Fall Break 2019
- Allie Posner
- Oct 27, 2019
- 7 min read
My life after the past 10 days will probably never be the same. I spent the past week and a half away from London on my Fall Break. I could write a whole novel detailing each and every moment of my break but I’ll save it for my memoir. Pretty much, I’m here to give you the basics on what I felt and learned from each city I visited while I was away from London. I’d like to start by saying that traveling as I did wouldn’t have been possible or fun without the best friends to do it with and the best parents to support me. Ok, I’ll just DIVE RIGHT IN!
Lisbon, Portugal
The first location on my 10-day break was Lisbon, Portugal. Portugal wasn’t on my original list of places I wanted to go to while I was abroad this semester, but I fell absolutely in love with Portugal. It is now on the top of my list of places I hope to go back to. Our hostel was the cleanest and friendly hostel I’ve stayed in thus far. Each corner of Lisbon is filled with an eclectic range of colorful and historical architecture. The Italian and Spanish influences in the culture are incredibly prominent and make for an incredibly welcoming culture. On the first night, Nina and I went on a Tagus Riverboat tour which was amazingly peaceful after a long first day of traveling. We hit up tourist sites in Lisbon on our second day such as the Village Underground, Lx Factory, Time Out food market, and an amazing sunset rooftop bar disguised as a parking garage. The food and art culture in Lisbon is so far evolved while still keeping deep roots in authenticity I feel like what we got to taste and see only scratched the surface of the depth of it all. On my last day in Portugal, Kat, Emma, and I took the train to Sintra to see two palaces, Quinta da Regaleira and Pena Palace. I could easily write a twenty-page dissertation on the differences between the two locations but all you need to know is they were both absolutely STUNNING. If you ever find yourself in Portugal, they are an absolute must-see. Quinta da Regaleira is immersed in what feels like the jungles of Sintra. The architect, Luigi Manini, was a famous set designer for Theatre and Opera. It is said that walking around this maze of a palace grounds is meant to feel like watching the scenes change for an Operatic masterpiece. It is filled with underground caves, spiraling wells, colorful gardens, tall towers, swamps, and anything a classic fairytale in the forest would entail. The best part about Quinta da Regaleira is that it's not just a pretty place to see. All of the Palace is heavily interactive. You can descend the six floored spiraling wells into a dark cave or walk across narrow rocks in the swamp. We had as much fun as kids on a massive playground but with the awareness that the place had a strange and real history. Despite our time crunch, we had two more stops on our day exploring Portugal outside of Lisbon. Pena Palace is the quintessential colorful and larger than life palace that you see on Pinterest when you look at photography from Portugal. Despite Pena Palace’s nature of being a well-known tourist destination, the colossal structure had us in awe of how poorly pictures really capture the Palace’s beauty. Not only was the Palace breathtaking, but the view from the top of the mountain that the Palace sits on was also unreal. Our last stop during our time in Portugal was Cascais. Ending our day in the cutest beach town had me feeling so nostalgic for my home in South Florida. I was very aware that I was somewhere completely new but looking out at the same ocean that I grew up playing in, made me cry a little. The trains closed earlier than we thought they would so we had to call an Uber to get back to Lisbon. Our driver took us back all the way along the coast, which we knew wasn’t the fastest way. We cried together for the memories we made in Portugal and for the amazing view of the Ocean and the coast we got the entire sleepy drive back to Lisbon. Leaving Lisbon knowing it was only the first part of our break had us so unbelievably hyped and ready to see our next city, BUDAPEST!
Budapest, Hungary
Emma and I arrived in Budapest in the earliest hours of the morning leaving Nina and Kat in Portugal. We stayed at the most fun Party Hostel in Budapest which made me immediately aware that the 3 days we were going to have in this city were about to be CRAZY. And yes, they were crazy BUT they were also amazingly cultural. Budapest holds a special Jewish history which is evident through the tremendous Grand Temple smack dab in the center of the city. The entire Jewish Quarter of Budapest is filled with great markets, amazing thrifting, and all-embracing ruin bars. Emma and I did a Wine Tasting of five Hungarian wines. I never would have guessed that Hungary’s wine culture would be so important but it was fascinating and the charcuterie that came with it was even BETTER. The first night we joined our hostel on a party boat down the Danube River. We made friends with two amazing Canadian girls who we hung out with for the next 2 days. It was probably the best night of my semester so far.
Our second day in Budapest was all about baths! We spent the morning at Széchenyi Thermal Bath, the biggest bath in Budapest. It was mostly outside and incredibly relaxing. We played in the sun and bathed in warm thermal water for a few hours and then we moved on to the second bath, Rudas. Rudas has a strict no women policy on every day EXCEPT Tuesdays where its only women! On weekends it’s mixed genders, but how lucky were we to have ended up in Budapest on a Tuesday?? It was such a relaxing and amazing experience that I would travel to Budapest exclusively on Tuesdays to have again. It is a thermal and medicinal bath built originally in 1550. We watched the sunset from a rooftop bath and then had dinner and drinks soaking wet in a nice restaurant. It was so special. That night we experienced Szimpla ruin bar. I don’t know how to put into words how deeply connected I felt to this eclectic place. It was all of Budapest’s weird art scene joining hands with its crazy partying scene in one big conglomeration of bars and exhibits. It was the kind of place that I walked into and immediately wanted to be involved in!!! I wanted to be creating art and participating in the culture of this place. Sadly, the last day in Budapest came faster than we thought it would, and little did we know, it was a huge Hungarian National Holiday. This impeded our plans slightly but regardless we had a really beautiful last day in Budapest seeing Fisherman's Bastion. The view is spectacular from the top of Fisherman’s Bastion and it was a perfect way to reflect and say goodbye to Hungary before our last destination of Fall Break.
Santorini, Greece
We went all out and met all of our people in Santorini, Greece!!!! This place is somewhere I could have never imagined making it to in my 20s. Emma and I arrived at our fantastic and gorgeous Airbnb villa called White Cave to meet four of our fellow world travelers! It was amazing to catch up with them on all of our travels in the comfort of a stunning villa fit for the lovers on Love Island. On the first day we spent in Santorini, Emma, Kat and I hiked the length of the Island, about 6 miles from Thera to Oia. Looking out at the island it didn’t seem like a plausible thing to do, but we conquered it like nobody's business!!! Not only were the views absolutely to die for, but it felt so good being able to see the entire island by walking it. For me, being in Santorini was all about relaxing before having to go back to school so we spent the night drinking wine in our villa. The next morning we tanned by the pool and then went on a private sunset sailboat cruise. This experience was fully life-changing. We listened to our own music, we were cooked and served dinner on the boat, and watched the sunset over the islands while all holding each other so tight to try to hold onto the last moments of this crazy week. On the last day in Greece, we found a cliff to dive off near Oia. We had to swim out to an island and then climb up onto this 25-foot diving spot. I’ve always loved cliff jumping but getting the chance to do it in Greece was unforgettable.
After a luxurious few days in Greece, we had a long night of traveling ahead of us. So here I am after all of it, writing to you from London and feeling very grateful for what we have experienced together and what we have here.
This was a long one so thanks for sticking with me and reading! This trip made me hopeful for the future and made my love for traveling stronger. I know after college it will be so much harder to travel like this but I couldn’t express the gratitude I feel in words that I know. If you are thinking of going to any of these places and want to know exactly where I stayed or what I ate or just want to talk about it I would be happy to chat! Or come with you because I already miss these cities and want to go back.
Kisses and hugs
Xoxo,
Allie
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