Lisbon

With bags and luggage, we struggled up the steep streets to the rental car station. Our first destination was Nazaré, known for its huge waves. Big wave surfing competitions also take place here every winter. The highest wave ever measured was a whopping 30m high! When we arrived it wasn't very windy, so there were relatively small waves, but at 3-4 meters they still seemed big. The sun was shining and it was nice and warm. We watched a few surfers, most of whom were pulled into the waves by jet ski. We also visited a picture exhibition in the lighthouse, where we saw how incredibly high the waves hit the coast in the “right” conditions.

Afterwards we drove to the beautiful city of Sintra, west of Lisbon. Sintra looked like something out of a princess movie, there were several castles and the city itself was magical with its cobblestones and narrow streets. Since we were a little late, we only managed to visit one place, the Quinta da Regaleira. The circular route led through a large “enchanted” garden, through caves and at the end to the castle itself.

Arriving in the heavy traffic of Lisbon, we quickly dropped off the car at the airport and took the metro into the city. This time our apartment was a little outside and we had to climb up some steep streets again. In the evening we went for a sensationally delicious vegan meal and fell into bed tired.

We started the next day comfortably with croissants and cappuccino in the sunshine. We walked through the city center and ate pastéis de nata - not for the last time that day. This time we were able to watch the tarts being made through a pane of glass. At lunchtime we visited the Castelo de São Jorge, from where we had a beautiful view over Lisbon. We also went into a “darkroom” where a mirror used sunlight to generate a live 360° feed of the city on a screen, which we thought was pretty cool. Around 4pm we decided it was entirely appropriate to drink the first port of the day. After a midday snack, we passed a small street stall selling a cherry liqueur called Ginja in chocolate glasses. The lady explained to us that this was a specialty of the Alfama district and how to drink the whole thing. Afterwards we continued walking and found a cool bar area. For dinner we had made a reservation at a vegan restaurant again and tried Portuguese classics without animals.

And then came our last day in Lisbon and therefore the last full day of the trip around the world. Emotionally, we were torn between the joy of friends, family and the Christmas season at home and the sadness that our adventure was coming to an end. We took the train to Belém and visited a monastery there that is a world heritage site. The building was nice but not a highlight and after 20 minutes we left. We then walked to the “Ponte 25 de Abril” bridge, which was named after the largely peaceful so-called Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974. Previously it bore the name of the dictator Salazar, who ruled until 1968. The bridge totally reminded us of the Golden Gate Bridge, as it was also made of red steel and was partly covered in fog. After a visit to a market hall, where we munched on really good Pad Thai and of course a Pastel de Nata, we walked into the beautiful Barrio Alto. Here Jana tried the port wine version of Gin Tonic for a change, which was really tasty and we enjoyed the first vegan Pastel de Nata, which was in no way inferior in taste to the original. We walked to a viewing point with a view of the city lights and reminisced about the trip. In the evening we visited a Christmas market that had opened that day and got a first taste of the next 6 weeks: jingle bells and crowds with mulled wine cups in their hands. After 5 minutes that was enough for us and we went back to the restaurant from the first evening. Back at the apartment we packed everything up and couldn't really believe that the 10 months had gone by so quickly.

We really liked Portugal as a conclusion and we are happy about the gradual and slow journey back to Germany without too much jet lag.