Home from Lagos

I honestly do not know where to start for this post, so I'm just going to go a little more stream of conscious than usual - bear with me.
Considering that Portugal is more or less engulfed by Spain, I really expected Lagos to be similar to at least one of the Spanish cities I have been to.  Not the case at all.  I have not spent nearly enough time in nearly enough Portuguese cities to make an overall assessment, but the two countries are very distinct despite the fact that they share the Iberian Peninsula.  Unfortunately our short stay was shortened because all the Monday busses were booked, so Jorge and I booked the bus for 1:45 this afternoon and are now back in Sevilla.
In our one full day, we met up with some people from our program and went down to one of the most incredible beaches I have ever been to.  Although this particular beach was not as expansive as the others we walked by, it was much more scenic.  The sand lay at the base of steep cliffs and scattered throughout the water were dramatic, isolated rocks.  Of course, these tall standing structures in the middle of a deep oceanic water are just asking to be jumped off of.  In the end, it was a lazy, relaxing day at the beach that I once again escaped without a sunburn.
Unfortunately, because the trip was shortened, there was a lot that we left in Lagos unexplored.  We had hopes of renting kayaks and paddling out to caves or walking through the city during the day - maybe next time.  Instead, we learned a good deal about the tourism industry in Lagos.  I honestly do not think I have seen a larger collection of Australians and British people before in my life.  I came in expecting to ask "se habla Español" to confused Portuguese citizens.  To my surprise, I never ran into that problem because most store owners, waiters, bartenders, etc. spoke English with an accent.
To be brief, Lagos is a beautiful city, the atmosphere might have been even more laid back than that in Sevilla, the food was delicious, and the people (tourists) were very friendly.  It is a city I would love to go back to later, and hopefully I will have the opportunity to see other places like Lisbon, Porto, etc.  The one positive of being back home early is that we will get to see the holiday for San Fernando - the patron saint of Sevilla whose body has been preserved for nearly 800 years.  I'll tell you more about that in the days to come.