Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Portugal

Bom dia! I have already had two of my six exams! The exams were written at university, so we finally went on campus and met the other students in our class. I mustadmit, it felt a bit strange to be back in a classroom again. Until then, we had only been to university twice for two lectures with ten students. The other lectures were held online as some students had caught the coronavirus. To be honest, we all did not really miss the classroom as we were able to attend classes from the beach or a sweet café instead. In addition, I found out that one of my fellow students lives in a village only 30 km away from my hometown.

A highlight of the last few days was the tripto Praia de Galapinhos. It felt as if I had travelled to the Caribbean and my friend mentioned that the water here is even nicer than in Australia. I always thought Portugal only had the wild Atlantic beaches attracting surfers from all over the world, but once we got out of our Uber and walked down the steps to the little bay, I could not believe my eyes. My friend went on her own to explore the island and two hours later, when I looked up from my book, I saw a stand-up paddle board approaching the beach and on it: my friend with a local. He had taken her on a little trip and had shown her two more beautiful bays of the island. We had a lovely chat with him, and he even told us about some secret spots that were off the beaten track and far away from all the tourism (especially Germans) that had increased a lot. It seems like the message of Portugal being a nice holiday country has reached Germany and the fact that people do not have to quarantine themselves after returning to rainy Germany is also an attracting factor.

By the way, Galapinhos Beach was declared the most beautiful beach of Europe in 2017. Well deserved, I think. I have also had my first surf lesson and on the one hand, I really enjoy it but on the other hand, I am still careful and a bit nervous. Our course was held at Costa de Caparica, a proper paradise for surfers.

We have also managed to stay on our schedule and visit a new museum every Sunday. I think my favourite until now was the tile museum “Museu Nacional de Azulejo”. The unique ceramic tiles glazed in blue and white are called Azulejos and are the most popular art form in Portugal. They are embedded in numerous palaces as well as in modest houses. The National Tile Muesum shows the development of the Azulejo tiles from the very beginning in the 10th century until today. The most beautiful objects of every era are on display. It was very impressive to see how people back then were able to create something so beautiful with so little resources. Though I was also fascinated by the modern art that represents tiles less ornate and more abstract. At the end of the museum, guest can admire a tile painting of Lisbon that was painted just before the disastrous earthquake in 1755. It is called “Grande Panorama de Lisboa”, is 35 metres long and shows the cityscape of Lisbon from the water.It is also great that the corona numbers are going down rapidly. The numbers have decreased to an incidence of 22.3. From my point of view, the reason for this is the fact that everything happens outside and notinside in enclosed spaces. Even open-air festivals are legal again.

If you are on a holiday in Lisbon, you must visit the LX Factory. The abandoned factory site has a special charm and was brought back to live in a creative way: Restaurants, cafés and thecreative crowd transformed this place to one of the coolest spots in Lisbon where just being there and taking in the atmosphere is an extraordinary experience. The textile factory was built in 1846 for “Companhia de Fiação e Tecidos Lisbonense” and covers 23000 m². Due to economic difficulties, the factory had to shut down and the printing company that settled here later, did not survive either. The city forgot about the factory site located in Alcântara, a district of Lisbon underneath the 25 Abril Bridge. In 2012, the factory site came back to life and became a place for creativity in the city: Start-ups, agencies and studios from the media, marketing and fashion industry settled there and attracted bars, cafés and restaurants as well as a lot of artists that brought the beautiful street art with them. That is the story of how a ruin became a beautiful place definitely worth seeing.

Now it is time to end this diary entry as I was invited by some Erasmus friends to watch a football match together. FC Porto plays Sporting Lissabon today, apparently the top match of the Primeira Liga on day 21. I do not really know much about football, but people told me that the atmosphere is great when two top clubs play each other. Let’s see and até a próxima!