Changes in Latitudes

Onto the final entry of our trip to Portugal. (Note: we have been back in Norway since the 25th, and I'm just being slow at writing since thesis stress has taken over my brain.) [25th of April Bridge - the start of the half marathon] We got to Lisbon around 7pm after our day of quick highlight pitstops and had to pick up my packet for the half-marathon. After, we called the place where we thought that we were staying...well, when Marius booked the room he got a little confused and said we were staying with them from the 23rd, not the 22nd. So we parked the car in a very expensive garage in the city (cost 17 euros for 12 hours - more expensive than the rental itself) and walked around the city looking for a place to stay for the night. The hotels were WAY too expensive, so we found one little hostel that had a room to spare. It looked a little shabby, and it was. When I turned on the light to the bathroom there was a loud BANG! and the lights went out and glass crashed to the...

[Farm country] From Lagos we drove north via Beja and Evora after some reading online. We spent maybe an hour or two tops in each town on our way up to Lisbon. The road north was the same as the way south, but we went off at Beja to swing over to Evora. Central Portugal is mainly farmland, and vineyards, cattle, and fig trees made up the majority of the agriculture. [See the groups of retirees in Beja] We stopped in Beja for our daily pastry and coffee and walked around the town to get some pictures and stretch the legs. The streets were cool, and there were of groups of old men standing in circles having discussions with wild hand gestures. In Beja, old Portuguese culture was still hanging around, because it was obvious that the men and the women did separate things during the day. The next city was an impromptu detour because we saw the castle sitting at the top of the hill. This town was called Portel. We drove up the narrow streets to the castle and took some pict...

For my Christmas present, Marius bought us a trip to Portugal and my place in the Lisboa Meia Maratona (Lisbon Half-Marathon). We left on the 25th from Oslo, bright and early, with a layover in Brussels. When we landed in Lisbon it was a comfortable 16 degrees C (61 F = a normal Norwegian summer day), and the locals were saying "This weather, it's terrible!"  [Sines - a little south of Lisbon] We rented a Fiat pretty cheap and drove south for Lagos, in the Algarve region of southern coastal Portugal. We aimed for the scenic coastal road, but we got a little confused due to the lack of road signs and decided to just take the easy way down since there was no light to see the view anyways. The Portuguese drive at an insane speed compared to the Norwegian speed limits. The speed limit driving on the highway in Portugal was 120 kph (75 mph)...very fast when the speed limit on the biggest main road we usually drive on in Bergen is comparable to a snail at 70 kph (44 mph...

On the menu: Irish soda bread, Guinness, Shepherd's/Cottage pie, fries...did I mention Guinness? Oh, and that I found 500,- kroner on the way home yesterday? Lucky Irish genes! [Irish soda bread] [Shepherd's/Cottage Pie and Guinness] Horrible way to throw off our diet right before our trip to Portugal, but we like having reasons to eat a big meal here. We bought the GoPro Hero3 HD video camera last week, and I'm really excited to pick it up from the post office tomorrow and see how it works. We are hoping to do some scuba diving while we're in Lagos (southern Portugal), and I'm hoping to get some good video of us diving to make a short movie from the trip. Just 6 more days til my half marathon! I'm really excited! I've been training really hard, so I'm sure I can beat last September's time of 2 hrs 7 minutes. The weather forecast looks great so far for race day! Right when we get back from Portugal, we are driving up to the Engebre...