Planes, trains, & automobiles (busses and boats)

So, on Thursday, May 24, the “study abroad” part of our trip was effectively over, which means the group left and we kept going.

We took a TAXI to the train station in Lisbon…where we (ironically) boarded a TRAIN, which took us to Faro, Portugal. It was a bit difficult because (while I know this is hard to believe) due to our shopping excursions the amount of stuff we left with had practically doubled…so, getting off and on a train was a bit challenging…nothing we couldn’t handle though. We found a place to store our stuff because our next mode of transportation wasn’t leaving for 4 more hours. Then we set off to discover Faro. It is a cute little seaside town. We found the tourism office and got a map…we basically saw the entire “old town” in about an hour. It was awesome – the weather was perfect: warm and breezy with clear skies. The scenery was pleasant and the ambience of the town was comforting. It was the perfect spot to stop and take a rest. We sat down to eat something…Italian food…again, another perfect meal.

Then we walked back to the bus station (where we had left our luggage) and boarded our BUS to Seville, Spain where we’d pick up our rental CAR. Once we got to Seville bus station we had to take a TAXI to the train station where the rental car company is located. Once we got in the CAR we started our journey down to Cadiz, Spain (this all seems convoluted, but I assure, it was well thought out and researched and the most frugal). We dropped our friend Alex off at his hotel (he hitched a ride with us) and then went to find our hotel, which proved to be difficult…because you see, it wasn’t in Cadiz. It was in Chiclana de la Frontera …uh, ok…but here’s the deal, we couldn’t get it to pull up on our GPS so we found a taxi driver and asked him to help – his initial response was that it was a 50 euro cab ride – approx $65 – and then he said about an hour. So, we set off and got horribly lost…pulled in to a gas station (around  10:30 pm)…and an ANGEL told us to follow him…instead of trying to describe how to get there…he got us about 90% of the way there and then we kept getting lost, turning around…somehow we finally found the hotel…around midnight. It was a LONG day of travel, but we were safe, together and had a place to sleep (AND, we had more to see/do so we had to press on).

The next morning, we woke up relatively early to embark on what would be one of our favorite days…we drove to Tarifa, Spain and boarded a BOAT that would take us to Tangier, Morocco. We were SOOOOO excited and our day consistently confirmed our anticipation. When we arrived, we were greeted by a tour guide…he said he would show us Tangier for 20 euros a piece…without much hesitation we obliged…he had a badge. We got in a taxi and headed to our first stop…a camel ride…yep, you read that right. We each got on a camel on the side of the road and took a spin around for 2 euros each. We were dropped off in the heart of Tangier…walked around, did some sightseeing, ate an amazing lunch – with about 6 courses, and then the FUN began…we SHOPPED…and by shopped we most likely single handedly helped the Moroccan economy on that particular day – good for week-end stock market closing!

When we arrived back in Spain we decided to visit another country…Great Britain…I know you are thinking…What? How? Well, there is this little part of Spain that is owned by the British…Gibraltar…so; we headed that way for a quick visit (and stamp on our passport). We had a pint and fish and chips. It was a lovely end to our day…so, let’s recap: breakfast in Spain, lunch in Morocco and dinner in England (kind of).

The next day was less eventful – basically our goal: get sun (burned)! We spent the day by the pool of our hotel overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It was one of first real restful days aka it was perfect! That afternoon we FINALLY headed to Cadiz…checked into our hotel and decided to sit outside one of the local pubs (right next to our hotel) and enjoy the afternoon/evening before getting ready for dinner and our last late night in the Iberian Peninsula.  We ended up not getting ready and going out but ordering Chinese food and watching the Disney channel (the only English-speaking channel besides news). You can tell our time was winding down and we were ready for rest…

Sunday was spent in Seville…doing some of our favorite things…eating, shopping, sightseeing (taking photos) and eating more. We had a wonderful last day in Spain. We didn’t hold back on our purchase or our food…our last meal was AMAZING! We each got pasta and also shared a pitcher of sangria, pizza, appetizer & dessert.  We felt by stuffing our faces it was perfect way to end the trip!!!

The next morning our wakeup call came around 330 am…we had a 5+ hour drive to Madrid to catch our plane home. We made it in plenty of time…returned the car and boarded our PLANE back to America.

All in all our trip was a complete success… we drove 2,238 km of Spain countryside… no real hiccups that we couldn’t figure out…we ate well at practically every meal…we splurged and spoiled ourselves…we saw the most we could in 17 full days…we made new friendships…saw new sights…and didn’t want to eat dinner until 10 pm every night…we believe we fully embraced the culture of the Iberian Peninsula and not only are we still friends after…we are closer!

Family-owned

On Monday, May 21, we headed towards 2 more company visits around Lisbon. The first was Groupo  Portucel Soporcel where the CEO spoke to us, which was a wonderful treat.  Portucel is a paper manufacturer, which makes the #1 selling paper in the world, Navigator Universal. They are 1st in Europe and 6th in the world for uncoated wood free paper  and are 1st in Europe and 4th in the world 1st European company for eucalyptus pulp. They have about 2300 employees, of which 22% have PhD, Masters of Science or other degrees. Portucel accounts for 5% of all Portugal exports to US and 3% to Europe. Next we visited the Jose de Mello Group, which is a family-owned company (as many are in Portugal). One of the oldest family members (he shares ownership with his brother and cousins - 12 in total) spoke to us which was fascinating. His great, great grandfather started the company in 1865 but during the revolution in the 70's the government took their business away and his father started a new company, which is thriving today. They have 6 businesses within the group that total around €4B in assets, which range from the chemical industry to nanotechnology to solutions & sustainability. After a group of us decided to walk down to the river and have dinner together...again, a wonderful and memorable experience. We are making friendships that will last a lifetime! On May 22 we woke up early (430 am) to go to Porto and visit 2 more companies. The first was Amorim, a cork producer. Besides touring the factory, which was fascinating because most of it was manual labor (the high end wine producers asked for their cork stoppers to be made by hand so the company obliged)...cork increased 8.7% last year. The marketing director had this to say: "Sustainability is about people, planet and profits - you don't have to sacrifice one of them." A few fun facts about cork:  nothing is wasted in production - it creates renewable energy because they don't cut don the trees;  US is largest consumer of wine; Amorim exports to over 100 countries; 3.5 billion cork stoppers are produced annually and Amorim has 27% market share; cork flooring used in Gaudi's cathedral (which we saw in Barcelona). After we went back to the hotel to change for our evening...the bus took us down to the Douro River to snap a few photos and enjoy the scenery...which was simply breathtaking. Or next stop was Taylor Fladgate, producers of port wine since 1692. We met with one of the family members (8th generation), who gave us a tour of their facility. Then we did a tasting and had an amazing group dinner - the view of the river and Porto was amazing!! On May 23 we had our last company visit to Sonae. The highlight of this visit was the LEEDS gold standard building they had built. It was an interesting tour (except the fact that we were in the employees work space - it was a bit awkward). The lights change throughout the day with the sun and clouds...so they are always saving the indoor lights when the natural sunlight will work. The roof is designed to not only reflect light but also to collect rain water for use in the building. Lastly, we ended the day with a visit to Sandeman, another port wine producer, but since neither of us love port wine the highlight for us was a view of the Douro River Valley - it was beautiful!!

Obrigadu!

On May 19, we packed up, departed Madrid and headed to Lisbon, Portugal around lunch time. When we arrived at the airport we immediately felt the difference in countries. Since a lot of our group spoke Spanish, we felt a bit more comfortable...we had to learn a few key phrases to help us get around. So, we chose, "Thank you" and "I'm sorry" - both seemed to common themes - they are Obrigado or Obrigada (depending if you were speaking to a male or female) and Schupa, respectively. We had a bus tour around the city...stopped for a quick coffee, which has come to mean an espresso or possibly cappuccino (aka not just a cup of coffee). Then we checked into our hotel and all met down in the lobby to walk to a group dinner at a restaurant named Carina. It was a very traditional Portuguese dinner - soup to start, chicken with fries/rice (we appreciate extra carbs) and flan. VERY YUMMY! Oh, and did we mention the free-flowing wine?! Or table had a wonderful time...we spent the whole dinner laughing, telling stories, toasting to our trip thus far and the memories to be made in the coming days! It was one of the more memorable events on the trip. After dinner, we went port wine tasting with our professor, which apparently is a very serious thing because we kept getting shushed...and our group wasn't good at being quiet. We tried a 20, 30, & 40 year port wine...there were 8 of us sipping out of 3 glasses...sounds sanitary, huh?  We decided to check out the Lisbon nightlife...so as is common in a group trip about 20 of us starting walking around looking for a good time and we found this little hole in the wall bar BUT it was playing the best American music (old stuff). We all sang (at the top of our lungs) Bohemian Rhapsody!!! Other songs included Barbara Ann, Ring of Fire and other favorites from 70s and 80s rock bands. We made that little bar our own karaoke/campfire. It was a blast! The next morning (May 20) we took a bus to Peniche and Obidos. It was technically a free day but our professor planned an optional trip to these two cities for anyone who was interested so we took him up on the offer. The first stop was the seaside town of Peniche. We were there long enough to walk around, take some pictures and get rained on. Obidos was amazing...because basically all we did was eat and shop...our favorites! We had one of the best meals of the trip in this hip new restaurant (only been open a week) called Vintage Tapas...day fulfilled!

Nando!

It has been a busy week with all the travel and touring different companies for our class...sorry for the lack of posting...but get ready because we are catching up!!! We apologize in advance but we don't have that exciting a day to tell you about for May 17...honestly the highlight was our lunch (as it mostly is with us)...it was outdoors and wonderful and yes, Italian food. The weather was beautiful and the company was fantastic! We've had a wonderful time getting to know all the students outside our cohort. For those of you who don't know, we are on a study abroad trip with the University of Texas at Arlington. We are both getting our MBAs. The focus of this class is sustainability. We've been learning some interesting tactics of how different companies around the world handle corporate social responsibility. It seems as if while all companies have their own culture but we all face common economic, environmental and social issues. We got up on Thursday and had 2 company visits planned - first we went to the Santander "compound" - Santander is the largest bank in Spain and the #1 bank in the Euro zone. Their facility was amazing - they literally kept calling it "the city". A little cult-ish but that's ok.  It had everything - restaurants, dry cleaners, dentist, hospital, day care, gym, tennis/basketball/volleyball courts, 1000+ year-old olive trees and even their own art gallery, which was very impressive! Second visit was to Telefonica. This company also had a beautiful cluster of buildings and amenities for its employees and even it's own metro stop due to lack of parking!  On May 18, we started the day with a company visit to Acciona, which is a successful construction company. A while ago they invested in renewable energy, wind specifically, which would help them with a longer term profit.  The executive director of sustainability made a few good points (we listed below) about sustainability being such a big part of their business model... There is no life ahead for business as usual. Need to get buy-in from organization for change. Must say "things" publicly so you'll follow through. After our company visit, we headed towards Toledo - another beautiful ancient walled city. Our tour guide, Fernando, was the hit of the visit - we were told to call him "Nando", which we all gladly obliged. In fact, our fellow cohort-er, Marcus, has since done frequent imitations just to help us relive the memories...he'll probably be thankful to not be constantly asked  by all of us to do the imitation so we can laugh..."and to be...closer to.........God!" (inside joke) That night we got a little flare of culture...we had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant weirdly named Puerto Rico (Rick Steve's recommendation). We went to see a show of Flamenco dancers. It was amazing...those dancers were so serious about their jobs (their faces were serious) but so wonderful! We were all intrigued - even the boys loved it - we know this because they all were trying to imitate the male dancer (minus the tight pants and panty line)!! The guitarist and singers (just acoustic music) were awesome...also when one was dancing and the others were sitting out, they clapped to help the one dancing keep the beat making percussion sounds with their hands...literally handmade maracas. Impressive!

When in Spanish...

First of all, sorry for the delay in our post...yesterday was sort of a whirlwind of a day...we got up in Valencia and drove the 3.5 hours to Madrid...which was uneventful until we had to figure out where to drop off the rental car...it definitely felt like we were driving in a foreign country at that point! What is it with e 800 roundabouts in a row...is that really the most efficient use of the roads?! Annnnnywaaay...we met up with the study aborad group in Madrid. We did a walking tour for a few hours and had a fabulous dinner! Today, we had our first company visit - Groupo Siro - which is one of the largest food producers in Spain (they make pasta, cereal, cakes, cookies). We did tastes tests and toured their R&D facility...it was fascinating and they were wonderful hosts, which means we got free food ;) After we drove to the ancient city of Segovia...I wish we could figure out the uploading of photos because it was so beautiful and breathtaking!! I'll figure something out before the trip ends...promise. We ate lunch and walked around the cobble stone streets...with one amazing scene after another. For dinner we had...wait for it...Hard Rock Cafe. Sorry but we needed a good burger...it happens! PS: the title was a direct quote of our friend Kristen Ciba...she obviously meant to say when in Spain, but this stuck.

The Scenic Route

We slept in late our first day in Valencia - it was wonderful but we were starving. We realized that we were becoming Spainards...dinner at 11 pm, breakfast at 11 am! Our breakfast was at an outdoor/sidewalk cafe (which is customary and the best way to eat a meal). We decided to explore the city and explore we did and in this case explore means read the map wrong or get lost! We made our way to The City of Arts & Sciences...it was an amazing collection of modern buildings, which houses the opera house, a science museum and other museums that we didn't go to. We took a heck of a lot of photos (sorry we can't post them...check back in...we will). After our marathon walk we did some marathon shopping - don't worry family members we thought about you while shopping ;) That night we decided to explore the nightlife...however we didn't have much luck figuring out the map...again! We would walk a few blocks thinking we didn't need to consult the map HOWEVER we went 6 inches on the map...we went in circles and ended up in the "happening" area...except there were no restaurants just bars and discos. So we walked back to find some food and we did...eventually...we had another amazing meal (because it was Italian food)! At the end of dinner (almost midnight), we decided the nightlight wasn't happening...so we went to bed. Another successful day in Spain!

Futbol

Our day started off with a walk to the FC Barcelona stadium - it was pretty anticlimactic because it was closed - bet its different on game day. Then we took the metro to Sagrada Familia Cathedral - aka Gaudi's work of impressive art! We got In the car and left for Valencia...when we got here we basically checked in and got back in the car to head to our first European soccer game - Villarreal vs. Aletico Madrid! It was a phenomenal experience - so much excitement and enthusiasm the WHOLE game...not a lot of fanfare or distractions...just soccer. Villarreal lost 1-0 but we are so glad we went - we now own authentic soccer scarves! The game was the highlight of our day!!!!