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