Europe

After the dense urban cityscape of Lisbon, I was looking for something a bit more low key before my next stop in Porto.

After a few hours of searching around the web, I came across the small town of Aveiro, known throughout the country as the Portuguese Venice. And at a glance this definitely seems fitting, as even a quick image search will return image after image of brightly colored gondolas slicing through the centrally located canal. These images were unlike anything I’d seen in Portugal thus far. As luck would have it, the train station stop was already conveniently located along the same route as Porto. Read More

Lisbon was the one destination within Portugal that I had heard enough about to build up a perception around. A perception primarily consisting of beautifully weathered neighborhoods to explore, plenty of colorful history to take in, steep hills to climb, and delicious eats to stuff in my face. Yep, this sounded like my kind of place. Read More

If there’s one thing that I really seriously look forward to when traveling to new countries, it’s the food. There’s just something about those new local flavors mixed with different textures that really excites me. Even when it’s something that I’m familiar with, just the sights and sounds of the local environment adds a fresh perspective that I’ll readily gobble up almost every time. Read More

“Are you looking to shop?” my host asked me with a sly smirk. It was yet another warm, impossibly clear day in Lisbon and, having run through most of my hot spots, I was looking for suggestions. Read More

Not gonna lie… Exploring around town was great and all, but Lagos beaches were what really sent me further down the Algarve coast of Southern Portugal. In researching this area, images of deep green sea water and otherworldly craggy orange cliffs constantly flashed up on the computer screen, and I was mesmerized. Read More