hand was an incredible building with architecture that you could tell took hundreds of years to build. As beautiful and hot as Madrid was it ranks pretty low on my favorite places, although it is pretty tough having just come from Ireland.

My next stop was Lisbon, which involved a 10 hour overnight train which consisted of me being paranoid the entire time about my bags. As you may guess, I didnīt sleep much. I arrived in Lisbon around 7:30 in the morning and wandered the treacherous streets for about an hour before finally finding my hostel. Once again, the Mulligan sense of direction didnīt help out too much. At 11:30 my hostel gave a free walking tour of Lisbon which proved to be one of the best Iīve ever taken. It was given by a local named Bernardo who explained the big points, but also let you come to your own conclusions. The city of Lisbon has absolutely incredible views that absolutely leave you in awe. The rest of the day I rested as I had been up the entire night. Later that night I ended up meeting a surfer couple from Cherbourg, France, who were traveling around Portugal following the waves. They turned out to be an awesome couple and ultimately I would run into them later. The following morning I ended up exploring the castle in Lisbon for a good 4 hours with a guy from England who I met at breakfast. The castle proved to be all it was cracked up to be and gave you an amazing panoramic view of Lisbon and the following towns. We managed to catch the sunset which I imagine would have been a lot more romantic if I wasnīt spending it with another male. The following day I woke up early and took a day trip to a town called Sintra. Sintra was a place that had what looked to be fairy tale castles and a fairy tale palace. I ended up getting into town and attempting to walk up to the castle. Wow, that was a huge mistake. I made it about 3 miles up before realizing I had about 7 more to go and there was a bus that ran every twenty minutes. With my mistake came the price of only seeing one of the castles and missing out on the palace altogether. The castle I did get to was absolutely mind blowing. I canīt even describe how absolutely unbelievable the view was from the top. You canīt help but smile when youīre taking pictures.

The next morning I caught the 10:30 bus to a town called Lagos which is right on the coast of Portugal. Words cannot describe how beautiful this place was. Iīm angry at myself that I didnīt take more pictures, but to be honest it would have all been of the beach. I spent a week in paradise, going to the beach every day and meeting new people every day. I met some of my favorite people from my trip there and ended up traveling to Sevilla with them. Since Iīve been in Sevilla we have seen the Cathedral, rented a paddle boat and toured the bullfighting ring. Thereīs not much to say about any of them except that the Cathedral is absolutely amazing. The detail is completely stunning.

As of now, I am sitting in my hostel lobby debating whether or not to go to Morocco and possibly learn how to surf from my Australian friends. We will see. Until next time.

Kyle

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