Europe Round Up: What a Start

As we write this, we are in our second Porto hostel. Our first got filled up by some Italian catholic youth in town to travel to Lisbon for World Youth Day in their quest to see the Pope. Our writing sessions are interrupted by various youth groups breaking out into song in their various languages. We watched the Canadian women have an unceremonious exit form the Women’s world cup this morning. We watched it with an Australian girl, which made it more exciting. At least she’s happy.

We’re both nervous balls of energy, getting ready for a 24 hour 3 flight journey to Quito tonight. So, here’s our favorite stuff from Europe, in two main categories, food and experience.

Food

Half the point of the trip was to try end experience as many different foods as possible. As a result, we had many hits, and many misses. We find food is a great way to learn about the culture of a country, so we ate out probably a little more than we should have. We created the following lists ranking our experiences with food: Favorite Cooking Classes, Meals that hit the Spot, and Best Quality Meals.

Favorite Cooking Classes
We have taken five cooking classes so far. We learned to make pizza, lamb, croissants, pastel de nata’s and a full Spanish meal with many different chefs and home cooks.

1. Annette and Jose: Spanish Dinner
2. Le Cordon Bleu: French Dinner
3. Jo: Pastel de Nata
4. Audrey: Croissants
5. Taste of London: Pizza

Annette and Jose were lovely hosts for us! They were very conversational, and we gained a lot of insight from them! The food was very good. We understood the simplicity and power of quality ingredients in food with them.

Food that hit the spot
Sometimes we had some street food, or a simple non-experimental meal that was exactly what we needed at the time. Sorry, we didn’t take photo’s of these meals.

1. Chicken Shawarma’s in Paris
2. Dumpling Extravaganza in Lisbon
3. Nepalese food in Almograve
4. All you can eat sushi in Porto
5. Thai food in Carvoiero

It was our only full day in Paris, and we needed some chow. Poor Ty made the mistake of loading up on crepes and milkshakes for lunch, while Cam and I hunted for something special. We heard a ‘free sample’ call, and a man was offering us chicken from their hole in the wall kebab joint. Well, wow. We immediately ordered two shawarmas, and they proceeded to load them both up with fries and all sorts of sauces, and then they did it again. It was delicious.

Best Meals
Every once in a while we would swing for the fences and spend a little extra money for a meal that was supposed to be great. These are the times we hit them out of the park.

1. Lamb at Le Cordon Bleu
2. Thai tapas in Lyon
3. Indian food at Dishoom, London
4. Surf n’ turf in Zambujeira
5. Dinner Tapas in Barcelona

There is something special about the meals you make from scratch, especially when it takes you all day, you learned something new, and the ingredients were incredible. If I (Cam) ever audition for master chef, I will probably make that because I am not sure how to you make a better meal. Can’t wait to try and make it again.

Experiences
The other half of our trip is exploring. Whether its a city, countryside, or anything in between, we have had a few fantastic adventures so far. These are our favorites, in the categories of: Best pre-planned experiences, favorite moments, prettiest sights, biggest mistakes, and favorite destinations.

Best Pre-Planned Activities
We planned a few things in Europe that we worked our trip around. Some destinations were for specific concerts, or specific experiences that we wanted to enjoy. These are our favorites.

1. Hans Zimmer concert in Belgium
2. Mad Cool 2023 Music Festival in Madrid
3. Normandy Beach Tour in Bayeux
4. Taste of London food festival
5. Day trip to Sintra in Lisbon

The Zim Zam as we endearingly call him collected a group of stupidly talented musicians, and then they all proceeded to play movie score medleys from all of his famous tunes. The Lion King, Interstellar, Inception, Pirates of the Caribbean, the list goes on. Between the 10 minute medleys, Hans would talk about the stories behind each creation, or each musician. It was a really endearing and powerful performance all around.

Prettiest Sights
Some views we had were something else. Please enjoy some pictures from our favorite views!

Favorite Experiences

1. Fisherman’s Trail Hike in Southern Portugal
2. Night with the lads in Porto
3. Graham’s birthday tapas run in Seville
4. Borough Market in London
5. Splashing in the waves at Praia do Molhe, Ferragudo, Portugal

The three nights we spent alongside Portugal’s south Atlantic coast were mesmerizing. The skylines from the cliffs over the ocean were incredible. The effort and reward of hiking with literally all of our belongings on our back gave us both pride. The sand was torture, the food was wonderful. The entire walk was just something incredible.

Biggest Mistakes

1. Disaster meal in Lyon
2. Purchasing the somewhat useless EUrail pass
3. Booking the Montpellier to Barcelona train for the wrong day
4. Drinking bad water in Seville and getting super sick
5. Mismanaging money (ATM fees, ordering water at restaurants, accidentally ordering beer etc.)

The fish mousse Andouliette sausage disaster meal in Lyon was a tragedy upon all tragedies. Sure we may have spent $1,000 dollars on useless EUrail passes that never worked for us, but what the hell was this meal. Eggy fish in a slapstick poo brown sauce for one of us, overcooked under-seasoned (not seasoned at all) intestine for the other. There’s never been a meal so bad that we found the first bar we could to slam a beer after.

Favorite Destinations
These places were our favorites. For the vibes, the activities, the food or the adventure, these cities or towns ended up being our favorites.

1. Porto, Portugal
2. Bruges, Belgium
3. London, England
4. Zambujeira do Mar, Portugal
5. Brussels, Belgium

Maybe it says something that the place we spent the most time in was our favorite. Maybe its cause we were off to a new continent after. Maybe its cause we allowed ourselves to rest. But the city was beautiful to look at. The skylines were remarkable. We made our best friends on the trip here. The food was our favorite. Everything was just clicking while we were in Porto. We loved it!

That’s pretty much it for Europe. There’s a lot more too it, but its all in the previous blogs. South America is gonna be something special. We hope at least.