Madeira Day 1- Nun's Valley

We arrived in Madeira about 10:30am and found a bus that would take us to Funchal the capital city. The bus driver was very helpful and dropped us off close to the hostel. The hostel was larger than we expected and seemed more like a hotel.

We picked up some tourist brochures at the airport and ended up using Madeira Happy Tours. At their office they recommended we join their afternoon tour to the Nun's Valley that was leaving in the next 15 min. We decided to go for it! The weather was beautiful and the views from up in the mountains helped us get a better feel for the island.

 The Bird of Paradise is the flower of Madeira. You see lots of terrace farming all over the island. They make use of as much land as they can. Lots of tunnels have been built to make travel across the island from one valley to the next shorter.

After the Nun's Valley we spent some time wandering around the area close to our hostel. We walked along the water, found an Asian restaurant for dinner that was quite yummy and finished our evening with a stop and Pingo Doce- the grocery store to stock up on food for our hike the next day.

Spring Break!

I was so excited to have my sister Allison come to visit me over my spring break week. She arrived Saturday morning. That afternoon we took the train into Lisbon and went to the Oceanarium. It's the largest aquarium in Europe. They had many different kinds of fish and marine life.

We decided to travel to Madeira, a small Portuguese island south west of Portugal and west of Africa. It was described to us as the Hawaii/Caribbean of Europe. Many people from all over Europe (Germany, England, Ireland, Netherlands) come for vacation. Because of this the island is very much a tourist spot and most people spoke English. We spent 4 days and 3 nights on the island. It was beautiful! Here are a few pictures. More details and pictures to come...

Sporting Portugal vs. Atletico Madrid

Thursday night my roommate Gina and I got to go to a soccer game in Lisbon. Pedro, one of the teachers at ICSC, is a big fan of the Sporting team and offered that Gina and I could go to a game with him. We had quite the adventure getting there. Traffic was worse than expected and we got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic about 2 km from the stadium. Once we made it near the stadium Pedro realized the Parking Garage he was planning to park in was not open any more - police were there not letting anyone enter. We were forced to follow the road back out toward the highway and away from the stadium. Pedro ended up parking the car up on the median at the side of the highway (a common thing to do in Portugal for soccer games, but Pedro never had before). It was only about 10-15 minutes to the start of the game so we jogged back towards the stadium along the main road. Of course our entrance was on the far side of the stadium from the way were were approaching! Here's one picture of the stadium I snapped on the jog there - that's why it's a little blurry!

Once we made it to the stadium there was a huge crowd of fans waiting to get it. We were shoulder to shoulder all pressed in trying to get access to the entrance. Twice different units of policemen all dressed up in their gear (complete with shields/helmets) pushed up the steps and tried to help direct the crazy mob. In the crowd fans would burst into the Sporting song - by the end of the night Gina and I could hum along! All the devoted Sporting fans wore their team scarf around their neck with the Sporting colors - green and white. Spain's team was red so Gina and I made sure not to wear anything red to the game! We finally made it into the stadium and found our seats.

 We just missed the first few minutes as we made our way to our seats right about on the center line. The game was high energy the whole way through. The fans threw a flare onto the field at one point. You can see it in the picture above. A few minutes into the game Madrid scored the first goal. By the end of the first half the score was 1-1 and in the second half Madrid scored again followed by Sporting. The final score was 2-2. This was the second game of the match. The first had been played in Spain about 2 weeks ago with a score of 0-0. The away team gets the advantage for any goals scored not at home which is why Madrid won the match even though the score was tied. Leaving the stadium was much easier and less hectic. It was a fun experience and probably the largest stadium I've been in. I'm glad I had the chance to see a soccer game and the adrenaline rush was worth it (even though it took me a while to fall asleep that night)!

Bus Trip

This past weekend I had the chance to join a retreat trip with a local Portuguese church. We visited some cities north of Lisbon. One of the other teachers from school, Anna went with me. We were the only 2 American's on the trip with about 40-50 Portuguese. Our first stop was Obidos, a walled in city with a picturesque medieval appearance. The bus was on a pretty strict schedule so we only had about about 30 minutes to walk around. The weather was overcast and rainy all day but despite the raindrops we made the most of the sightseeing time. I loved the quaint look of the narrow streets and the way the trees have been made to grow right alongside the buildings.

The second stop we made was in Aveiro, a city that dates back to the 10th century. This town is know as the "Portuguese Venice" because of the canals and boats that are reminiscent of Venice, Italy. There were tornado warnings in central/northern Portugal over the weekend which brought strong rain, winds, and even flooding near the coast.

We spent the night in Esmoriz at a Bible Camp. Esmorz is a town located just south of Porto in northern Portugal. Across the street from the Camp was a gym where 2 Portuguese teams were playing a volleyball match. It was fun to watch part of the game. (Anna and I played with the teachers last Friday against the students. I'm happy to report that the teachers won 2 out of 3 games!!)

Saturday morning we rode the bus into Porto and had a little bit of time to walk around the streets and take in the older section of town. Again it was cold and rainy but that made the sky look dramatic in some of my pictures. It was another fun trip to see part of northern Portugal. I also enjoyed getting to meet some new people and be immersed in Portuguese for 2 days! Anna commented to me that if we did trips like this every weekend we'd pick up Portuguese quickly. The laughter and new sights were a refreshing change from my usual weekend spent at the apartment. I enjoyed sampling some yummy pastries at different cafes we stopped at. I've learned that the Portuguese like to take coffee stops!