Happy New Year and a Happy New Decade!

So it's the end of another year and another decade too! I was 14 at the end of 2009, and things have changed a lot in my life since then. The last two and a half years in particular have been very eventful. I'll be 34 by the end of the next decade, so it's likely there will have been even more big changes in my life by that point. I wonder if I'll still be writing on this blog!

2019 has been quite a challenging year for me, but there have been many positive moments too. Although finishing university was not the happy and celebratory time it should have been, at least I now have a degree. And since then, I've qualified as a TEFL teacher and started my online teaching job. So it's been a good year in terms of my personal development. I didn't expect to still be living at home six months after graduation, but hopefully that will change soon.

Of course my travels have been some of the happiest parts of my year. I started 2019 in Santiago de Chile, celebrating New Year with my boyfriend and his family. Then we travelled to the beautiful Atacama desert before I went back to university. Since graduation, I've had two other amazing trips abroad. I spent a very memorable week volunteering in Poland with Angloville this August, and last month I went on an fairly spontaneous trip to Chile, Spain and Portugal. Poland and Portugal were new countries for me and I really enjoyed discovering both of them. This year, I also had the chance to explore some new places in England and Wales, which is something I hadn't done for a long time. It's been a year since I started documenting my travels on this blog and I feel like writing here has encouraged me to find new places to visit, particularly in my own country.

My New Year's Eve this year hasn't been quite as exciting as last year, but I did have a small travel adventure this morning, as my dad and I revisited a place in my local area that I hadn't been to for twelve years. I'll be writing a blog post about it and other nearby places very soon.

I haven't got any travel plans right now. Of course, I am still looking for a teaching job in Chile, but there isn't much work available at the moment, probably because of the current situation out there. So what 2020 will bring is a bit unclear to me right now!

All that's left to say is Happy New Year to everyone reading, and happy travels!

Image by Designecologist from pexels.com

My Dream Travel Destinations

I haven't blogged for a while as I've been busy celebrating Christmas and starting my new job! I am now working as an online English teacher, and so far I've found it to be a really fun and interesting job. Hopefully it won't be long before I also have a job in a school in Chile!

Now that I have a bit more time to blog, I'm going to write about some of my dream travel destinations. To be honest, I would like to go everywhere in the world, but in the interests of conciseness, I will try to pick just one dream destination in each continent!

Europe

I've mentioned before that I have a goal to visit every country in Europe, and at the time of writing, I'm about halfway there. Although I've visited the majority of western, southern and central Europe, the Nordic countries are an area I'm yet to go to. If I had to choose just one to visit, I think I would go for Norway, as the nature there looks incredible.

Image of Flakstad, Norway by stein egil liland from pexels.com

South America

Hopefully, I'll be living in South America again very soon and I'll have the opportunity to see more of the continent. So far, I have seen quite a lot of Chile and a bit of Argentina. Next time, I would particularly like to visit Rio de Janeiro in Brazil as it looks like a beautiful city with amazing beaches. I would also like to go to Peru and other countries if I have the chance.

Image of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by Matheus Bertelli from pexels.com

North America

I have been to North America once before, having visited Toronto, Montréal and the Niagara Falls with my family in 2010. In the future, I would like to visit some of the Central American and Caribbean countries. I would particularly like to go to Costa Rica to visit its beautiful beaches and national parks. I was thinking of going there on my Year Abroad to volunteer for a charity that helps turtles, and that's definitely still on my travel list! Other places I want to visit are Havana, Cuba and Yucatán, Mexico.

Image of Costa Rica by Jose Acevedo from pexels.com

Africa

Now I'm moving on to the continents I haven't visited yet! Morocco is only a few hours on a plane away from the UK and is one of the countries in Africa on my travel list. I would like to see the mountain and desert landscapes there, as well as beautiful cities like Marrakesh and Casablanca.

Image of Casablanca, Morocco by Gabriel Garcia from pexels.com

Asia

Asia is such a huge continent with many places I'd love to visit. In particular, I would really like to go to Turkey to see Istanbul, which looks like an amazing city to explore, and the region of Cappadocia with its strange rock formations. And the fact that it's a country with lots of great beaches is another reason why I want to go! I would also really like to visit some of the southeast Asian countries in the future.

Image of Turkey by Taryn Elliott from pexels.com

Oceania

I have always dreamed of visiting Australia and going to cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, swimming and surfing at the beaches, and seeing the Great Barrier Reef. A couple of years ago, I was thinking of moving there after university, but things worked out differently than I expected! I would also really like to visit New Zealand to see some of the places of natural beauty there.

Image of Sydney, Australia by Brett Stone from pexels.com

Of course Antarctica is also a continent, but it's a bit tricky and expensive to visit. However, if someone offered me the opportunity to go there, I would jump at the chance!

So that's my list of just a few of my dream travel destinations. Hopefully I'll be able to visit at least one in the near future!

Check out my 2023 update of this post right here!

Castelo de São Jorge

It's fair to say that I'm not in the best mood today due to recent events in the UK, but I'm going to distract myself by blogging about Castelo de São Jorge in Lisbon and focusing on the nice memory of my visit there.

Castelo de São Jorge is a castle that dates back to the first century BC! It's right on the top of a high hill overlooking the entire city, and is an absolute must-visit for the views alone. I went up in a lift that was outside a supermarket to get partway up the hill. The lift stopped at a restaurant with a viewpoint that was great for pictures.

I explored the area around the top of the hill a bit before visiting the castle. I particularly loved this little street. It's hard to see in the picture, but there are yellow and green banners at the end between the rows of houses. It was a little bit reminiscent of Brazilian carnivals. So that provoked some more Wanderlust in me!

Then I went and got my ticket to enter within the castle walls, where the views were amazing.

The grounds of the castle were a fascinating place to explore.

One of the best things was that there were plenty of fluffy friends for me to say hello to!

The actual castle itself was as fairytale-esque as I could have hoped for!

That brings to an end my posts about my time spent in Lisbon - a city filled with colour, history and culture. The two weeks I spent travelling through Chile, Spain and Portugal were incredible and I'll  remember them forever. One thing I hadn't known before was how common it was for countries to gift buildings to other countries, but on my trip I got to see a little bit of Morocco in Chile, a little bit of Egypt in Spain, and a little bit of Thailand in Portugal. So I feel like I got to see even more of the world than I was expecting to!

Discovering Portugal for the first time was amazing, but Chile was obviously my favourite part of the trip. I had a wonderful time with my boyfriend exploring parts of the country I hadn't been to before. I can't wait to be back in South America very soon, teaching English in Chile or a neighbouring country. I haven't been lucky with my job search yet, but hopefully I'll find something soon!

One more thing I would like to add to this post is a few of my thoughts on Europe - my home continent. It was great to explore two European countries last month and to be able to travel between the two of them so easily, with no need for a passport or a security check. I also feel very privileged that I had the opportunity to live and work in Austria during my Year Abroad, and to have been able to visit several other countries while I was out there just by hopping on a train. Sadly, future generations probably won't have the opportunities I had, and that makes me very sad. We need to have more freedom to live and travel in our own continent, not less. Personally, I love Europe and I'm very proud to be both European and a citizen of the world.

Well, that's my travelling done for the year, but I'll get out of the UK again as soon as I can! I haven't quite finished blogging for the year, however. I'm planning to write a little bit about my local area, and there'll be another Travel Tips article coming soon...

The Belém and Ajuda Neighbourhoods

The Belém neighbourhood is where you'll find many of Lisbon's main attractions. It's actually quite a way out from the city centre and it's almost like a town in and of itself. On the morning of my second day in Lisbon, I went there on the suburban train, which took about ten minutes. I had planned to see Torre de Belém and Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, but there turned out to be more things there to see than I realised!

Once I arrived at Belém station, I set off towards Torre de Belém, which is about a kilometre away. On my way there, I came across Padrão dos Descobrimentos, a monument celebrating the Portuguese Age of Discovery. I don't think this is something that should really be celebrated, but it's certainly an imposing monument to look at.

Then I arrived at Torre de Belém. Situated on the banks of the Tagus river, it's a really beautiful building to see. A musician was playing nice music on an accordion while I was there, and the overall atmosphere of the place was very peaceful and calming.

Next, I crossed over the road and turned back in the direction I'd come from to go towards Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. I certainly hadn't expected to meet the Sorting Hat on my way, but as a fan of the Harry Potter books, it was a nice surprise!

Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, a former monastery, was an impressive building to see. I had a walk around its gardens, but unfortunately due to the huge queue outside the building and my limited amount of time, going inside wasn't really an option.

Going back towards the station, I passed through Jardim Vasco da Gama, where I was surprised to find a beautiful pagoda. I found out later that it was a gift from Thailand to Portugal. Maybe it seemed a little out of place, but I really enjoyed visiting it. Southeast Asia is a part of the world I would love to go to, but that's a travel dream that will probably have to wait a few years before becoming reality. So it was cool for me to discover a bit of Asian culture in Europe!

I was intrigued by this pink building that I saw next to the train station. I found out later that it used to be a royal palace but is now the official residence of the Portuguese president. I hadn't realised that Belém contained so many of Lisbon's attractions!

I made a stop off on my way back to the city centre in the Ajuda neighbourhood, as I wanted to see the Necessidades Palace. I can never resist visiting castles or palaces! But it was a long walk up steep hills to get there from Alcântara train station, and I'm not sure it was entirely worth it. The palace is lovely to look at, but it's not open to the public, being the headquarters of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, there's a public park behind it (where I saw a little cat!) and I had nice views on my way back down the hill.

To sum up, a visit to the Ajuda neighbourhood is not an essential part of a trip to Lisbon, but a visit to the Belém neighbourhood definitely is! I loved seeing Torre de Belém, and the Thai pagoda was a real hidden gem.

My final post about my time in Portugal will be about Castelo de São Jorge, which was one of the highlights of my trip!

Lisbon

The other day I gave this blog a bit of a revamp, including a name change. I wanted to personalise the blog, as well as making it look a little more professional. So from now on, it will be known as Charlotte's Travel Adventures!

This first post since the revamp is about my recent trip to Lisbon. I'm going to need a couple more posts after this one to cover it all, as there was so much to see there!

I got off the train from Madrid in a country that was completely new to me, Portugal. I love going to countries I've never been to before, and I try to visit at least one new one each year. There's something so exciting about crossing a border and entering a part of the world with a different culture to discover and often a different language too. I studied some Portuguese on Duolingo in the run up to my trip, but felt a bit nervous about actually speaking it once I was there! I discovered that I am able to read the language almost fluently thanks to my knowledge of Spanish, but understanding spoken Portuguese is a whole other story. It's like Spanish but pronounced with a Russian accent! Once I've finished the Italian course on Duolingo, I think I'll study some more Portuguese, as I'd love to visit Brazil in the not-so-distant future and go back to Portugal at some point.

After arriving in Lisbon and dropping off my suitcase at my hostel, I went off to explore the city centre. But first I needed some Starbucks, which I found in this train station which looked like a palace!

Once I was sufficiently caffeinated, I set off towards Praça do Comércio. On my way there, I saw one of the famous old trams of Lisbon. I didn't have time to ride on one of them when I was there, so there's an excuse for me to return!

Praça do Comércio is a really grand and beautiful square right by the Tagus river.

From the square you can see the Cristo Rei statue, which was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the 25 de Abril bridge.

Next I went to see Palacete Chafariz D'El Rei, a very posh hotel built in an Arabic style. It's a lovely building but staying there would be way over my budget!

My second day in Lisbon was the most busy and I'll be writing about it in my next posts. Skipping ahead to my final day in Lisbon, my plan was to take the Ascensor da Glória (a funicular railway that's been running since the 19th century) up to Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara and the botanical garden. I found the Ascensor on Google Maps and set off there. I did think it was a little strange how many steps I had to climb up to get to it... and I realised why when I got to the top of the hill and saw the Ascensor waiting to go down! So I rode it back down the hill after I'd done my sightseeing. It was only a two-minute ride, but it was cool to use such an old mode of transport.

Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara was a nice place to look out over the city.

However, I would say that Castelo de São Jorge is the place with the best views. I'll be writing about it soon!

The botanical garden was one of the highlights of my trip. Whereas other parts of the city are filled with tourists, this is a really quiet and peaceful place where you can reconnect with nature. I'm certainly no expert on plants, but it was really nice to see so many varieties of trees and flowers from different parts of the world.

Finally, I want to mention a great vegan café I went to on my last day, called Eight - The Health Lounge. I had tofu tacos there, which were really delicious!

I only had a short amount of time in this beautiful city and I would have liked to stay longer. Although Madrid didn't make as much of an impression on me as I'd hoped, I really fell in love with Lisbon. I definitely would go back again and visit other places in Portugal too. I'm particularly interested in visiting the town of Sintra, which looks amazing.

In my next post, I'll be writing about the district of Belém, where you can find some of Lisbon's most famous sights!