The End of a Beautiful Trip

The road trip is over. The boys are gone. Looking back at the time we spent together and the places that we say I really had an amazing time, and I definitely learnt a lot, both about myself and about guys.

Final Part of the Itinerary:

Day 13 Lisboa to Setubal
Day 14 Setubal to Vila Nova de Milfontes
Day 15 Milfontes to Sagres
Day 16 Sagres
Day 17 Sagres
Day 18 Sagres to Sevilla


I left off talking about arriving in Lisboa. That night Brett’s friend (with whom we were staying the night) drove us into the center and showed us around the town. It was a Monday night and yet there were so many people still out and about drinking, talking, and generally enjoying life. He took us to the Barrio Alta, where he said that on a Friday or Saturday night the small side streets are so packed with people that you have to force your way through the crowds. For this I was quite happy that we were going out on a Monday night. We bought beers at a local bar and then left, beers in hand, to wander the streets. Nowhere in Vancouver, nor Canada, can you calmly walk around with a beer; it actually felt very civilized. There weren’t people stumbling or throwing up everywhere, but were gathered in groups, talking and laughing, generally having a good, respectful, time.



The next morning we had a bit of a late start, but eventually made it onto the bus and back to the center, to discover it in the light of day. Like many cities in Portugal and Spain small streets and alleyways split off one way or the next, giving you the option to take the same general route in a variety of ways. I was quite impressed with how long the guys actually did continue sightseeing, as they have made it very clear many times before that they are not interested in seeing big cities. Surprisingly enough I actually got them to take a tourist tram car up to a view point of the city.



The visit to Lisboa ended that evening at around 10pm, as we once again set off to a new destination. Why we didn’t just stay the night and go the next morning, I’m not quite sure, probably due to the fact that they were badly itching to get out of the city and closer to a beach. That night was spent in a natural park just outside of Setubal, and situated right on the ocean. That being said we didn’t even enjoy the park as we left early the next morning to travel to South Portugal to a small town called Vila Nova de Milfontes.

Vila Nova de Milfontes was supposedly known for having good waves and you could see the guys excitement as we drew closer and closer to the waves. Once again Brett had a contact there and so after getting the general direction of an obscure surfing beach we went off in search for the waves. Due to the misunderstanding of the directions we ended up going for a bit of an off-roading experience in the sand dunces, which was quite stressful due to the fact that we definitely did not have a 4X4 vehicle. Luckily we never got too stuck and in the meantime found some beautiful spots where we thought it would be great to camp. But like everything on this trip, things changed, and instead of having a rustic night on the beach we ended up meeting with Brett’s friend, Hena, and having a big dinner and party at the surf camp that she worked at.

Though we had been drinking wine and beer every night since we left San Sebastian we had rarely gone out with the attention to drink and party, therefore the guys definitely took this opportunity to let loose and have a good time. Walking back to the campgrounds in the pitch black with only a hand-drawn map in hand, proved to be an experience of its own. Enough said.

The next day was spent entirely on the beach (as per usual), but this time I actually went surfing. Brett’s friend had an extra board and wetsuit that she lent me and so I finally took the opportunity to do what I’ve been meaning to do the whole trip, and went surfing. I had such a good time that I started to regret that I hadn’t been surfing the whole time, but then again if I had gone surfing the whole time I wouldn’t have had the opportunities to explore all the little towns along the way.

This seems to have turned out to be quite the boring blog. I guess though we did see a lot, we didn’t actually do all that much. We spent a lot of time on the beach. It really has been a fun and wonderful time and I guess it’s difficult to describe the sights and views from the cliffs that tend to tower over the little beaches; better to see for yourself in the pictures.

Our final destination ended up being the town of Sagres, which I believe is the most southwestern point in Europe (we have down many ‘points’ along this journey.) We didn’t actually end up seeing much of the town but did visit el Cabo de San Vincente, which is where the actual point is located, and a beach about 10km north of the town.

Spent the days on the beach, nights eating and drinking a lot, blah, blah, blah.

The last day we were going to hang out on the beach during the day and then move on to another town to sleep. That didn’t end up happening. The guys got word of a surf party on the beach and were really excited about spending their last night hanging out with surf girls, drinking lots, and sleeping on the beach. And so that’s what we did. Well, we hung out more together than with surf girls and ended up setting up our tent at 2am right next to our car in the parking lot, but that was right next to the beach so I believe that it counted.



We woke up the next day (the boys feeling a bit sore and hungover) and I drove us to Sevilla and our separation point. It’s sad to think that I probably won’t see them ever again. After having spent the past 19 continuous days I had become quite used to, and attached, to them I was a bit nervous to set out on my own once again. But I suppose that is life and I know that I now am much more prepared to travel alone then I was at the beginning of the journey. The next post will be exactly this, talking about my experience traveling by myself and the difference from when I first started out 4 months ago, in June.