Northern Portugal

So I decided the best thing to do when arriving in Portugal was to take a mini-vacation before starting to formally work on my research here. This trip enabled me to see more of the country, learn what Portugal was all about, the experience of being a tourist in Portugal and what aspects of its heritage are interesting for tourists. Prior to taking this trip a number of my classmates had told me about all these wonderful places to visit, and I tried to hit up several of them over this past week. I had debated renting a car, but decided to be a sustainable tourist myself and just relied on trains and buses. It was extremely easy to get around using these methods. I put at least one photo of every place I visited, but clicking on the photo will lead you to the set of photos for each location at my flickr site.

The first place I went to outside of Lisbon was Sintra. Sintra is not to far away from Lisbon, and people take day trips from Lisbon easily. Sintra is filled with all sorts of architectural gems from a variety of eras (Iberians, Moorish rulers, Middle Ages and more) and its historic center is designated as a world heritage site. The place I explored the most was the Quinta da Regaleira, described as ‘a highpoint of Romantic Sintra.’ This place was a summer residence of the Carvalho Monteiro family with a garden that is ‘an image of the Cosmos revealed through a succession of magic and mysterious places.’ It was filled with interesting vegetation, wells, waterfalls, tunnels, towers and caves. Definitely worth the visit and the small admission fee.

Badtz Maru at Quinta da Regaleria

Afterwards, I headed towards the Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish castle). I didn’t realize what a long and exhausting walk it would be up the hill, but luckily a kind group of folks in a car (2 Portuguese guys and one German gal) stopped and offered me a ride up the hill. Gladly I accepted the ride. Unfortuneatly though we had all been under the impression the castle would be open for an hour later than it was, and it was to late to get in. We still walked around outside a bit. Afterwards my new friends invited me to dinner and we drove to the beach and found a nice restaurant there. Anyways this is what the castle looked like from below, maybe I can take a trip there sometime before I leave Portugal:

Castelo dos Mouros

The next day, I headed further up north. I had to head back to Lisbon first though by train. I got a bit confused about which train to take though but found another helpful stranger who spoke English. He invited me to lunch with his friends and thus I was able to meet more locals who gave me more tips on what to do and see in Lisbon. Anyways, I decided to head to the town Aveiro as I understood there was a Delta there and thought maybe I could check it out. Unfortunately I didn’t really see the Delta, but the town was still interesting. It is described as the ‘Venice of Portugal’ as there are canals there. Never having been to Venice, I am not sure if it is comparable, but it was still interesting for a days visit. Mainly I just walked around the canals and also checked out these salt ponds (Eco-Museu da Troncalhada, or eco museum of Troncalhada) which have sort of been developed into a navigable interpretive area (perhaps could be considered a type of agritourism). The salt pans were sort of intersting as a landscape and made cool photo opportunities.

Aveiro, the ‘Venice of Portugal.’

Eco-Museu da Troncalhada

The next day I back tracked a bit to Coimbra, which is a University town. I spent two nights there. My first day I pretty much just wandered around the town, checking out the historic architecture and scenic views of the Rio Mondego and also the Jardim Botanico (botanic garden).

Scenic Coimbra

The next day, from Coimbra, I took a day trip to the Mata Nacional do Buçaco (Buçaco National Forest). This was definitely one of the highlights of the week and I am very glad I went. It is a national forest enclosed within a stone wall and scattered throughout it are all these hermitages, houses, chapels, gateways, fountains and more that were built in the 1600s by the Catholic order of the Barefoot Carmelits. It definitely did have a fairy-tale like feeling that the lonely planet said it would. And it has not been hit by masses of tourists, I only saw a few other people there. At the center of it is the Palace Hotel do Buçaco which was built in 1907, and is now a swanky hotel. They don’t allow non-guests inside the hotel, but it is still pretty beautiful from the outside.

One of the many houses scattered throughout the forest

Palace Hotel do Buçaco

For the last three days I headed up to the city of Porto. It is the city where the country has derived its name from, and is also the hub or port production. Mainly just relaxed a bit here, did some shopping and wandered around the beautiful city checking out more historic stuff and the amazing views of the Rio Duoro. I also went to one port-winery (Sandeman) as they had an exhibit on the history of their branding efforts, which was intersting to me as I had been intriguied by their iconic figure in their adds.

El Rio Duoro

Sandeman advertisement

Anyways, the trip was great and very inspiring. Now I am back in Lisbon, trying to organize my work plan for the next 3 weeks…

Some interesting things about Portugal…

Tonight is my last night of a week long trip up the northwestern coast of Portugal. I am currently in the city of Porto. Overall, Portugal is a beautiful country and has been a pleasure to travel it.  Here are some interesting things about Portugal:

• They don´t really eat breakfast here. Usually just coffee and a pastry or toast. I stayed at a hotel in Aveiro as the Lonely Planet stated that they served a ´generous breakfast.´ This turned out to mean two rolls and a cup of coffee. I suppose it was generous since it was two rolls instead of just one.
• Restaurants will bring you a bunch of appetizers like bread, cheese, butter, spreads, etc. without you ordering it. The food will sit there looking tempting on an empty stomach, but they actually charge you for whatever you eat.
• They drink ´Vinho verde´ here, which literally translated means green wine, but really it is just fresh wine that should be drunk within one year.  
• Noddy is really big here, not exactly sure why.
• Though there are plenty of English speakers around, there have been a few situations where I need to communicate with someone who doesn´t speak English and then I use my Spanish as it is pretty similar to Portuguese.

Tomorrow I am heading back to Lisbon to work for three weeks. I´ll write a more detailed entry about what I have seen with some photos.

Soweto

Leaving Botswana was not as smooth as it could have been. My flight from Maun to Gaborone, Botswana was an hour late. From Gaborone I was flying to Johannesburg, South Africa. But Expedia had booked me for that flight with only half an hour after my flight was supposed to arrive in Gaborone. So I missed it and it was the last flight of the day. Air Botswana wouldn´t take any responsibility for it as they said it was Expedia´s fault for booking me for flights that are timed so close to one another. And the guy at the airport said there would be no hotels with any vacancy in Gaborone. So it looked like I would have to spend an uncomfortable night in the Gaborne airport. Luckily someone nice at the airport witnessed what was going on and offered me a place to stay for the night. In the morning he took me back to the airport and I was able to make it to Johannesburg.

I had only planned one day in Johannesburg and I think that one day was mainly a result of trying to find the cheapest flights. I stayed at a hostel that someone in Botswana had recommended to me. It was really cute and I was very happy with it. By the time I got there, it was already noon so really I only had like half a day. But the hostel set me up with a tour of Soweto which is a popular tourist attraction in Johannesburg.

What is Soweto? Well it is a historical area of Johannesburg where all the blacks were sent to live in 1904. It became known to the world in 1976 when mass protests began and black students were assassinated. Activities there played a major role in ending apartheid in South Africa and some key leaders still live there, including Nelson and Winnie Mandela. The tour was over four hours long and I learned quite a bit. It included a trip to the Hector Pieterson Museum. Hector Pieterson was one of the students killed in 1976.

Not only did I learn a lot, but the landscape was really phenomenal and intriguing to someone with urban planning interests. The houses ranged from being pretty exquisite to being pretty run down. There were also shanty towns in certain parts. Also it really inspired me due to my interest in heritage tourism as a destination that has taken off in recent years. My guide said that he didn´t think the locals were gaining much from the tourist dollar though. There may be more to the story than I understand, but hopefully this can change in the near future. Anyways, I highly recommend visiting Soweto to anyone who travels to South Africa. It definitely made my brief stay in Johannesburg worth it. Here are some photos -

Orlando Power Station

Constitution of South Africa and my tour guide

Shanty Town

Outside the Hector Pieterson Museum

Rooftops

Panoramic

Houses

Winnie Mandela´s House

The next day I began another intensive series of flights in order to get to Portugal. First I flew to Qatar and had a few hour layover. Then to Milan, Italy for another layover. Then finally made it to Lisbon, 24 hours after I had left Jo´burg. So far Lisbon is absolutely stunning and very charming. I have found decent accommodations. I stayed at an actual hotel the first night as all the hostels I had scoped out were booked. I was going to move to a hostel today, but the women at the hotel offered me a room in the hotel which is no bigger than the size of a walk in closet, but is only 20 euros. I scoped out a pretty nice room in this other house and made reservations for the rest of the time I will be in Lisbon. Tomorrow though I am planning on taking a trip up north to check out some of the small towns along the coast. I am very excited to see more of Portugal.

Moving on…

Time to leave Botswana tomorrow. The two weeks have flown by, and I was pretty busy working for most of them. I’ve been able to interview a number of stakeholders for my research on sustainable tourism. Most of them have good things to say about tourism in the Okavango, and I look forward to seeing other regions and how they compare in regards to tourism development. I’ve been at the Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre quite a bit, utilising their library and staff knowledge. Tomorrow I will be making a presentation to some of the researchers there about my own thesis work and I am looking forward to hearing what they have to say.

Overall I have enjoyed Botswana very much. As English is the national language here, communication has been pretty easy. The crime rate is low and transportation is pretty easy and accessible. Overall, people are really friendly. If I was to come again, I would probably more safari tours, but that is not easy to do being on a student travel budget. I knew that prior to coming though, so it was no surprise. I was happy with the Mokoro trip anyways and the amount of wildlife we saw on that.

Tomorrow it is back to Johannesburg, South Africa where I will be for two nights and one day. Not exactly sure yet, what to do during that day, but am exploring a few options. Then on Friday I am leaving for Lisbon, Portugal and will get there on Saturday. I am very excited to see Portugal as some of my classmates who have been there recently have said a lot of good things about it.

The Okavango Delta

So far Botswana has been great. I’ve been hear for almost a week now. Though the Okavango Delta has the reputation for only being accessbile by the very rich, I have been able to see it on a budget. The highlight was a two day Mokoro trip into the Okavango Delta. It is a trip in a long dug out canoe like boat led by a guide who uses a long pole to navigate and paddle. I got hooked up with a family of five from the UK who were going and we had 3 Mokoro guides and boats between us. The boat trips went for about four or five hours each day. We camped out on an island in the Delta and went on bush walks around the island.

The Okavango is a stunningly beautiful landscape, an endless network of lush waterways. Not to mention all the amazing wildlife. We saw hippos, elephants, zebras, wildabeast, monkeys, a lot of birds, and much more. Here are a few photos, but check out more at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29793427@N03/

Most of these are from the Mokoro and some from the Maun Education Centre.

Badtz Maru begins his adventure at the Okavango Delta

A warthog at the Maun Education Centre

Zebra at the Maun Education Centre

Crane flying over the Okavango

On the Mokoro tour

Sunset on the Okavango Delta

Hippos!

Elephants!

So yeah, Botswana has been pretty accessible and easy to travel. I have been camping at a backpackers camp called Old Bridge Backpackers. They are very friendly. It has been really easy to get around as there are these buses called combies and cabs are everywhere and really cheap.

Also trying to really get into my research. I have met with some of the folks at the Harry Openheimer Okavango Research Centre and will likely be hanging out there a lot over the next week. I am conducting interviews with stakeholders and knowledgeable professionals to get their perspectives on sustainable tourism.

So things have been great. No real hang ups and my trip has been off to a good start…

6 airports and 3 days later, finally in Botswana…

Since leaving San Francisco, I have been in a total of 6 airports. Partially because I stopped in Minneapolis first, and partially because I searched long and hard for the cheapest way to get to Botswana. It has been an exhausting trip but finally I arrived today in Maun, Botswana, which is the gateway to the Okavango Delta.

Monday I left Minneapolis and flew to New York City for a 12 hour layover. I spent the night trying to sleep on the floor of the JFK airport. Talk about budget accommodations, but plenty of others were doing it as well. And they had free wi-fi so I was able to work away to my heart’s desire.

Tuesday morning I flew to the United Arab Emirates for another layover. It was one of the most luxurious flights I have ever been on, which was nice considering it was 13 hours long. The Abu Dhabi airport was a very intriguing place.

Then it was another night sleeping in an airport, this one being Johannesburg, South Africa. The next morning was a flight to Gaborone, Botswana for a few hour layover. The exciting news from this place was my first cool wildlife sighting; baboons right outside the airport! They scurried away pretty quickly but I may have gotten a few decent photos of them.

Then another brief flight and finally I am in Maun. It is now Thursday, granted I lost a day. I am staying at a pretty nice place called Old Bridge Backpackers. I splurged and got my own room as I am so beat, but tomorrow I will probably just camp there which is only a few dollars a night. There are cool outdoor (yet enclosed showers), boy did I need one after the countless hours in transit. I am a bit creeped out about the insects, but am taking a number of precautions so I should be fine. There are a lot of tourists here that I should attempt to talk to…

More later when I am well rested and have seen more of Botswana. Now it is time for bed…

Before visiting deltas, I visited the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”

The first stop on my trip was back home to the Twin Cities, Minnesota. I had decided I needed to revisit my roots before being able to branch out to new destinations. And I was glad I did as seeing my close friends helped gain confidence for the big trip. I spent 4.5 days there, spending quality time with the ones who I have known forever.

Dinner at Joe’s garage with Kara, Chris, Tony, Andrea and Jared

Lunch at Quangs with Ben, Noy and Na

Brunch at Triple Rock with Kristen, Kerrie, Heather and Mike

BBQ party with Kara. How green and lovely Minneapolis is in the summer.

Larger gathering at Na’s house.

Visiting Deb and Andy’s newborn Livana.

Uncle Alex holding Livana.