sevilla

sevilla continued with the theme "spain=rain". we walked around with our crappy yellow umbrella, its thin, tattered remains clinging pathetically to the misshapen metal rods in the wind. it was here that we finally caved and bought a newer, functional umbrella(spending a lot more than we wanted), and since, it hasn't rained a drop. as for the city itself, sevilla was great. we checked out one of the largest cathedrals in the world, tried sneaking into a moorish castle, and stayed at a pretty great hostel with a swimming pool on the roof. for some reason 12 degree weather didn't warrent a cooling dip in the pool for nik, so we opted to wait for hawaii to go swimming. nothing else worth mentioning happened in sevilla. they do have lots of oranges there though.
after sevilla, lagos was our next destination. it was very different from the rest of our trip, as lagos is more or less a little touristy beach town on the southwestern tip of portugal. the beaches are some of the most beautiful in the world, and the town itself is a quaint little place, with many cheap pubs, cafes, and stray dogs who were quick to assume friendship with tourists such as ourselves. lagos was a place for relaxing. we lazily strolled the cliff-like paths along the beaches, read books, watched movies at our hostel(one night we were the only guests there), and went to the pub from time to time to watch a soccer(futebol) match. the person in charge of our suggestively titled hostel was simply known as "the mama". she woke us up every morning and made us never-ending stacks of delicious crepes, served with homemade lemon tea. the tea was said to have the ability to cure the worst hangover, but in me and nik's case, cured our over-tiredness, probably from watching movies til 10 o'clock, then sleeping for 11 hours. lagos is a must for travelling in portugal, though if we were to go again, it would probably be during the warmer months, when it turns into a more lively, exciting place to be,(and a great place to get a tan).