So let's get the blogging of this trip started. You know about SIngapore. And you know everything you need to know about Germany (which is pretty much nothing because I just stayed in my little village all week, except for being taken to another town nearby for dinner one night, and then spending an evening with my friends The Mangs in Munich and seeing my 6 year old best friend Henry who I watched ski at the park nearby and he's really good and we all went to this amazing Afghan restaurant together which was a delicious and new food experience for me.). But after Germany I went and met my parents for a 10 day trip through Portugal and Spain.
We started out in Lisbon. My parents arrived the day before me, but I wanted to see the Mangs so I stayed in Munich one extra night while my parents did some exploring on their own. I arrived in the afternoon, so we just went to dinner and had a wander through the old town, which is very cute. Lisbon is covered in big hills though, which was a bit of a surprise, and was a bit rough on my parents. It was almost like a mini San Francisco. Anyway we wandered around old town and walked up to this restaurant we read about that is run by a circus school. Sadly it was not as cool as it sounded, but it was still nice and had good views. Then I only had one full day in Lisbon, which we spent running around on one of those hop-on-hop-off busses. We went to this part of town called Belem, which is the entry to the bay that Lisbon is on. So there are some old buildings and monuments built alongside the river that used to defend entry to Lisbon. And there's this amazing monastery and church out there, as well as the presidential palace. We also had a fantastic seafood lunch at this little hole in the wall, followed by a pastel de Belem. It's basically a little pie filled with custard and then baked. It's kind of like the egg tarts in Asia (I think it must be what they're based on), but without the egg. I mean, there's egg in it, but the Asian egg tarts have a strong eggy flavor, while these are more just like a custard. You can find it all over Portugal, where they call it pastel de nata, but I guess Belem's is somehow different so they change the name a bit. To me, they all tasted pretty much the same, although the Belem one was definitely the best because it was warm and the crust was super flakey and crispy. Then it was back on the bus to continue the grand tour of Lisbon, with a stop at the tile museum. I think everyone knows that Portugal and Spain are famous for tile, all of which is really amazing. So the museum was also really amazing. Lots of great tiles. I wanted to buy/steal everything I saw. But I have no idea what I would've done with all those tiles if I'd actually bought them. In the end, I just got myself a little tile magnet, which will have to do.
Overall impression of Lisbon after taking the bus all over and seeing everything very, very quickly? Old town is gorgeous, absolutely beautiful and amazing to wander through and just appreciate all the small alleys and views of all the hills and tile work everywhere. The rest of the city, the modern part, is super gross. It's like the city just expanded with no style or thought at all. It's pretty sad. And a lot of it is really run down, also. And there's abandoned buildings everywhere. I'm not sure why, if it's economic or what since they were pretty heavily affected by the recession in 2008, but there are so many abandoned buildings in that city. Actually, a lot of them would make pretty sweet venues for pop-up events or something, though. But I did love the old city. It seems like there's a lot going on under the surface there, there's a buzz and electricity to the city, and I think living there could be really fun. Not that I'll probably ever find out, but anyway it could be fun. So that was Lisbon, and then we picked up our rental car and drove to Seville. Which I'll write about later because that place was awesome and I may write a lot about it.
We're gonna have music from a bunch of ladies today. Because there are some great ladies making some great music out there. So here's 3 very different songs from 3 very different ladies for you.
First up is Sampa The Great, or Sampa for short. I'm actually not sure how I didn't write about her before. I saw her at Laneway last month, and before going to Laneway I had looked into most of the artists who were playing that I didn't know, and of those artists I didn't previously know, she was the one I was most looking forward to. Born in Zambia and raised in Botswana, Sampa now lives in Australia, which is probably how she ended up at Laneway since it's pretty heavy on the Australian artist roster. Her performance was good, but sadly the sound was not great so she got pretty drowned out by the background music. And there were a million 14 year olds there for some reason, and they were all right next to me jumping around like idiots and continuously running into me. It was very annoying. So I can't say I enjoyed her performance as much as I expected, but it really had nothing to do with her personally. It's too bad, though, because she has some great tracks, like Blue Boss. I love this song. But the performance was slightly ruined by the teenagers, and more so by the fact that the guitar riff, which I love, was totally drowned out by the poorly balanced sound. But it is still a fantastic beat, and at least that was loud and clear.
Sampa has some singles and mixtapes out, but she's still working on the debut album, which I'm very much looking forward to.
Completely switching musical gears, up next is The Embers, by Vagabon. Another African transplant, Vagabon (real name Laetitia Tamko) was born and raised in Cameroon, but has been in the US since high school. Obviously not all African music is the same, but it's interesting to hear just how different the musical directions these ladies chose to go in are. The Embers is off of Vagabon's upcoming depub, Infinite Worlds, due out later this month. It's actually a rework of the song Sharks, from her Persian Garden EP.
And again, we're going to completely change musical directions (and move away from the international transplants) and hear from Madeline Kenney. She put out her first EP, Signals, last year. It's a very good debut, and the title track is my favorite off it.
We started out in Lisbon. My parents arrived the day before me, but I wanted to see the Mangs so I stayed in Munich one extra night while my parents did some exploring on their own. I arrived in the afternoon, so we just went to dinner and had a wander through the old town, which is very cute. Lisbon is covered in big hills though, which was a bit of a surprise, and was a bit rough on my parents. It was almost like a mini San Francisco. Anyway we wandered around old town and walked up to this restaurant we read about that is run by a circus school. Sadly it was not as cool as it sounded, but it was still nice and had good views. Then I only had one full day in Lisbon, which we spent running around on one of those hop-on-hop-off busses. We went to this part of town called Belem, which is the entry to the bay that Lisbon is on. So there are some old buildings and monuments built alongside the river that used to defend entry to Lisbon. And there's this amazing monastery and church out there, as well as the presidential palace. We also had a fantastic seafood lunch at this little hole in the wall, followed by a pastel de Belem. It's basically a little pie filled with custard and then baked. It's kind of like the egg tarts in Asia (I think it must be what they're based on), but without the egg. I mean, there's egg in it, but the Asian egg tarts have a strong eggy flavor, while these are more just like a custard. You can find it all over Portugal, where they call it pastel de nata, but I guess Belem's is somehow different so they change the name a bit. To me, they all tasted pretty much the same, although the Belem one was definitely the best because it was warm and the crust was super flakey and crispy. Then it was back on the bus to continue the grand tour of Lisbon, with a stop at the tile museum. I think everyone knows that Portugal and Spain are famous for tile, all of which is really amazing. So the museum was also really amazing. Lots of great tiles. I wanted to buy/steal everything I saw. But I have no idea what I would've done with all those tiles if I'd actually bought them. In the end, I just got myself a little tile magnet, which will have to do.
Overall impression of Lisbon after taking the bus all over and seeing everything very, very quickly? Old town is gorgeous, absolutely beautiful and amazing to wander through and just appreciate all the small alleys and views of all the hills and tile work everywhere. The rest of the city, the modern part, is super gross. It's like the city just expanded with no style or thought at all. It's pretty sad. And a lot of it is really run down, also. And there's abandoned buildings everywhere. I'm not sure why, if it's economic or what since they were pretty heavily affected by the recession in 2008, but there are so many abandoned buildings in that city. Actually, a lot of them would make pretty sweet venues for pop-up events or something, though. But I did love the old city. It seems like there's a lot going on under the surface there, there's a buzz and electricity to the city, and I think living there could be really fun. Not that I'll probably ever find out, but anyway it could be fun. So that was Lisbon, and then we picked up our rental car and drove to Seville. Which I'll write about later because that place was awesome and I may write a lot about it.
We're gonna have music from a bunch of ladies today. Because there are some great ladies making some great music out there. So here's 3 very different songs from 3 very different ladies for you.
First up is Sampa The Great, or Sampa for short. I'm actually not sure how I didn't write about her before. I saw her at Laneway last month, and before going to Laneway I had looked into most of the artists who were playing that I didn't know, and of those artists I didn't previously know, she was the one I was most looking forward to. Born in Zambia and raised in Botswana, Sampa now lives in Australia, which is probably how she ended up at Laneway since it's pretty heavy on the Australian artist roster. Her performance was good, but sadly the sound was not great so she got pretty drowned out by the background music. And there were a million 14 year olds there for some reason, and they were all right next to me jumping around like idiots and continuously running into me. It was very annoying. So I can't say I enjoyed her performance as much as I expected, but it really had nothing to do with her personally. It's too bad, though, because she has some great tracks, like Blue Boss. I love this song. But the performance was slightly ruined by the teenagers, and more so by the fact that the guitar riff, which I love, was totally drowned out by the poorly balanced sound. But it is still a fantastic beat, and at least that was loud and clear.
Sampa has some singles and mixtapes out, but she's still working on the debut album, which I'm very much looking forward to.
Completely switching musical gears, up next is The Embers, by Vagabon. Another African transplant, Vagabon (real name Laetitia Tamko) was born and raised in Cameroon, but has been in the US since high school. Obviously not all African music is the same, but it's interesting to hear just how different the musical directions these ladies chose to go in are. The Embers is off of Vagabon's upcoming depub, Infinite Worlds, due out later this month. It's actually a rework of the song Sharks, from her Persian Garden EP.
And again, we're going to completely change musical directions (and move away from the international transplants) and hear from Madeline Kenney. She put out her first EP, Signals, last year. It's a very good debut, and the title track is my favorite off it.
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