El Viaje a Portugal

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Monday, JANE arrived from Rome to travel with us to Portugal. We left via bus for Lagos in the afternoon. All of Tuesday was spent in Lagos, a beach town in Southern Portugal. We wanted to be able to go hiking and go on a little boat tour of the caves there, but it was raining all day, and nothing can happen in a beach town when it’s raining.

So, Wednesday we took a bus up to Lisbon. We only had that night and until the next afternoon there, so we went hard there, going to see their old cathedrals , el Castillo de San Jorge, el Torre de Belém, Jeronimos Monastery, Rossio, Park of Commerce, and Pasteis de Belém Café. But first, we had lunch, splitting fresh fish (whole) that the owner of the restaurant had just caught that day. SO flavorful.

We hiked up to el Castillo de San Jorge where we could see all of the city along with the ocean. The views were breathtaking and we had some funny ‘what if’ talks of what we would do if we lived in the castle way back when. Pasteis de Belém Café is a very famous bakery that sells Pastel de Belém/ Pastel de Nata. They are little pastries with cream in the middle. Unbelievable. They are little so it was the perfect treat, not too sweet and perfect to enjoy on our walk along the beach.

That night we went to tapas for dinner at a cool place called ‘We love wine’. There was a great guitarist there who sang and played all night long so the ambience was amazing. We sat and talked for quite some time, enjoying all being together again and observing some serious wine-o’s doing there thing.

Thursday Tay and I woke up early from our awesome hostel, Independente Hostal, to drink our coffee at the lookout, Miradouro de São Pedro, which was just across the street from our hostel. That was by far the coolest hostel I have ever stayed at. Only 12 euro a night, breakfast included, AND three story bunk beds!!

Before leaving, we explored the different barrios of Lisbon. They were filled with bookstores, restaurants, cafés, record shops, and art stores; each had such unique architecture and great graffiti. We tried this typical cherry drink there called Ginjinha, from a street vendor who was the most animated street vendor I have ever encountered, she was lovin’ life, shouting for people to try “Ginjinha!” over and over. And over. And over as we walked down the street.

Lisbon is very very hilly and there are trams everywhere. It looks a lot like San Francisco because of the hills and their Ponte 25 de abril (bridge) looks just like the Golden Gate Bridge.