Part 2. More summer with the perfect companions

After an incredible month going through Europe, I had some incredible memories and I was more tired than when I started but there is no rest when you have summer holiday in Europe. I had one night back in Holland to do some washing and have my own bed; but the next morning I was off once again, this time flying to Madrid.

I had a free day to myself in Madrid. I had the opportunity to go to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Real Madrid’s home ground. I went around the stadium and saw the trophies, field and change rooms. It is an incredible stadium and I could not help but think… one day…. I could…. Be the grounds man here. But I carried on in the impressive city and walked through the city park which really impressed me. I then had to head back to my hostel because I was meeting my travel team.

I walked back to my room to be welcomed by a couple familiar faces. I joined up with my two sisters and one of their friends. I had not seen them for seven months so I was very happy to see my sisters. They seemed happy too, still trying to decide if that was because of Europe but I like to think I played a role. That night we went on a pub crawl that was organised by the hostel; it was a great night with my sisters and I think I am starting to catch up with my older sisters.

The next morning we flew to Porto, Portugal. It was my first time in Portugal and it a country I could easily go back to. Porto was not too big but it had everything that we could ever ask for while travelling. We had good food, saw some incredible bridges and had a local Port tasting. Porto’s main feature must be the bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel which is in similar style to his more famous design, the Eiffel Tower. The advantage of travelling with my eldest sister is that she is an architect, so it is like travelling with a tour guide who can tell you all about the buildings and their style and period, which I thoroughly enjoyed and found fascinating. With Porto thoroughly travelled, we headed off to the next town of our trip by train, Coimbra.

Coimbra is a university town, the oldest university in Portugal. Incredibly, all the students still have to wear academic gowns every day to class in true traditional fashion. We were in the town during vacation, so the town was a bit of a ghost town. We did have a tour of the university which is something incredible and would put the history of our universities to shame. We only spent the one night in Coimbra before we headed off to the capital, Lisbon.

Lisbon is a city that I found fascinating. It is like a European Cape Town. I do not quite know how to explain it but just the atmosphere reminded of home, perhaps I was just starting to miss Cape Town. It is a very spread out city and it took a while to get around to everything. The Portuguese have a knack for dramatic statues and war memorial. In every town we visited there were memorials for different wars, but in Lisbon there was the most dramatic monument depicting a war scene. Lisbon also boasted an amazing modern refurbishment area. There must have been a huge lump of money devoted to this project, the train station, mall and promenade were all these incredible steel designs that kept my sisters fascinated for a long time, vowing that they would bring these ideas back to South Africa. And me vowing that one day I would understand what they were talking about.

Our next destination was our last Portuguese stop, in the surfing town of Lagos. We stayed in a proper surfing hostel, so I felt quite out of place without a wetsuit tan or ankle bracelet. The town of Lagos is very enjoyable; it has a very old walled city centre and incredible beaches with walks along the overlooking cliffs. It did take us far too long to find the beach but once there, we thoroughly enjoyed the beach and sun which I knew I wouldn’t have for quite a while longer.

There was not quite enough sun in the 30 degrees town of Lagos, so we decided to crank it up and head to Seville in Spain. We were greeted by a toasty 38 degrees where even a camel would break a sweat. Unfortunately I only had the afternoon in Seville. So we spent it eating Tapas and visiting the royal palace which is full of different designs and beauty. I would love to one day return to Seville and see the promising city that I only got a brief look at.

I had to leave my sisters in Spain, I returned to Madrid where I would get a flight the next morning back to Schiphol. My sisters carried on through Spain and I was most certainly a little sad to say good bye but it is not too long now till I see my family again. It was an incredible end to my vacation and a summer I will always remember and I am so grateful I had the chance to spend some time with my sisters.

I think someone wanted to remind me that I was back in the Netherlands because when I landed, it was raining. From 38 degrees to rain, my tan did not stand a chance.