April 23-May 3, 2017
Every year, one of our most looked-forward-to trips is the spring triathlon training camp with WITC. Igors does an awesome job organizing a week for 10-15 guys and gals to do some training, but also to enjoy a break away from Warsaw. Past locations included Crete, Fuertaventura and Tuscany. In 2017, we went to Portugal. I had always wanted to go to Portugal, and the only thing I really knew about it was what I had heard in Hawaii - a Portuguese man-of-war is like a jellyfish, and Portuguese sausage goes well with eggs and rice. The camp fell next to the long May weekend, which gave us the perfect excuse to stay in Portugal after the end of camp. So we could make sure to eat and drink any calories that were burned during the training.
An added bonus was that the trip was the day after Zosia and I got engaged. You could say we had an engagementmoon in Portugal.
The tri-camp in Silves can be summed up pretty simply: daily swims, cycling, sore butts, a couple runs, plus a ton of good food, wine, and fun. Spending it with a bunch of good friends doesn't hurt either. Unlike past years, we didn't stay in a sports resort, instead choosing an apartment in a residential area, and using the community's indoor pool. It was different, but a lot of fun since we had an entire villa to ourselves, including a small common area and outdoor pool for hanging out. AND WE HAD A DRONE!!! Do you hear me??? I finally got to play with a drone and use it to film the music video.
So that's enough talking about tri-camp. Here's the video.
After the week-long camp, a few of us headed up to Lisbon. Portugal isn't that big, but it is long (that's what she said). The train from camp in Silves in the south took about 4 hours to Lisbon, which is in the middle. Porto is in the north, and that would have been another few hours to get to. So we'll just save Porto for another visit.
Determining the best neighborhood for a home base is always a challenge when visiting a city for the first time. We asked a bunch of people for the best area, and most people suggested around the castle. I didn't even know there was a castle in Lisbon, so that was already something exciting for me. But as we all know, living next to a castle likely means living on a hill. And Lisbon's hills are no joke. The walk to the apartment wasn't that far from the train station, but it was far UP from the train station. Around every corner in Lisbon is another windy hill to climb up with a fat suitcase full of triathlon gear (windy, as in "wine-dee", not as in "win-dee". So maybe that should be "winding"?). It seems like you are always going up hill, even when you're going down.
One pleasant surprise about Lisbon was that the prices were not as high as other Western European capital cities (like Paris or Rome or London). We noticed quite a few abandoned buildings, right next to new, modern developments, so it seems that their economy is still not in an ideal condition. The architecture is beautiful, with the cobblestone streets and the iconic tiled buildings. The language is interesting, in that for some reason I thought it was similar to Spanish, but in fact it sounds nothing like it. It's quite hard for me to understand how they pronounce words, since many letters don't make the sound I'd expect based on the spelling. The pronunciation also seems a bit more harsh than Spanish (except when spoken by beautiful ladies of course). I was surprised to read that Portuguese is actually the 6th most common language in the world, thanks mostly to the trillions of people in Brazil.
The downside of a vacation during the holiday weekend is that everything was closed on May 1st. It's also common practice, as in other southern European countries, for shops and restaurants to be closed for siesta in the afternoons. So we had to plan around that. But it didn't seem to affect the drug dealers, as they were standing on every corner of the main walking street at all hours. At least they were polite. But if you aren't expecting to be offered drugs by 17 different people within your first hour, it can be a bit shocking.
Speaking of drugs, some of the food was very addictive. There was great seafood everywhere. In Silves, my favorite meal was fish from a hut on the side of the road. A pastel de nata (plural: pasteis de nata, obviously) is probably the best thing you'll ever eat in Portugal. It's an egg custard and you can basically swallow them whole because they are so delicious...a perfect mix of sweet and gooey, with a hint of salty and savory. We went to the town of Belem, where the pastries were born, created and sold by Catholic priests in the 1800's (inspired by something similar in France). We waited in line to eat in the famous Pasteis de Belem cafe. Speaking to the popularity, the cafe seats over 400 people. By the way, Belem (which they pronounce in a way that sounds like "blame") is the Portuguese word for Bethlehem. I think it's because Jesus used to eat these pasteis every day after school. By the way again, I don't know how to pronounce "pasteis". But I can tell you that they aren't those little stickers that cover your nipples.
We had a lot of other good food as well - on our first night, we enjoyed a nice Mozambique restaurant, because obviously Mozambique was a Portuguese colony thanks to Vasco da Gama. This made me wonder if Mozambique is both the name and the adjective? Another favorite was the bifana, which I ate for breakfast every day at the cafe next to our Airbnb. It's simply juicy pork boiled in oil, and placed in a bread roll. Super healthy. And even though I don't really love olives, and definitely don't really love sardines, we got used to eating bread, olives and sardine pate, which was served before every meal.
To drink, obviously port is nice (and a trip to Porto awaits), but they have really nice wines as well. And towards the end of the trip we discovered ginjinha, a cherry liquor that tasted even better than the Polish wiśniówka. It's sometimes served in a chocolate shot glass, which you eat after you are finished with the drink. I guess it's a chocolate shot "cup", since it's not actually made from glass. It's even better when you just put the whole thing in your mouth, chew it a few times, and swish the liquid around before swallowing. That's not what she said, you sickos.
In addition to the food, the sightseeing was splendid. Obviously you can't go wrong with simply wandering around the city. The castle is nice, the views from the hills are amazing, and every other street is a work of art. We did the free Discover Lisbon walking tour, which was definitely worthwhile, as long as you're ready for the hills. They showed us some of the churches around the city, told some of the history of both the Romans and Moors, and explained that statues of kings on horses usually show how the king died - two horse legs off the ground shows that he died in battle, one leg off means that he died from injuries suffered in battle, and all legs on the ground means he died of boring natural causes. I guess this is standard everywhere.
Outside of Lisbon was also wonderful. Sintra is a must. We were tempted to spend some time at the seaside instead, but the castles in Sintra were more appealing. The train takes only 40 minutes, then you can take a bus (434) between the main sites for 5.50 Euros. Gary, Inka and Ania met us there for some castle exploration. The Moorish castle was amazing. The old, gray fortress walls flowed around us, which somehow reminded me of Morgan Freeman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Pena Palace was completely opposite; loud and colorful, reminding me of Alice in Wonderland, where you'd expect to see fancy people with big white wigs. But equally impressive.
In the end, we saw three different castles, which was more than enough to make me happy. For some reason I didn't image Portugal to be a place for castles, but I am glad that it is. And there were so many other nice things about it that we'll definitely have to explore more of the country someday. One other thing on the to-do list: find out where Hawaiian Portuguese sausages come from.
Every year, one of our most looked-forward-to trips is the spring triathlon training camp with WITC. Igors does an awesome job organizing a week for 10-15 guys and gals to do some training, but also to enjoy a break away from Warsaw. Past locations included Crete, Fuertaventura and Tuscany. In 2017, we went to Portugal. I had always wanted to go to Portugal, and the only thing I really knew about it was what I had heard in Hawaii - a Portuguese man-of-war is like a jellyfish, and Portuguese sausage goes well with eggs and rice. The camp fell next to the long May weekend, which gave us the perfect excuse to stay in Portugal after the end of camp. So we could make sure to eat and drink any calories that were burned during the training.
An added bonus was that the trip was the day after Zosia and I got engaged. You could say we had an engagementmoon in Portugal.
The tri-camp in Silves can be summed up pretty simply: daily swims, cycling, sore butts, a couple runs, plus a ton of good food, wine, and fun. Spending it with a bunch of good friends doesn't hurt either. Unlike past years, we didn't stay in a sports resort, instead choosing an apartment in a residential area, and using the community's indoor pool. It was different, but a lot of fun since we had an entire villa to ourselves, including a small common area and outdoor pool for hanging out. AND WE HAD A DRONE!!! Do you hear me??? I finally got to play with a drone and use it to film the music video.
Ok, so I need to work on my drone flying skills...
So that's enough talking about tri-camp. Here's the video.
Very hard training session
The Atlantic ocean somewhere
Even Silves has a castle
I promise, we did exercise
After the week-long camp, a few of us headed up to Lisbon. Portugal isn't that big, but it is long (that's what she said). The train from camp in Silves in the south took about 4 hours to Lisbon, which is in the middle. Porto is in the north, and that would have been another few hours to get to. So we'll just save Porto for another visit.
Determining the best neighborhood for a home base is always a challenge when visiting a city for the first time. We asked a bunch of people for the best area, and most people suggested around the castle. I didn't even know there was a castle in Lisbon, so that was already something exciting for me. But as we all know, living next to a castle likely means living on a hill. And Lisbon's hills are no joke. The walk to the apartment wasn't that far from the train station, but it was far UP from the train station. Around every corner in Lisbon is another windy hill to climb up with a fat suitcase full of triathlon gear (windy, as in "wine-dee", not as in "win-dee". So maybe that should be "winding"?). It seems like you are always going up hill, even when you're going down.
Nice views of the city after climbing the hills
Lisboa
One pleasant surprise about Lisbon was that the prices were not as high as other Western European capital cities (like Paris or Rome or London). We noticed quite a few abandoned buildings, right next to new, modern developments, so it seems that their economy is still not in an ideal condition. The architecture is beautiful, with the cobblestone streets and the iconic tiled buildings. The language is interesting, in that for some reason I thought it was similar to Spanish, but in fact it sounds nothing like it. It's quite hard for me to understand how they pronounce words, since many letters don't make the sound I'd expect based on the spelling. The pronunciation also seems a bit more harsh than Spanish (except when spoken by beautiful ladies of course). I was surprised to read that Portuguese is actually the 6th most common language in the world, thanks mostly to the trillions of people in Brazil.
The downside of a vacation during the holiday weekend is that everything was closed on May 1st. It's also common practice, as in other southern European countries, for shops and restaurants to be closed for siesta in the afternoons. So we had to plan around that. But it didn't seem to affect the drug dealers, as they were standing on every corner of the main walking street at all hours. At least they were polite. But if you aren't expecting to be offered drugs by 17 different people within your first hour, it can be a bit shocking.
Speaking of drugs, some of the food was very addictive. There was great seafood everywhere. In Silves, my favorite meal was fish from a hut on the side of the road. A pastel de nata (plural: pasteis de nata, obviously) is probably the best thing you'll ever eat in Portugal. It's an egg custard and you can basically swallow them whole because they are so delicious...a perfect mix of sweet and gooey, with a hint of salty and savory. We went to the town of Belem, where the pastries were born, created and sold by Catholic priests in the 1800's (inspired by something similar in France). We waited in line to eat in the famous Pasteis de Belem cafe. Speaking to the popularity, the cafe seats over 400 people. By the way, Belem (which they pronounce in a way that sounds like "blame") is the Portuguese word for Bethlehem. I think it's because Jesus used to eat these pasteis every day after school. By the way again, I don't know how to pronounce "pasteis". But I can tell you that they aren't those little stickers that cover your nipples.
I'll take a few dozen of those, please
We had a lot of other good food as well - on our first night, we enjoyed a nice Mozambique restaurant, because obviously Mozambique was a Portuguese colony thanks to Vasco da Gama. This made me wonder if Mozambique is both the name and the adjective? Another favorite was the bifana, which I ate for breakfast every day at the cafe next to our Airbnb. It's simply juicy pork boiled in oil, and placed in a bread roll. Super healthy. And even though I don't really love olives, and definitely don't really love sardines, we got used to eating bread, olives and sardine pate, which was served before every meal.
Who needs ice cream when you have bifana?
To drink, obviously port is nice (and a trip to Porto awaits), but they have really nice wines as well. And towards the end of the trip we discovered ginjinha, a cherry liquor that tasted even better than the Polish wiśniówka. It's sometimes served in a chocolate shot glass, which you eat after you are finished with the drink. I guess it's a chocolate shot "cup", since it's not actually made from glass. It's even better when you just put the whole thing in your mouth, chew it a few times, and swish the liquid around before swallowing. That's not what she said, you sickos.
Wish we had discovered this earlier!
In addition to the food, the sightseeing was splendid. Obviously you can't go wrong with simply wandering around the city. The castle is nice, the views from the hills are amazing, and every other street is a work of art. We did the free Discover Lisbon walking tour, which was definitely worthwhile, as long as you're ready for the hills. They showed us some of the churches around the city, told some of the history of both the Romans and Moors, and explained that statues of kings on horses usually show how the king died - two horse legs off the ground shows that he died in battle, one leg off means that he died from injuries suffered in battle, and all legs on the ground means he died of boring natural causes. I guess this is standard everywhere.
Outside of Lisbon was also wonderful. Sintra is a must. We were tempted to spend some time at the seaside instead, but the castles in Sintra were more appealing. The train takes only 40 minutes, then you can take a bus (434) between the main sites for 5.50 Euros. Gary, Inka and Ania met us there for some castle exploration. The Moorish castle was amazing. The old, gray fortress walls flowed around us, which somehow reminded me of Morgan Freeman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Pena Palace was completely opposite; loud and colorful, reminding me of Alice in Wonderland, where you'd expect to see fancy people with big white wigs. But equally impressive.
Feeling Moorish
I spotted Alice
In the end, we saw three different castles, which was more than enough to make me happy. For some reason I didn't image Portugal to be a place for castles, but I am glad that it is. And there were so many other nice things about it that we'll definitely have to explore more of the country someday. One other thing on the to-do list: find out where Hawaiian Portuguese sausages come from.
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