DAY 2
Sacramento State enjoyed a day full of sightseeing on its second day in Portugal. Today was also the first full day of a 12-day trip that will see the team enjoy elements of education, cultural experience and competition. The team will spend nine days in Portugal, and the final three days in Spain. Below is the second installment of a series of blogs every Hornet player will write during the trip. Today, we hear from senior outside hitter
Bridgette Smith.
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Abbey and I woke up at 7:45 am after our first night in Funchal. I was pleasantly surprised with how well I slept, and how I wasn't too tired when I woke up. Both Abbey and I have naturally curly hair, so when we woke up in our slightly humid room, our hair was about three times the size as normal. We walked down for breakfast at 8 am and it was so good! I love how natural everything is here, it makes me realize how processed American food is. My favorite thing was the banana bread!
At 9 am, we departed for hiking and sight seeing. The drive was breathtaking, going through all the hills and windy roads overlooking the beaches and houses. The architecture was so pretty and different from America. Our first stop was Cabo Girão, a sightseeing cliff sitting at 580 meters. I won't lie, it was a little scary looking down. However, it was one of the most beautiful views, and one of the highest viewpoints in all of Europe.
We then went to another village where we got 30 minutes to walk around. We got to look at the beautiful catholic church, Igreja de Sao Bento, and I had one of the best cappuccinos I've ever tasted. As we traveled further around the island, we stopped at another village where we visited another amazing church, Igreja de São Vicente. It was such a cool experience to actually walk on art, meaning the cobblestone beneath us was hand picked from rocks on the beach. There were stories made in the rocks about Martyrs and Christianity. I really enjoyed the village cats that roamed, they were so cute and friendly.
The drive to the next village had the best views - to the right was the ocean, and to the left were waterfalls. The village was Porto Moniz. This was a huge whale hunting village back in the day. Fortunately, it got less popular over the years and they stopped it all together. We got free time for about an hour and a half where we strolled around looking for places to eat. Caty, Ellie, Caitlin, and I all ate these really good toasties. For those who don't know, toasties are really yummy panini-like sandwiches! After that, we jumped off a diving board into the ocean, it was exhilarating! As we headed back to our hotel (which was an hour and a half drive), we all struggled to keep our eyes open. The sightseeing was so fun, but so draining.
We got a few hours of down time, and went to the pool to lay out!
Lastly, we went to the restaurant Parreira! There was lots of dancing, it was cool to see how the Portuguese culture had traditional dances! The dancers invited us to go up and learn the traditional dances. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip. The food was amazing as well. There were iron hooks hanging above the dining table and the waiters would come by and put steaming hot meat skewers on the hooks. Overall, the dinner was an amazing experience and I had the best time exploring Funchal!
Day 1 Blog - Caitlin Volkmann
