What's up, my dudes. Earlier this summer I went to Portugal. It was my first time ever stepping foot in the country. Here's what happened.
Really quick I'd like to give a little bit of context.
It feels wrong not to. I've been living in France since February. I took this trip a little over a month ago in early
July as the situation in Europe has been largely stable for most of the summer as reflected by the official data.
Travel within most of Europe at least for now has been fully legal as long as certain safety measures like wearing a mask indoors or
in public transit are respected. So, anyway, I hope you enjoy.
So I basically packed
for a little trip that I'm about to do to Portugal which i'm super excited about and uh,
I should stop recording this right now because I'm going to be late to my flight. Boom! That's what i'm taking
all packed
Let's get going
Honestly, it kind of caught me off guard that practically every european I know is doing some form of travel this summer. I guess it
helps to live in a place where a 12-minute flight is all it takes to get to another country. I'm exaggerating but only kind of.
I arrived right before golden hour. So that most likely had an impact
But the first thing that really struck me upon landing in Lisbon were the colors
The colors, man! The Portuguese color palette at least in summer is gorgeous. It's a lot of warm tones: pinks and oranges.
My first objective was to get dinner. I had these delicious looking fried fish things...
...and then my first ever baccalau dish which every Portuguese person has been harassing me to have.
Really a solid first impression, let me say.
The next day I took a train up to Porto as my loose plan was to slowly make my way back down throughout the week.
I got an immediate sense that the rhythm of life here is considerably different than other places I've been.
People move at a different pace. They're way less stressed out and uptight.
Climate wise I couldn't stop thinking that it felt like the southern California of Europe.
It's time to meet up with my friend - Bernardo
Oh, I knew this was gonna happen
Bernardo and Martha are Portuguese from different parts of Portugal. This is the battle right here
See the battle: Porto - Lisbon
I would say that Porto is great. Lisbon is great
But Porto is smaller. In Porto you're always like
15 minutes away from anything. But do you ever feel like
How would I say it nothing?
No, no, no, no, there's always something to do in Portugal.
This is the most dysfunctional vlogging i've ever done, I don't know what the storyline is of today.
Me neither.
In the past, when I would travel I would stress myself out by trying to
maximize every minute and squeeze the most out of my time there.
This trip was a little different. I just wanted to enjoy myself and not get locked up in specific plans - the portuguese way.
Increasingly, I feel like the places I travel to and my experiences in those places reflect where i'm at in life
This year for example has done nothing but reinforce how little actual control I have over most things in life
I've been placing a lot of focus and energy not necessarily on self-improvement, but quite simply just not getting in my own way
Like prioritizing the things I actually want to worry about and paying attention to what I consume
I visited a famous bookstore called the library lello that apparently inspired J.K. Rowling's idea of hogwarts where I studied and got my degree
in being the chosen one. The bookstore is cool, but Hogwarts is better
Later, we went to the beach which feels like it's always only 15 minutes away in this country.
And while it's not something I necessarily always catch and include in my videos
It's the conversations that I have with the people that i'm spending time with that always stick with me
Increasingly, I find that my interactions and experiences with other people during my travels is what colors my perception of the places that I visit
I wasn't in the best place mentally a few months ago and though I obviously do not want to go back to that
Having that kind of contrast has allowed me to really appreciate my interactions with people so much more
Dude, where where have you taken me exactly?
So now we are like following this road that goes along the door river. This is
A very famous river in Portugal because of the vineyards. This is where they plant the grapes to produce porto wine
So you say you've never been here before?
No, actually not. I love the fact that you're discovering this country kind of with me right now
I found this
Little like this is such a european thing. You're going to see what i'm talking about here. Hold on. I basically found
my own little castle
That looks out on all porto
What the heck what the heck
Then we begin our descent back towards lisbon
We listen to some fabu on our way down, which is a genre of music unique to the country
Fado has a kind of melancholic feel and it literally means destiny or fate
As if in some ways it's about accepting our fate even if it's painful or bittersweet the first father singers or phadistas
Were prostitutes and the wives of fishermen who would leave and often never return?
We hit a town called Costa Nova - famous for its striped houses, which I quite liked
Whoa
Exploring Portugal. Yes the exploration of Portugal happening right now
Next was Sintra
Remember when I said the pace was slower in portugal? I mean, it doesn't give a shit. Oh my god. There's already a guy
Who's he going to do trying to find out what's going on going in?
Oh my god
And then another guy... Oh, shit, we got more going on. We got a showdown
Sintra is one of the most beautiful towns i've ever been to
It's definitely worth coming here if you ever want to visit the country
This is probably my kind of little I knew it european town I think for me it's the green
All the greenery. I love the stones like buildings like that
I don't know. I like that. We're like on a hill. Did I seriously just say that on a hill?
With my attempt at a lisbon accent
This place looked more like a video game with amazing graphics than real life. This freaks me out
Can't even give any interesting updates. I don't do my research. I don't know where i'm going
I had my first ever pastel dinata. Wow, that's really good
Oh my god, no, no
No, you cannot
No, no, oh my god, no
Oh my goodness
I can't believe you just did that that was insane
Okay, I can't include everything I did that week but i'd like to share one more spot that I went to.
Okay. It's freezing so windy over here, but oh
This is confirmation that this was indeed the westernmost point in continental europe
THE WIND IS SO STROOONG!!!
There it goes - bye, Sun
And before I realized it the week came to an end everything you just saw is now nothing more than a series of memories
I have a theory about Portugal
It's a country that has developed a particular taste for the bittersweet
The blend of joy and sorrow there's an understanding here that you cannot actually separate pain and pleasure
One doesn't exist without the other
In a way that has perfectly captured what this year has felt like for me so far
The Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa wrote: "The value of things is not the time they last but the intensity with which they occur"
That is why there are unforgettable moments and unique people
This video is sponsored by audible, which I use pretty much every day
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Thank you audible for sponsoring this video and thank you for watching
I am sweating so much right now because it is so hot in my apartment
I can't see anything right now. What a mess
Vlogging this went to hell. Okay. Here we go in portuguese, okay
Yeah
Um
Oh my god