After we got back to the port, we headed back to the Doña Ana Beach right near our coastal hotel to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The beach was gorgeous! Eventually we went back to the hotel and got ready for the evening. Some friends and I went out for dinner to a nice seafood restaurant near the harbor and later went out to experience some Portuguese nightlife.
The next day, we woke up and met the group to go to a different beach for the afternoon. We packed sandwiches and lots of snacks and soaked up the sun on yet another beautiful beach in Portugal. Our trip leaders really wanted to make sure we didn’t go thirsty, so they made sure to bring lots and lots of sangria ha! Everyone had a great time swimming and playing beach volleyball; I didn’t move from the same spot unless it was to flip over (I needed to make sure I didn’t come home from Spain without a tan!!) Later that afternoon, Katie and I took a walk up the beach to see a pretty pink sailboat that we had spotted earlier in the day, and around 5:00, we headed back to the hotel so we could have enough time to get ready and go watch “the end of the world sunset”!
Now I’m sure you’re wondering, what was so special about this particular sunset? The reason it’s called “the end of the world” is because it’s the westernmost point in all of Europe, and back before the earliest explorations took place to North America, the Europeans thought the world was flat. After viewing the sunset and the ocean from the cliffs that we stood on, I can totally understand why they would have thought that. I truly felt like I was on the end of the world; I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful it was. We all took SO many pictures and just loved spending time together in one of the most gorgeous places in the world.
After the sun officially set, we went back to the hotel to change and get ready for dinner. Dan, Stephen, Patrick, Katie, and I all went to an American restaurant called Rockefeller’s, and might I add that it was delicious!! For us Discover Sevilla travelers, they had an awesome deal that included a meal and two drinks for 10 euro; we couldn’t pass it up! I ordered the loaded nachos with pulled pork that was literally the best nachos I’ve ever had in my life, and the others all ordered the biggest hamburgers I’ver ever seen. Our waiter who was the owner of the restaurant was Irish and really friendly. He talked to us for awhile after dinner and pointed us in the right direction to meet up with the rest of our group at a nearby bar. We stayed at the bar for about an hour or so to get our free drinks and hang out with friends, but everyone was so drained after all day in the sun that we headed back pretty early. We had big plans for the following day so we needed as much rest as we could get; Katie, Patrick, and I were going surfing at the West beach!!
On Sunday morning, we left our hotel after breakfast around 10:30 to head straight to the west beach which was about 45 minutes away and somewhat close to the “end of the world sunset”. We finally arrived to the beach, and we didn’t waste any time getting up to the surf shop to gear up. For 35 euro, we were provided with a wetsuit, a board, and a two hour surf lesson. Getting into the wetsuits were probably my least favorite part (and probably Patrick’s least favorite too, considering it took him three tries to get his on, haha!) After about ten minutes of struggle, we were finally all geared up and ready to hit the beach. We received our surf boards (I was beyond excited to get the pink one... it doesn’t take much to please me), and we had a mini photo shoot on the beach, courtesy of Dan. We made a deal with him that we would pay for him to come to the West beach with us that day if he would take some pictures of us surfing or for better words, “attempting to surf”. He caught so many great pictures throughout the whole process! First, we took the time to stretch out and get warmed up. What I didn’t like was when our surfing instructor made us run up and down the beach; I wasn’t prepared for cardio. All in all, it was for the best because the water was so cold; I couldn’t have imagined not having a wetsuit. Anyway, we just got used to riding the waves by bodysurfing for about fifteen minutes, then we came back on shore and learned the next step. He instructed us to hold the board in the middle, and when the wave was coming, push up with our arms and slide up (we kind of looked like cobras...) So, we went out in the water and tried that a few times. After we had mastered that step, we came back onto shore to learn the hardest part... standing up. Our teacher went through each step of placing your one foot on the back of board and bringing your dominant foot through to the middle of the board, then standing up into the typical crouched surfing position... easier said than done. We practiced several times on land, but once we hit the water, it was 1000x harder, and the waves weren’t even the big! Surfers make it look SO easy, and let me tell you, surfing is a workout! We were out on the water for over an hour; some people were able to stand, others were not. I was so close, so many times, but it was hard for me to stand all the way up, and most of the time, I rode the waves in on my knees. For being a dancer all my life, my balance was very poor that day! It wasn’t until my very last attempt that I stood up for a second before falling off. We all agreed that if we would have had another hour, we probably could have gotten the hang of it, but those types of skills take a long time to master. I’ll absolutely try surfing again someday though.
For the rest of the afternoon, we relaxed for a few hours, and around 4:00, we left to meet up with the rest of the group to head back to Sevilla. It was the best weekend to end our travels outside of Spain, and we have plenty of pictures to prove it!
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