Three years in Portugal and my trip to Seville

October 19, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

I can’t remember the exact day we came to Portugal, but it has been 3 years now (give or take a few days)! I remember that on our 1 year anniversary it still felt kind of surreal and at this point I suppose I have accepted that we do actually live in Portugal. We have come a long way and I feel pretty good about things except for our language skills, and that we still have our US driver’s licenses. Now that things are starting to settle down, we will be focusing on those things. We started a Portuguese class a few weeks ago through Portuguese Language Lessons that we are liking so far. It feels nice at least making the effort to learn Portuguese again.

The kids started school last month and they are absolutely thriving. I still can’t believe how much they enjoy school- especially Leo. Sofia has always enjoyed going out and doing things and socializing, but Leo is more of a home body. He absolutely loves going to school though and even has some friends. They started swim class again last week and they’re liking that too. It’s so nice to see them really thriving and enjoying life.

I just got back from Seville, Spain a few days ago. It reminded me of Portugal in some ways- probably mostly because it has a lot of the cobblestone sidewalks like Portugal does instead of the smooth ones that we have seen in other parts of Spain. When we looked at moving to Spain people said that they don’t really speak much English in Spain, which we have found to be true of Barcelona and Valencia- but it’s absolutely not true for Seville. My Spanish is good enough to get by on, but every time I spoke to someone in Seville they almost immediately switched to English. I heard a ton of English speaking tourists there as well.

I like Seville- it has some nice sites and a lot of variety in their restaurants. There is a ton of shopping there as well. I only stayed on one side of the river and it seems like there was stuff to do on the other side as well. It was a good sized city, especially if you’re traveling around on foot. Unfortunately it rained most of the time that I was there, but I came prepared with my umbrella and rain coat. I did get a break in the rain to go see the view from Setas de Sevilla. That was definitely my favorite experience in Seville. The structure was interesting to look at from the ground and the views from the top were great. I have a very strong fear of heights, but I also love views from up high. I almost always have a panic attack when I go up to high places, but it’s worth the view. In this case I didn’t have a panic attack because the structure masks how high up you up. You have to deliberately lean over to look down, which I only did once. So I got to walk around without having that fear constantly triggered, which was a really nice thing, lol.

I forgot the name- this was another palace

My second favorite was Palacio de las Duenas. There is a self-guided audio tour and most of it involves walking around the grounds. They had a beautiful garden there and I really loved walking around there. Traveling alone wasn’t as fun as it used to be. It has been at least 10-15 years since I have gone on a solo trip. I’m glad I went, but it’s just more fun to experience with someone else. Sofia would have enjoyed a lot of what I was doing and I wished she was there with me.

Every time I leave Portugal I don’t mind coming back. When we lived in the US I never wanted to come home. That applied to everywhere we lived- Colorado, Florida, South Carolina…we would go on vacation and I would get so upset at having to go back home, but now a part of me enjoys coming home. Portugal really feels like home more than anywhere else has in a long time. When we moved here a part of me worried that we would visit Spain and I would like it more. When it was just me, Kyle, and Sofia, we were 100% set on Valencia, Spain. Then I got pregnant with Leo and the income requirements for Spain became higher than I wanted to deal with, so we started to look more seriously at Portugal.

At first it kind of felt like Portugal was our backup choice, though I quickly found things about Portugal I liked. Since moving here Portugal has never been a backup choice. I have been to Spain a handful of times now, and I have even been to Valencia. I don’t dislike Spain, I just like Portugal more for our current stage of life. I even liked Valencia, and there is a ton to do there, but I’m happy we ended up in Portugal. It’s a nice reminder every time I leave how much I love it here.

Speaking of leaving, I’m already working on a few trips. My number one priority is to go to The Netherlands with Sofia next year to see the tulips. Tulips season coincides with Sofia’s Easter break from school, so I really want to make that trip happen. Originally we were planning on going to Disneyland Paris for Christmas this year, but we just can’t make that happen. The only money I will lose is on our plane tickets to Paris because that is all that I paid for so far. Now that I know I have plane tickets to Paris already my brain has been turning and I’m wondering if I can make some kind of trip happen, even if it’s not to Disneyland. We’ll have to see. Work has been really feast or famine lately, and I really want to build up more savings so I’m not so stressed when the famine part hits. But if I can make Paris happen right before Christmas I definitely will. Paris is definitely out of my comfort zone because of the language barrier, but I know I need to visit eventually and Christmas seems like a great time to see Paris.

Valencia

June 13, 2023August 2, 2023 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

After years and years of researching Valencia we finally made it here and get to see if I was right. When I was looking at Spain I knew right away that Valencia would be our spot. I didn’t even really look into anywhere else because I knew we would love Valencia. I was right! This city is amazing. It’s beautiful and lively but not as overwhelming as Barcelona and other big cities feel. It seems really bike friendly- I love all of the bike lanes around the city.

We are on an almost 2 week trip. It started with a night in Porto, then a night in Barcelona, and then 7 nights on the cruise. We were supposed to spend 4 nights in Valencia, but our original fight got cancelled so instead we will spend 3 nights here and then 1 in Lisbon.

We took a few cruises before kids so we wanted to see what it would be like now. We didn’t love it, but the kids had fun. We both agree that 7 nights is too long and we will skip MSC next time. I want to try 3-5 nights on Disney or Celebrity. We did go to a few ports we love like La Spezia, Italy and Palma de Mallorca, Spain. I’m really hoping to make it back to Palma one of these days.

On Saturday we docked in Barcelona and took the 3 hour train ride to Valencia. We already know we want to come back to Valencia for at least a week. But maybe when it’s a bit cooler. It’s already getting warm here and it feels much more humid than central Portugal.

It’s interesting to see the city that could have been- the life that could have been. We had decided on Valencia for years before choosing Portugal instead. I love Valencia, but Portugal feels like home. I could see living in Spain one day, or maybe Italy. Who knows? But I do want to raise my kids in Portugal. We just need to find a spot there that we love and see ourselves staying in for years to come.

There is so much in Valencia that we didn’t do this trip. We’re all pretty exhausted. We did go to the Science Museum. We only made it to one exhibit, which was the one for young kids. The kids loved it. We didn’t even see any of the other exhibits because they wanted to spend all their time there. We didn’t go to the Aquarium or zoo, so hopefully we can see those next time. We did make it to Gulliver Parc, which is really unique. Sofia loved it but Leo was a little nervous.

This is one of the first times I’m really excited to go home. A week before our trip our vet called and said she had rescued a few cats and wanted to know if we wanted one of them. We got a girl kitten who is about 2 months old. We named her Lua. Her mom was feral, so Lua hasn’t been around people a lot. I had been working hard to gain her trust and she was really starting to come out of her shell right when we left. We had just introduced her to Rufino. I have never had two cats at the same time! Lua is at home with a pet sitter and probably loves not having toddlers around right now.

We miss all of the pets a lot this trip. This trip has been fun, but we’re all ready to get back. No more big trips this year. I need to work and save some money. We will be taking some trips around Portugal though. Somehow we are all traveled out for the moment. I’m sure after spending a month or two at home I’ll start thinking about another trip 😉

PortAventura Spain

September 19, 2022June 22, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Today is Sofia’s 4th birthday and we finally made it to Spain! We flew into Barcelona a few days ago and have been staying in Salou to have easy access to PortAventura. Getting here was a bit of a pain. Our flight was delayed by over an hour and then our train was cancelled and we ended up stuck in the Barcelona train station for over 4 hours. Turns out there was a strike just on that particular line. The train station was really hot and pretty miserable, but we made it.

We went to PortAventura on Saturday and today, and yesterday we hung around Salou and went to the beach. I’m glad we came, but I wouldn’t repeat this trip. Salou is okay, but there is nothing special or unique about it. It feels super touristy and I hear more English than Spanish. It doesn’t feel European, it actually kind of reminds me of some of the touristy cruise ship ports that all look the same. It’s also really loud here and people stay up until 6 partying, talking, and laughing in the streets. I feel so old saying that it’s too loud, but it’s definitely too loud here, lol. At least for sleeping.

It has been really nice hearing Spanish again because I understand it. And when we ran into some issues in Barcelona I knew exactly how to say what I wanted to say. I have understood a lot more than I expected to. I can’t wait to get to that level with Portuguese. I have been taking Portuguese lessons two times a week and definitely want to keep it up.

We already knew Portugal was home, but this trip has really cemented it for us. I know comparing 11 months in Portugal to 6 days in Spain is pretty unfair though. We will have to go to Valencia to get a better idea. Valencia is where we planned to move when Spain was at the top of our list.

We were only in Barcelona to spend the night and then for a few hours in the morning. We went to the Lego store to get a few toys. I will definitely be back in Barcelona one day when the kids are older. For now it’s just a bit too much. I remember writing before that big cities tend to overwhelm me. I love them, but there is a lot going on. That’s definitely true of Barcelona, even more with toddlers. It’s just too stressful being in a huge city that I don’t know, not knowing if the kids are going to run off or step into a busy street.

Salou was a great city to visit right now, even if we didn’t love it. It’s flat and easy to navigate with wide sidewalks. Since the sidewalks aren’t cobblestone it’s a lot easier to push a stroller here. There is a pedestrian only area that leads right to the beach.

PortAventura was a lot of fun. They have Sesame Adventures and the kids spent most of their time at the huge playground there. We’re really going to miss that playground. Today wasn’t busy, so Kyle and I even got to go on some rides. Tomorrow we’re taking a train back to Barcelona for an early morning flight the day after. Fingers crossed it all goes well. Next up is Belgium in December to see the Christmas markets. Until then we are going to really enjoy being home in Portugal.