Cascais & Sintra: Portugal

There are several day trips you can take from Lisbon but Cascais & Sintra is a perfect one. Cascais is about a 40min train ride along the coast from Cais Do Sodre train station & only a few euros, you literally can't beat that. In Ireland a bottle of water would cost you more. You arrive into this tiny beach town, which was a favourite of King Luis 1. So what does one do in this little town? Well you can wander in & out of the multitude of tiny shops, eat lunch overlooking the ocean, visit the Citadel, lay on the beach, sunbathe, drink some Portuguese coffee or porto in the tiny cobblestone streets.

After a beautiful morning in Cascais, we got on a bus & headed to Sintra for the afternoon. On arrival, there is so much to do that you could literally spend an entire day in Sintra. Take note that it is high in the mountains so it is a lot cooler than Lisbon or Cascais. We wore t-shirts in Cascais & bought hoodies that evening in Sintra. Sintra has a bus system that will take you to all the palaces, castles and museums for E5. They leave every 20min. Sintra town is gorgeous, filled with restaurants, shops and bars, here you have the first palace and a museum. We decided with time ticking to head to Pena Palace. En route we passed Moorish Castle, it looked amazing & had views of Sintra below. Ten minutes up the road was Pena Palace, E15 entry fee & you are free to walk through the entire palace. It is a UNESCO world heritage site & one of the wonders of Portugal with construction starting in the Middle Ages. You can see all the rooms and walk around the grounds. The views are amazing but the wind would cut through you like a knife. They saw on a clear day you can see it all the way from Lisbon. After head back into the town for some shopping & a bite to eat. The small narrow streets invite you to taste more porto & coffee. You can take another 40min train from Sintra back to Rossio station for pennies. The trains have no toilets, make sure you go before.

Montezuma, Costa Rica

We left San Luis early in the morning for our long drive through dirt roads to Puntarenas where we caught a 70 min ferry ride to Paquera, (cars cost $24) from there we could drive to Montezuma, all the way at the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. We left with clean laundry & smiling faces, as most of you know when you are backpacking for 5 weeks, clean clothes can be hard to come by. The sun was setting as we reached Paquera which meant more driving in the dark, I knew this would be trouble for us as navigating roads in the dark is always so much fun (not). We found that GPS just didn't cut it for Costa Rica so we rented this dongle you can carry with you providing you with unlimited internet. We used it on the beach, by the pool, in the car, it is well worth it. People told us we would need a 4x4 for Montezuma because of river crossings, I was worried about this. Sure enough google maps takes you the fastest route possible & that means an actual river crossing. In the dark, you have no idea how deep it is. A jeep comes across, he tells me to stay to the left where he came from, I should be able to make it in my car but to be careful. It's night, not a sinner around & I chance it twice, the wheels start sticking so I reverse quickly. If we get stuck, we might not get a car passing to pull us out. I opt out & decide to head back to the main road thinking surely there's another way because buses drive to the town. Once I started back on the main paved road she re routed us & of course there is another way, it may be 10mins longer but I certainly do not need a 4x4 for this.In fact there are about 3 or 4 ways to get there so don't let the rental places fool you into thinking you HAVE to go through that river crossing. We arrived around 9pm into this magical town, fairy lights dotted the one small road into the village. It was so cute & we happened to be staying a 5min walk away in the Los Mangos Hotel & Bungalows, so I wouldn't need the car much at all. Once we stepped out of the air conditioned car, the first thing you notice is the heat & humidity, I was loving this after a cold/rainy Monteverde. Our bungalow was dark but its cool & clean. You can hear the sound of monkeys scurrying on your roof from time to time. The staff are nice, there is only internet at the front reception unless you have the dongle like us, the pool is perfect & the added bonus of morning/evening yoga classes is great.

Monteverde is well known by backpackers and eco tourists. It seems like a lazy, enjoyable town with lots of nature activities as well as yoga and spa retreats. It is the ultimate place for a time out.We spent our first evening strolling through the town & we ate dinner at Cocolores which was delicious. Their curries are epic. That night, I slept hard after the long drive. We spent our first day having breakfast in town, soaking up the sun on the beach, reading, swimming, reading by the pool, lying in hammocks. That afternoon we went about 10miles down the road to see the biggest strangler tree in Costa Rica. You can see from the photo exactly how big it was. That evening our hotel had an outdoor yin yoga session, so we joined it. Yin is more about stretching & long holds. It was quite nice, except for the odd mosquito bite. For dinner we went to this artsy beach spot across from our bungalow. We waited a full 45mins just to see a menu, because there are only 2 menus in the whole place.

Up at 8am & out the door for our trip to Isla Tortuga. After a 40mins boat ride we were snorkeling along rocks & reefs in crystal clear water, with some of the prettiest, colourful fish. We snorkeled for 2 hrs & then headed to Isla Tortuga for a bbq lunch of fresh fish. We read, swam and just lounged here for hours. It is so gorgeous there & the water is a mix of greeny blue & crystal clear & warm, so warm. It saddens me that I don't have photos from here because I was afraid to bring my camera with all the snorkeling & water. No one lives on this island except a few chickens & peacocks.

After 2hrs in the blistering sun & it was only 11.30am, I wonder how hot it will actually get here. The hottest part of the day still to come but the sand is not touchable without shoes & the mercury reads 35deg. Farah hides in the shade of the trees, a while later I join her & devour Mindy Kaling's book. It's funny, real funny. I finished it by 1pm & that's when I decided I needed ice cream, I thought I was melting from the inside/out. The day continued like all days in this town. Reading, swimming in the pool, eating fresh fruit, massages & the daily quest for where to eat dinner. It's a rough life. Things got interesting at dinner. A group of American girls were seated near us. They grabbed the attention of every customer by being obnoxiously loud & rude to the waitstaff. One girl repeatedly said she was going to punch the waiter in the face, he had a smug look. The atmosphere in the room changed with all their aggression & calling him an asshole at every chance. Later, I find out the one girl who is seething with rage is dating the waiter & her friends were visiting. So the plot thickened. I have no idea what he did or what the story was but he should have removed them for causing such a stir in the restaurant.

So our adventure came to an end for Montezuma. It was some of the best food we ate in Costa Rica though. If I ever went back, I would definitely do the deep sea fishing tour.

Arenal, Costa Rica

This was a rough day, I had to drive for four hours after little sleep. We stopped somewhere over the mountains so that I could take a 30min power nap as a migraine had set in. It took everything in me to concentrate getting through the extreme fog. We arrived to our Airbnb, which by the way was in the middle of no where, that you really needed a 4x4 to get to & we were all alone on a mountain. We were in El Castillo, close to the lava fields, the adventure parks & at the other side of the volcano. The town of La Fortuna was a 40min drive away, solely because the roads were so bad. I spent the rest of the day in bed to play catch up. I was wrecked but the wifi let me watch copious amounts of netflix.

Day 2: Still feeling like shit but managed to do a 3hr hike today around the hanging bridges. It was difficult at times, especially haven not eaten in 36hrs but it was truly beautiful. That afternoon we spent the day hiding from a thunderstorm in the butterfly conservatory where we saw a Gold Owl Eye & a Blue Morpho. Although butterflies are beautiful creatures they actually can be really evil. They practice necrophilia, cannibalism & they stalk the females & eventually rape them. Who knew? We saw the Costa Rican Red Eye Tree frog hiding under a leaf. He is bright green & camouflages during the day while sleeping. He tucks in his orange & blue legs. They are nocturnal, they come & go as the please from the conservatory. While this guy is not poisonous, his friends nearby are lethal. There was the red dart frog & then the bright green & black fella. This guy is supposed to put you into respiratory failure with his poison. Note to self: Don't touch anything that is bright, usually it means danger. FINALLY, I saw my Toucan, he had a black body and a big bright yellow beak. I would never have found him except some locals pointed him out in the tree to us. My sickness caused me to feel cold, so we headed to the famous Tobacan hot springs, unfortunately I don't have photos from here. It included a buffet dinner which was useless to me but Farah had a great time. It feels like a resort & manicured but the place is put together really well & there are plenty of hidden private spots. The flowing river ranges in heat, some areas are hotter which wasn't so good for my dehydration.

Day 3: We hiked the 1968 volcano trail & over lava & lava fields. It was like something from another world, it wouldn't be us if we didn't get lost. Luckily all roads lead to the car park. I was really looking forward to our adventure afternoon with Sky Limit. We spent 2 hrs ziplining, hiking, climbing, tree dropping, running across ladders, swinging & rappelling down waterfalls. It was incredible to see the jungle from such heights. We definitely went through some clouds on our zipline. I have attached a video of our zipline tour below. We ended our day soaked, tired & cold so we made another trip to the hot springs except this time we found the free springs across the road from Tobacan. This is where you will usually find Coati lining the road. People please don't feed the wildlife. They are packed with people & if you plan on going at night be sure to bring a flash light. I was looking forward to eating a little at Lava Lounge in La Fortuna, unfortunately my nachos were burned which is an almost impossible task to be honest. I mean the entire three layers of nachos were no more good. That was $10 wasted. If you would rather cook, there is a supermarket in La Fortuna, other than that about a 100 restaurants have your back. If I was going there again, I would rather stay in La Fortuna to walk around at night. It gets dark quite early & there was nothing to do on the mountain once the sun went down.

I am learning that I am more of a beach person that a mountain person. It is much cooler in the heights of Costa Rica & I prefer being sun soaked by the shores. Farah on the other hand prefers the cooler weather. Our next stop is Monteverde. If you want to see our last trip, press here for San Jose.