From March 25...

Oh man what a difference one day to the next. Yesterday was bright and sunny, today was grey and rainy. But it didn't stop us from setting out to do what we wanted to do.

First we went to the market to have breakfast and walk around. By the time we got there it was really lunch, so we had a €3 lunch between the two of us, and then walked to the Library. This library isn't any library. It's a famous one. Why is it famous you ask? Well it's because of the architecturally incredible staircase. It is one of a kind, no doubt.

I had seen a picture of it many moons ago on Instagram and decided it was one of the things I had to see on my journey. It did not fail to impress. Absolutely beautiful, unfortunately a lot of other people had the same idea, so we couldn't get perfect solo pictures on it. But still, it was beautiful to see in person.

Legend has it that JK Rowling took inspiration from this library and used it in the Harry Potter series. I can 100% believe that. It was quite magical.

After that we went back to the hostel to get ready to head out. We got to the appropriate bus stop with lots of time, worrying we may not find it. Turns out the bus we were waiting for was actually a 5 o'clock bus, not a 4. So we killed an hour and a half just sitting in a bus stop. I tried to make space on my phone. I deleted SO many pictures and barely made a dent. I swear I had iCloud? I don't know what happened.

The bus ride was longer than anticipated. It was raining and there was traffic. I'm almost certain our bus hit a cyclist at some point. But he just kept riding.

At some point my gut told me to ask the driver when our stop was. He pulled over to look at my map, then drove another 50m MAYBE and said, "this is your stop". Not to pump my own tires, but I was pretty impressed by my instincts. A+.

We got off the bus and walked 20ish minutes to the house we are staying. The walk sucked, but it was SO worth it. Lovely family, home cooked meal, sound of the ocean from the balcony, and the best part: a hot shower I didn't have to wear flip flops in. Not to mention a room I only have to share with Haley. Instead of Haley, and a bunch of rowdy strangers/strange homeless-appearing men.

I have to say, I don't like spending lots of time with basically anyone, ever. But it's been really easy hanging with Haley. We have a lot in common, including the things we like to do, and more importantly, what we don't like to do. It's been great! And she's way better at navigating and travelling than I am, so I'm basically being babied. Which is fine for now, because I need to wade into this whole solo travel for long periods of time, thing.

I also have to thank my friend Diane over and over again. Her family is so hospitable and welcoming and wonderful. I'm going to make them dinner tomorrow. I'm kind of nervous. I'm not exactly a cook. But I'll pretend to be for the evening.

I can't wait to see the ocean tomorrow. Just the sound of it soothed my soul. Apparently theres also a lot of old windmills. I'll likely check those out too.

One thing I forgot to say in my last post was about this old church we went to. It was all Baroque style, wood carvings covered in gold leaf. Like literally the whole church was gold covered. Apparently some people try to scratch it from the walls. And the reason I'm telling you this is because of the joke I made, which fit perfect in context, and went: "Please sir, can I have some ore?" AHAHAHAH ha.. funny, right? Yeah...

Anyway, that's it for tonight.

All my love!