PARC TETE D'OR (LYON, FRANCE)

This is probably my favorite thing to to in Lyon, I enjoyed so much the time I spent in this Park that I come back the next day!! Surely because I love it but also because is too big to explore only one day.

To have an idea, the park looks like this with a huge lake where I spent all afternoon walking around, taking pictures of the ducks and baby duckies. Also there's Zoo area with wild animals like Bear, Giraffes, Zebras, Lyon and beautiful birds, my favorites were the flamingos and a Botanic Garden with trees, plants and flowers from all over the World. And the best? They are all free entrance :) Both Zoo and Botanic Garden close at 6Pm. Around this time you will see a bunch of people running in the park, it's a good spot for that, I'd say it's the heart of the city. More about the Park? Click here.

LYON, JE T'AIME

I'm glad to get back to Europe, last time I was around this beautiful continent was to visit my friend Claudia in Berlin. after 7 mounths backpacking alone in Asia and Australia. Yes, before get back to Portugal I always make a 2 weeks transition so the cultural shock isn't so intense.

I came to Europe for a Seasonal Work and since we have our friend Coline living in Lyon we decided to spend few days there. (See how can you save money in accommodation? You visit a friend and a city.) To be honest I didn't know anything about Lyon, not even it was one of the biggest cities in France, I thought was just a small town, that's fine the less expectations the better.

BACK ON THE ROAD

I've been silent these days because I was in a truck for 2 days!! Between many stops, It took 2 days from Torres Vedras to Paris by truck :)

First time we got a ride from a truck driver was on March, from Switzerland to Portugal. It was a loooong way but in the end I was very happy that we made it, I was pround of myself. But it wasn't easy. Bruno had the brilliant idea of asking directly portuguese truck drivers who were heading back to Portugal if they could give us a ride.

MELBOURNE'S MUSEUM - VINTAGE ITEMS

I was looking at the pictures I took when I spent 5 weeks in Melbourne, Australia and I found this beautiful vintage items. They belonged to ozzie families 50, 60 years ago and now are in this Museum.

Something I found out is that vintage is wayyyy more expansive in Australia then USA or Portugal, one item can cost 5 times more! I guess it's because they earn 5 times more? ; )  And there are no cents items... hmmm maybe I gotta find different stores next time. Hey Ozzie friends any cool vintage stores I should take a peek?

HITCH HIKING TIPS

I'm not an expert but I will share my small skills on the art of hitch hike. Pretty please: If you got any more tips comment this post, so one day we will have a full list :) 

1) Before leaving do some "homework": ONE: check in google maps your route and write down a list of cities you will pass by, plus how long does it take from one city to the other and how many kilometres. TWO check out the suggestions in HitchWiki;

2) When you are hitch hiking be flexible and ask people (in gas station for eg.) about the list of your route: locals know better then us. (The faster doesn't mean the better);

3) Collect cartoon boxes from supermarkets or any shop and invest in a good quality market, I like either black or red colours, because they are catchy. Make written signs as neat as possible of the place you need to go;

GERÊS - THE HEART OF PORTUGAL

Finally we arrived Geres, the only National (protected) Park of Portugal, and no words to describe what our eyes were seeing. The first second we enter this magical place I felt a powerful energy all around my body, the oxygen was pure, my heart was bitting so fast showing me that he was so happy :D

If you are looking for a beautiful, peaceful, nature place in Portugal, then travel the very North of Portugal and you will find this amazing spot called Geres. It's divided in 5 areas (1 in located in Spain) so you have a bunch to do here. We spent around a week and it wasn't time enough. Best thing is to bring an autocaravan to sleep and eat anywhere but if you don't have one at least bring a car, a tent and a pan to cook. Don't worry with water, there're fountains everywhere with springs water, so pure and cold. You'll find camping areas often but you have to pay for them (around 4-6€ per day, middle season, on July and August prices rise). We stayed in Vidoeiro Camping with a small waterfall so you listen the water all the time, even when you're sleeping, how relaxing! And the other was the Cerdeira Camping is the most popular one, bigger and with a bunch of conditions (pool, restaurant, supermarket, hi-fi, etc etc) but also a lot of people equals noise.