Back in September 2022 I was lucky enough to be allowed a sabbatical from the day job, I took just under 6 weeks and took full advantage of this opportunity. As soon as ,my partner got the green light for a couple weeks off we started planning. We knew we wanted to go around Europe but as ever money would be the deciding factor on where and how long at each place. We booked our flights and it was sorted, we were heading to Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Albuferia and Faro.

First stop: Barcelona. We for sure under estimated how big Barcelona is, we started off by trying to walk to a few of the monuments and quickly discovered that we were going to have to start looking at trams to get about, but I got to finally experience some top class tapas and beer by the litre so all the walking was worth it. After a couple days of 15,000+ steps, we took a day to just chill at the beach, got a spot right next to a beach bar. That evening we had tea outside the cathedral, saw some mad street artists and met up and had a few drinks with friends who were hitching their way from Barcelona to Berlin. The next morning we were at the train station trying to understand the ticket machine so we could some how get to Madrid.

The journey to Madrid took us through some of the lushest scenery going. I have to admit I didn’t know what to expect from Madrid but it exceeded all expectations, I think it helped that a cousin of mine lived there and so one evening she took us around and shown us the sites. This is before we then ended up in a bar called Sala Equis which is an old porn cinema, where we drank far to much, caught up on life and some how ended up in the square taking photos with the Phillip iii statue (we only know this because of the photos found on my phone the next morning). Apart from next level bars, Madrid also had Mexican food on every street (my favourite), Market of San Miguel and Royal parks, would deffo recommend hiring the boats at Parque del Retiro park for 4-6 euros, super cute and fun (especially when one of you has never rowed a boat before).

Lisbon. This was a weird one, I loved it but having friends over there and seeing their stories on Instagram etc, I think I was expecting something different, maybe life is different outside the city. But, I will say that it was a beautiful city, we got on the famous Tram 28, deffo get there early if you wanna get on and see the sights, we had breakfast at Dear Breakfast, which there was a queue for but as soon as we sat down we understood why! The bar right by the water front, where you could sit out and enjoy the view and get food and drink brought to you was lush! I think the highlight was Estrolli, it was recommended to us by a friend who lives in Lisbon, its about a 30 minute train journey and the train stops right next to the beach, there’s plenty of places to eat and chill out, we chose another little beach bar with deck chairs, played Yahtzee and cards, and after about 30 minutes of laying down doing nothing I went in the sea to swim and the water is NEXT LEVEL, beyond clear and surprisingly not cold!

We then moved on to Albuferia, I think here my partner really chilled out, I don’t know if it was because of the heavily reduced steps or the fact she could get a proper British brew. We had some stunning walks along the coast line and made the most the sun and sea (again it wasn’t as cold as people say, may be it was the time of year?). Turns out Albuferia has two coach stations and we had arrive early, had breakfast then realised that we were just two minutes away from the wrong station, and the other was in fact, 15 minutes all up hill and we had 10 minutes to get there… make sure to double check which you’ll be using.

Faro is alot smaller than any other place we had visited and honestly one of the most beautiful.. On our last day we spent it island hopping, Faro has three islands just off of its coast, the first had just two building on it (a restaurant for those who didn’t want to do the walk and chill on the sand) and the clearest waters you’ve ever seen, there may be a link there somewhere…? The second building was a shack, where scientists were conducting tests and working to protect the sea life there, especially sea horses. The second was made for visitors, had a few cafes, a place to hire water sport equipment and a big restaurant, we got a drink and toastie at the little café right next to the beach and swam in the sea before headed back to the boat for the third island. This island was actually home to many locals and was the only island passionately stating that it was single use plastic – free, and when you finally got to the beach on the other side of the island, there was again some of the clearest, bluest water and cleanest beach. We caught the boat back just as the sun was setting and its safe to say that it was the perfect ending to the trip before heading home, repacking and heading out again for the next three weeks… (pt2 coming soon).