Skateboarding
Hop onboard yet another pioneering skate trip, as we head to southern Europe, with the skate sisterhood in For Whom The Belles Roll.
Lacey Baker, Alexis Sablone, Samarria Brevard and Nora Vasconcellos: I mean, can you name a more all-star cast to head out on the road with?
Four of the hottest names in the game right now were assembled, and the lone remaining challenge was to organise a trip that would get them sparked and do their talents justice.
One destination which was floated early on was the world-famous pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, which can be approached from several routes through the mountains.
Having been re-acquainted with the sublime Portuguese skate scene during our Red Bull Skate Arcade finals in Lisbon back in 2015, we knew that we had to rope in our dear old friend Pedro Raimundo, bossman at Surge Skate Magazine – one of Europe’s longest-running journals of radness.
Roskof (as his friends know him) has spent a lifetime in the skate game and has an encyclopedic knowledge of skating terrain and lore throughout the Iberian peninsula and beyond, so he was always going to be our guy for this mission. We thank him once again here.
A dreamland for skating, Portugal basically has it all, spot-wise – and on top of that, has them in unbelievably scenic locations. It's a lot like paradise and that was exactly where we were headed.
The plan? Simple, start in Lisbon, end in the iconic pilgrimage destination of Santiago De Campostela in westernmost Spain.
The Portuguese capital Lisbon is famous for sprawling hills, street cars and a plethora of spread-out skate spots – it did not disappoint. A weekend was not long enough, but so it goes on a road trip and up north we were meant to go.
Endless scenic road hours rolled by before we de-camped in the northern port city of Porto, where we learned why there are so many good ledge skaters from here – Lacey was in her element.
Porto is where the majestic river Douro meets the Atlantic and all along the banks elegant old warehouses load barrels of the city’s eponymous tipple into boats, destined for cellars around the world.
A quick stop at the river, quick dip at the beach and we were off once again, always ever onwards through the night to the beautiful mountains of Spain’s northwest coast.
Vigo is a small town in the northwest of Spain, just over the border from Portugal. Her picturesque mountains flow into even more picturesque beaches.
It's incredible in every way and we made the best of the short time we spent there before the bells tolled and we made our final push toward our journey’s end in the sanctified environs of majestic Santiago De Compostela, a UNESCO world heritage site.
This was a unique skate trip in many regards, and one that will live long in the memory of all involved.
Portugal is home to a ballistic skate scene that has produced Ricardo Fonseca, Ruben Rodrigues, João Allen, Jorge Simões and brothers Gustavo and Gabriel Ribeiro to name just a few.
For more on that fabulous place and its skate scene, seek out Surge Magazine.
Meantime, click the player at the top of the page to see what Nora, Lacey, Samarria and Alexis had in their armoury for the spots along the route on our pilgrimage to paradise!
