After walking through city after city, I was ready for some beach time. I had booked 4 nights in the surf town of Peniche, about an hour north of Lisbon, but looking at the weather forecast I debated changing it. However, the weather took a turn as soon as I got there, and highs of 28 and sunny made me very happy. I took a bus from Santiago to Braga for the night, then headed to Peniche.

The hostel, which was just outside of Peniche in a cute little town called Ferrel, turned out to be one of the best I have ever stayed in. The owner was waiting for me on the porch, and soon showed me into a small, two-storey house, with a 4 person dorm on each level, a living room, a kitchen, and a gorgeous terrace on the back. Every morning we’d wake up to fresh bread and an assortment of breakfast foods laid out on the table, presumably put there somewhere around 6am before everyone got up. Every afternoon between 1 and 3, the house would become magically clean again, including your bed being made and fresh towels appearing. It was what I imagine having a housekeeper is like…

The first night there were 6 people staying in the hostel, but by the second, we were down to three of us, so it really felt like a home. It was great.

The area around Peniche is surrounded by beaches with different size waves, great for strolling and sunbathing and watching the professional surfers. I decided to take a surfing lesson with one of the girls from the hostel after realizing I hadn’t been in 8 years! It was perfect conditions for it, and now I’m excited to get back into it when I hit Africa.

Being a surf town, it wasn’t so much about the party in Peniche, more about the sunset drinks at a couple of bars on the beach, or even the supermarket that seemed to suit the locals more, although that could be due to the happy hour of about $0.50 beers, basically free. My kind of place. It was just what I needed.