8th Excursion Trip: Merida & Portugal (November 14th - 18th)

Hey everyone,

So, originally our group was supposed to go to Catalonia for the big 8th excursion trip. The problem that happened was there were problems in Catalonia at the time back in October and BYU security cancelled the plans made for Catalonia. This means that I have never seen Barcelona. The alternative plans created were to travel to Merida which is a city located in the province of Badajoz which is part of Extremadura, the southern part of Spain. This excursion trip started on Tuesday and ended on Saturday. So, it was the longest trip we have ever taken.

Just to give background information about myself, I was unlucky and got sick Monday night. The next morning I was sick and I forced myself to go on the trip. I was able to last most of the days we were there until the weekend hit.

So, on Tuesday we went first to Merida which was mostly a Roman city that has Roman remains left behind. The famous sites located in Merida to visit are the Roman museum, amphitheater, theater and graveyard. They all shared history that gave a great depiction of what the ancient Romans are like as a civilization. That was the main part of the trip.































Wednesday morning we all got on the bus and headed to Evora which was our first stop in Portugal officially. The main site of Evora was to view a church made out of bones. The story behind this historic site is that when it was agreed where and when to build a church in Evora the people realized that it was selected to be built on cemetery grounds. They did not want to disrespect the dead nor cause a commotion over the matter so they figured it would have more meaning to include the bones of the dead made into the church. Currently it is a tourist attraction and has a weird feeling to it since you are staring directly at bones and remains of dead people. After we were done looking at the church we then headed to Almendres. 























In Almendres we visited this park like area which had rocks that are apparently lined up with the stars in space. It is said that no one knows exactly how the rocks were placed or why they were placed there. Some say it might have been aliens. It was an interesting site and a fun place to take pictures. 








After swinging by Almendres we head out straight to Lisbon. We got there in the evening and I just stayed in the hotel for Wednesday night since I did not feel well. Thursday morning I woke up and I was not feeling well. I really wanted to be present for the Lisbon trip. The day was planned with many things to do and I was worried that I would not make it through the whole day. We first visited the Cathedral of Lisbon, then we visited a tower that overlooks the city, then we visited the tower of Belen and then visited another Cathedral. To end the night we ate typical Portuguese food and were entertained which was great. In terms of historical information about Lisbon, I do not have enough information to really talk about it. It's a shame. I was really prepared to be in Catalonia during this week and not Portugal. Its all good though. It was a great experience. On Friday I was pretty sick that I could not explore more of Portugal that day. I was in the hotel all day. Saturday I woke up feeling better and we headed out to Madrid. It was a long drive.

Besides that, that was our big fat trip. The biggest one we did this semester. I hope you all have enjoyed this blog. 

Sincerely,
Sal Galvan 















































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