A post with random things

1. I went to Belgium with my sister, on our yearly sisters trip. It was great to have some time alone with her and we explored 3 different cities, which was a lot of fun.

2. I injured my neck in the gym. That sounds awful and it's not completly true. I was at the gym, when I looked down, felt a muscle pulling in my back and couldn't move my neck for a week. Unfortunately, it has happened before and it's always painful.

3. After a week, I went to see an "expert" on these kind of injuries, recommend by a colleague at work. I called to make an appointment and thought it was a woman. It turned out it was a huge man with a high pitched voice. He was a brute, made my bones crack and left me with bruises. The following day the pain was almost gone. 

4. I went to a Zumba dance class in the gym. My expectations were not high, but I wanted something light and without push ups, to have a slow return after the injury. I left after 20 minutes and went running on one of the machines. Running on a treadmile is not among my favourite things, but after that class it was like chocolate cake. 

(In THAT Zumba class - I believe there's better - there wasn't any instructions like in other classes, people just knew the coreographies and it was very hard to follow for us new ones. However, that was not the worse. The worse the forced happiness in the air.  It was not for me. I prefer to suffer through 20 burpees and feel great afterwards, than to do something where you have to feel excited like Santa Claus on Christmas eve on steroids)

5. After months of wedding party planning we took well deserved time off of planning things. Now we are back and are have (are) planned (planning) trips to exciting places for 2019. 

6. I have loads of pictures from our summer vacation in beautiful Denmark that I want to share with you. I will hopefully manage to do it soon. 

How about you? How have you been?

Day trip to Marstrand - Newbie

When the Newbie team told their bloggers that it would be nice to have some posts about 1-day trips I didn't hesitate and wrote about Marstrand. 

Marstrand is my favourite day trip from Gothenburg and you can read about it in my latest article in the Newbie Guide to Sweden. 

Here: https://www.thenewbieguide.se/day-trip-marstrand/

Quando a equipa do Newbie disse aos seus bloguers que seria interessante ter alguns posts sobre sitios giros onde se pudesse ir e voltar no mesmo dia, eu não hesitei e escrevi sobre Marstrand.

Marstrand é a minha viagem de um dia preferida na área de Gotemburgo. Podem ler mais sobre este local mágico no meu último artigo no the Newbie Guide to Sweden. (cliquem no link em cima, o artigo é em ingles)

Sara Jump - Serralves

A Sara jump at the piece Plantoir, by Claes Oldenburg.

Serralves, May 2018

Serralves

Serralves is a cultural institution near Porto, whose mission is to "raise the general public's awareness concerning contemporary art and the environment, via the Museum of Contemporary Art, Park and Auditorium". It also incorporates a Villa, from 1940, and each building is an example of contemporary architecture, Modernism, and Art Deco architecture. A proper visit to the whole park takes a few hours and it makes a enjoyable morning or afternoon. 

Serralves é uma instituição cultural perto do Porto, cuja missão é "sensibilizar o público em geral para a arte contemporânea e o meio ambiente, através do Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Parque e Auditório". Além disso incorpora ainda uma Villa, a conhecida Casa de Serralves de 1940. Cada edifício é um exemplo da arquitetura contemporânea, modernismo e arquitetura Art Déco. Uma visita decente a todo o parque leva algumas horas e faz uma agradável manhã ou tarde.

Museum of Contemporary Art / Museu de Arte Contemporânea

Library at the museum / Biblioteca do museu

Plantoir, Claes Oldenburg

The Villa of Serralves, its gardens and empty interiors 

A Casa de Serralves, os seus jardins e o interior agora vazio

The bathroom / A casa de banho

Double Exposure of Dan Graham, at the Serralves Park 

Dupla exposição de Dan Graham, no Parque de Serralves

Rosaleda

An Opaque Wind Park in Six Folds by Haegue Yang

The farm at Serralves park / A quinta do Parque de Serralves (Há vida no parque!) 

I have been to Porto many times but a visit to Serralves was still due. This time our flight back to sweden was canceled and rebooked for the day after, which gave us a whole extra day in the city and we could finally visit the whole park. In the end we were glad it was canceled! If one has to have a flight canceled let it be in an interesting city full of things to see and do. 

Já estive no Porto muitas vezes, mas uma visita a Serralves ainda estava em falta. Desta vez o nosso vôo de volta para a Suécia foi cancelado e remarcado para o dia seguinte, o que nos deu um dia extra na cidade e finalmente pudemos visitar o parque. No final ficamos contentes por o voo ter sido cancelado! Se tivermos que ter um voo cancelado, ao menos que seja numa cidade interessante e cheia de coisas para fazer.

Porto, always Porto

Porto is one of my favourite cities in the world. Yes, it's crowded. Yes, it's full of tourists. Yes, it's up and down and makes you sweat. But it's also full of charm, good hearted people and gorgeous views. So here are some more photos of Porto. 

O Porto é uma das minhas cidades preferidas no mundo. Sim, está sempre abarrotar. Sim, está cheia de turistas. Sim, é sempre a subir e a descer e faz-nos suar. Mas também é cheia de charme, de pessoas de bom coração e vistas deslumbrantes. Por isso aqui vão mais algumas imagens do Porto.

The typical "francesinha" / A típica francesinha

Port wine tasting, portuguese tapas and good company - or how to spend a lovely afternoon.

Prova de vinho do Porto, tapas à portuguesa e boa companhia - ou como passar uma bela tarde.

Breath taking sunset in Porto / Pôr do sol de tirar a respiração 

Isn't it beautiful?

Não é bonito?

Sara Jump - Douro SPA

A vineyard, the Douro and the sun. The perfect set for a Sara jump.

Douro, May 2018

Escape in Douro

After a couple of very intensive days all we wanted was to rest and take it all in. We spent two nights in a spa lost in the middle of nowhere in the Douro region. The surroundings were beautiful, the food was great and locally produced and we had the best full body massage ever (although the spa itself was quite disappointing). 

Depois de alguns dias muito intensos, tudo o que queríamos era descansar e processar tudo. Passámos duas noites num spa perdido no meio do nada na região do Douro. Os arredores eram bonitos, a comida era óptima e os ingredientes produzidos localmente. Ainda tivemos a melhor massagem de corpo inteiro de sempre (embora o spa em si fosse uma desilusão).

The herb garden for the restaurant / O canteiro de ervas aromáticas do restaurante

Unfortunately, it was not warm enough to use the outdoor pools.

Infelizmente não estava calor suficiente para usar as piscinas de fora.

We were spoiled and enjoyed our balcony with a view.

Fomos bastante mimados e aproveitamos a vista da varanda.

View from the balcony (the second day was sunny!).

Vista da varanda (no segundo dia fez sol!)

Baby grapes / Uvas bebés

Walks in the garden and vineyard / Passeios pelo jardim e vinha

Starters, mains and desserts at the restaurant. The photos are not great but the food was delicious and we ate until we couldn't eat anymore. 

Entradas, pratos principais e sobremesas no restaurante. As fotos não estão grande coisa, mas a comida era deliciosa e comemos até que não poder mais.

We left the spa hotel and caught a train to Porto in this gorgeous train station, right by the river. A nice way to finish our lovely and quiet stay in the Douro. 

Saímos do hotel e apanhámos um comboio para o Porto nesta magnífica estação ferroviária, mesmo junto ao rio, o que foi uma boa maneira de terminar a nossa estadia tão boa e tranquila no Douro.