July 12, flew from Leipzig to Lisbon, Portugal. The first stop was couch surfing. I stayed with Yelena and her family just over the bridge from Lisbon in a small village. She was Russian and this was the first time they had hosted. She wanted to meet people from other countries, and had never met a Kiwi before.

The family lived in a small apartment. There were only two bedrooms. The teenage daughter had cleared her room for me to stay. They also had a small son, and her sister was staying. So it wasn’t like they had a lot of space to host! They were so welcoming and kind to me, I was to stay two nights. Also there was a beach close to their house, and her sister took me there with the clear blue skies.

I went in to Lisbon on one of the days too, and had a look around. Ups and downs of steps and buildings intermingling together and beautiful tiling on buildings. Then I caught the bus to Guarda, for the next part of the Portuguese adventure.

Then it was back to Lisbon on August 18. After the festival, new friends, Monika, Daniel and I caught a train from Guarda to Lisbon. My whole system was run down, so the others went out that night with Carla, but I wasn’t much fun. So stayed back. I was fasting/Monika left to fly back to Amsterdam. I rested a lot. Daniel is very sociable and had many friends in Lisbon. He was out every night. We stayed in his parents beach apartment. I went to the beach and went for quiet walks. He knows Lisbon well and showed me a few of the sights.

Then on the 23rd, I went to stay with Carla in Lisbon, in her lovely flat. She took me to some lovely spots that she likes. I had met Carla at the Angel Art Festival.

Then on the 26th of August, Carla dropped me off to catch a bus up to Porto.