Boa vinda a Lisboa, Portugal

Okay get ready because this is going to be an extremely long entry because this past weekend I went to LISBOA, PORTUGAL aka Lisbon but that is what they call the city in Spain. Also, just so you know the title of this post is in Portuguese so now you can learn another language when reading the blog. First, off stupid me left my camera charging so I will add pictures after I steal them from my friend’s camera. So I got to Portugal Saturday morning and went to go check into the hostel, which was called the Traveler’s House. It has been the nicest hostel I have stayed in so far. After that I got straight to traveling. First, I took the tram, which Lisbon is famous for to the church located at the highest point in Lisbon for some amazing views. This tram was not just any tram but looked like the old trolley cars and it was an interesting ride going up all the curvy hills. It took awhile to find the church but the views of the city were well worth it since you could see everything. Next I headed to Se Cathedral. Like all cathedral it was absolutely beautiful but unlike the previous cathedrals that I saw in Spain this one had beautiful stained glass windows. Also, it was home to the tomb of Vasco de Gama, the famous Portuguese navigator that found the route to India.

View of Lisboa from the church

Then we headed to St. Jorge’s Castle, which is this amazing fortress and castle from the 11th century that was build by the Moors. I climbed the various towers and such and just basically explored it all. Then I headed to a flea market that was going on right near the castle. It was interesting because some of the stands looked as though it was just junk people didn’t want anymore but others had really pretty jewelry and such. During the flew market I noticed that everyone basically was capable of speaking English extremely well, which was a good thing because originally I thought Portuguese would be easy to understand because of my Spanish but I was sure wrong. After the flea market I headed back to the hostel to shower and such before heading out again to Parque de Nachos. This park was really cool because of all the modern architecture and the Vasco de Game bridge, which kind of resembles the golden gate bridge but is a lot longer considering it is the longest bridge in Europe. Unfortunately, it decided to start pouring as soon as I reached the park. This was pretty typically of the entire trip. It would be cloudy and then all of a sudden start pouring, which was kind of a bummer but I made the best of it. Next I headed to dinner. I got a recommendation for a cheap Portuguese restaurant from the hostel owners and it turned out to be great. I had an appetizer, beef with mushrooms, and a postre (aka any form of dessert but I choose chocolate mousse) all for 12 euro, which is a great deal. Then I headed back to the hostel and went to bed since the next day was going to be busy.

St. George's Castle

The next morning I headed to Belem, which is an area in Lisbon. First, I saw the Discovery Monument, which is a huge monument on the water that demonstrates sailing and obviously discovery history of Portugal. Next I went to Jeronimos Monastery, which was built in 1501, and is the actually resting place of Vasco de Gama. It is also where Vaso de Gama spent his last night before sailing off to India. The monastery was beautiful with all these courtyards and such. There were all these pillars with intricate carving that represented the sea and world exploration. Then I went to Belem Tower, which was located right on the coast. I climbed the tiny stairwell to the top and got great views of the bridge and the water. It served as a fortress for the harbor of Lisbon but is now considered to be an icon for the city. Then we were all a little hungry and everyone kept telling us to go to Antiga Confeitaria de Belem for pasties de Belem, or custard tarts. This specific pastry shop has been there since the 1830’s and the pastries were amazing. It is basically a little flakey pastry and in the inside is warm vanilla custard and I sprinkled cinnamon and powered sugar on it. If you ever go to Portugal you have to get one.

Monastery

Then I headed back to the center of Lisbon because we were going to catch a tour bus to the area of Sintra, which is in the mountains. The town is considering to be a World Heritage site and is therefore preserved. I took a tour of the National Palace of Sintra and even though out tour guide spoke English we decided to do the tour in Spanish, which ended up being wonderful because it made me feel so great that I was able to understand everything. The palace was beautiful and had all this old tile work that was due to the Arab influences. After the tour we went to a bakery and got postre that was traditional for the region. One postre was a pastry with sugar that had an almond filling in it that was called a travesseiro and the other pastry was cheese filled with cinnamon on top. Both were delicious and it was great to use the excuse that it is cultural therefore we have to have dessert. The next stop on the bus was called Boca de Inferno, or mouth of hell, which is this cave carved into the coast from the waves hitting it. Then I went to the area of Cascais, which is a fishermen’s village. There were really pretty buildings that were all different colors and really quaint. This was the end of the tour so then I headed back to the hostel before going out to another typical Portuguese dinner, but this time I had swoardfish. I then headed to bed because I had an early, flight the next morning. Overall, I love Portugal but I wish it was not as rainy.

Sintra

Valencia...Que Bonito

So this week nothing exciting happened. I went to classes all week and then Friday I had our midterm exam for, which means I have been in Spain for over 5 weeks now…time is going by so fast. Hopefully, my exams went well but I have to wait till Thursday to find out how I did. This past weekend we went to Valencia, which is on the Mediterranean Coast of Spain for the weekend. For some reason a we couldn’t get a flight for Friday night so we had to fly out Saturday morning at 6:45 in the morning, which was an adventure. I arrived in Valencia without a problem and checked in to the hostel, which was called the Purple Nest. After getting settled a group of us walked around the city to explore and find some place for breakfast. Unfortunately, it was raining on Saturday and that was a bumper. However, because it was raining we wanted to find indoor activities, which actually turned out to be a ton of fun.

First I went to the Mueso de Fallero or the Fallas Museum. One of the things Valencia is famous for is this huge festival in march where artists spend an entire year building these multi-story floats that represent a social problem that Spain is currently facing. The floats are judged and then at the end all the floats are burned, except for the winner, to represent the ending of the social problems. Clearly, since the floats are huge and burned I didn’t get to see the original ones at the museum but I did get to see smaller recreations. Some of the floats were a little weird, especially the ones that were created over 50 years ago, but overall it was cool to see them and I liked how the floats represented social problems so to educate the people.

A replica of a float

After that we went to the aquarium, which is the largest aquarium in all of Europe. There were so many cool exhibits and I got to see a dolphin show, which I always love seeing. I was done with the aquarium around 6pm and we were all tired so we went back to the hostel for a nap before dinner. After napping I felt a lot better and was ready to go find some paella, which Valencia is famous for. We walked around the area for a little before finding a place that could seat all 7 of us. . The paella was delicious. I had chicken paella because I am not a huge fan of shellfish. After dinner we went to a pastry shop for dessert and then headed to bed.

Paella

Aquarium

The next morning we woke up and went somewhere for breakfast. We actually found a place that had pancakes and waffles. I got a waffle and even though it was a little different if still reminded me of home and was a nice treat. After that our hostel advertised a free walking tour so we decided to check it out. I was so happy we did. The tour guide was a girl from England who studied in Valencia and decided to move back. She showed us a lot of the important buildings and told us some great fact, for example that the symbol of Valencia is a bat because it is said a bat woke the king up one night and ha saw troops coming to attack the city so he was able to prepare for the attack. The tour lasted 2 hours and then we went to go get horchata, or tiger milk. Basically it is this drink made from tiger nut, water, and sugar that Valencia is known for. It kind of tasted like a vanilla bean shake but not as creamy.

Horchata

Then we decided to take the tram to the beach even though it was cold just to walk around and check it out. The beach was beautiful I wish I could go back there when it was warmer but it was still nice to see. By chance this intense sailing race called the America’s Cup was going on. We couldn’t see any of the boats but there were huge projectors showing the race on the beach. There were boats from all different countries and tons of people were there for it. After walking around the beach we went back to town so check out the cathedral and bell tower since it was closed early. The cathedral was breathtaking. It still amazes me how beautiful the churches are. Then we climbed all 206 steps of the bell tower to see the most breathtaking views of the city. After that it was dinner time but we had to make it quick so we went to this restaurant that has a menu of 100 sandwiches, which was actually really good. Our flight was at 10pm so by the time I got back I was exhausted but I would say the trip was extremely successful.

Also, since this Wed was Ash Wednesday I went to mass to receive ashes after class. The only mass that was at night was held in the cathedral, which turned out to be amazing. The cathedral like all cathedral in Spain was absolutely beautiful and the bishop ended by presiding over the mass, which was a great experience. Even though I only understood what he was saying part of the time it was still interesting to be hearing mass in Spanish. Just like communion everyone just rushes up to get ashes there is no lines or order. However, the different priests gave ashes different ways. I got a priest who did a cross on my forehead, which I was used to from home. Some of the priests just sprinkled the ashes on your head, which I was not expecting. Also, the ashes were a light gray color and were not as noticeable as the ashes in the US. Overall, I was glad I was able to make it to mass to receive ashes.

Granada y La Alhambra

Ok so this past week and weekend has been amazing…I don’t even know where to begin. So on Thur. we had a group of Russian students who are taking classes at the school where we have our English classes over for food. We decided to do this because I forgot to mention that one of the first weeks we were here they invited us over for Russian pancakes, which are basically crêpes dipped in condensed milk and are unbelievable. We wanted to try to make them something that is a traditional American dish but since we only have stove tops and no ovens we ended up making a variety of things. Actually, one of the girls Alyssa managed to make eggplant parm using only the stove and the microwave, which was pretty impressive. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for long because I had to go study for an art history test…see Mom I actually do have to “study” while studying abroad in Spain. I did not think the test was that hard so hopefully I did well.
Now lets get to the highlight of the week…my weekend trip to Granada. This has defiantly been my favorite weekend so far. A group of 13 if us decided to travel to Granada, which is in the Andalusia region of Spain. Our main reason for going was to se La Alhambra, which is a Moor Palace but the weekend was so much more then that. I took a bus down Friday night because it was a lot cheaper then flying. It was only 5 hours, which wasn’t horrible and there were movies on the bus and even though they were in Spanish I actually understood them, which I was pretty proud of. We got to our hostel, El Granado, around midnight. The hostel was in a great location and was really clean. Even though it was so late the women who let us in was super nice. We put our stuff down and then decided to walk around and grab something to eat. We ended up going to a pub in the area and just hanging out. The bartenders were really cool and showed us some crazy magic tricks.

Saturday morning we woke up pretty early to go explore Albacin District, which is an Arab neighborhood in Granada. Since Granada is in the south of Spain, which is where the Moors used to live, there is a lot of Arab influence in the culture and architecture. We walked around the neighborhood for most of the morning since there were tons of little markets and streets to go down. The area was near the mountains so there was a lot of climbing but it was totally worth it for the views of the city and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. After walking around we decided it would be a good idea to grab lunch before heading the Alhambra.

View of Granada

A group of us we to a place right by the entrance to grab el menu de dia, or menu of the day that a lot of restaurants offer. It is basically a pre-fixed menu but they are always great. However, we didn’t have time to eat our dessert because we thought we needed to be at the gate of La Alhambra at 2pm so we had to run up this massive hill to get there. By the time we got to the top we were all out of breath and thought we made it in time. However, it turns out that the time on our ticket was for the entrance to the Palace not just the general entrance so we ended up missing our time and having to buy another ticket because we were not coming all the way to Granada without seeing the Palace. Even though it was frustrating it was well worth it because the palace was absolutely amazing. All the details and tile work was unbelievable. After the palace we walked around the fortress and some other areas before leaving. We then went to this Arab teashop were I had the most amazing tea.
Before heading to dinner I went back to the hostel to change my clothes. A group of people went for tapas but some of us wanted a sit down dinner so we went to this place called The Sultan. I had chicken, chickpeas, a couscous, which was amazing. After dinner we went back to the hostel to sit on the roof top deck and then went out to a discotecha, which was actually a renovated old opera house. The next morning we went to see the cathedral in Granada, which is breathtaking, and we even ended up staying for mass. Then we headed next to the Cathedral to the Royal Chapel, where the tombs of Kind Ferdinand and Queen Isabel are located.
So it turns out that Sunday was Saint Cecilia’s Day and since she is the patron saint of the gypsies there was a huge festival going on in Sacramonte, which is another neighborhood in Granada. We went there to check it out and there were tons of food vendors and flamenco dancers. I grabbed a chorizo (sausage) sandwich there and then had to head back to the hostel and grab my bag for the 5-hour bus ride back to Alcala. Even though the weekend was amazing I was glad to be back in Alcala because I needed some rest.

Cathedral

As you all know the Superbowl was Sunday and a group of people decided to go into Madrid to watch it at an Irish pub but since it didn’t start till 12:30 am in Spain I could not handle that after the weekend so a group of us decided to have a Superbowl party Mon night. We made nachos and various dips and just watched all the crazy Superbowl commercials online. It was a lot of fun. Everyone in the group is starting to become really close and I am excited to spend the next couple months with them. Sorry for the long post. Hope I am not boring you too much!

Vamos al Gimnasio

I have been here for about month and it feels like I just got here. I have pretty much have a routine as of now because I have class from 1:30 to 6:30 everyday and then twice a week I have class in the morning. Even though it is currently a lot of hours I feel like I am learning about the Spanish language and culture and it will be worth it in the long run. This past weekend it was one of the boy’s birthdays so we went into Madrid. Also, two people from Loyola who are studying in Belgium for the year came to visit this weekend. It was weird seeing people who I know from school but who are not in my abroad group hanging out with us in Spain, but it was a lot of fun. So I recently just went on a booking spree in terms of trips in Spain. This weekend I am going to Granada and next weekend I am heading down south to Valencia. Both trips should be great.

Except for going to Madrid nothing really exciting happened this week. A group of us tried to find this Italian restaurant because we all wanted a taste of home but it took us 45 min to finally find it and when we did it was not opening for dinner until 8:30. It is so weird how most places won’t even open to start serving dinner until at least 8pm. I also had another little adventure when trying to join a gym. So apparently in Spain it is not common for women to work out and if they do belong to a gym they only attend the various classes and such. So when we all walked into the area of the gym where the cardio equipment and machines were we got blatantly started at because we were the only girls in the entire section. It’s okay though because now I find going to the gym a hysterical experience. That is all for now. I will probably be posting again after the weekend trip to Granada. Hope all is well in the States.