Lisbon Streets

I have a lot of great photos from Lisbon, I especially loved the tiny streets and graffiti. So here are a few more pix, Enjoy

above: Alicia and my hostel in Lisbon

Tanto Peixe

¡Hola todos mis amigos que he perdido!

I know it has been weeks since I wrote anything to you guys, but forgive me I was on holidays. Keep reading if you want to hear about my spring break in Portugal.

At midnight Alicia and I got on the night bus in Madrid via Seville (awful, I did not sleep at all). Another bus from Seville got us to Lagos around noon the following Friday, a small historic city in the southern tip of Portugal, the Algarve. Its beaches and coastline make Lagos quite attractive to tourists … I was tired when we arrived so thank god a sunny coast was waiting.

We got stuck at our little hostel with a pretty tight crew and met some wild friends including two girls Megan and Heidi from UW (YAY Huskies!) and a few Australian boys. Since there wasn’t too much to do or see in Lagos we went out every night to shoot pool, drink, and dance. The best part about our hostel (besides new friends I am still in touch with) was Mama who made piles of fresh crêpes every morning, and the Cadillac of lemon tea! It supposedly fixed hangovers quite effectively - lucky for Alicia. I didn’t even miss coffee!

It was a nice vacation and the weather was incredible all three days so we reveled in more-than decent beach time. Of course Alicia and I had to do something active so we went kayaking and hiking for better views of sea caves, cliffs, and coastline.

Monday morning was a struggle. Exhausted from consistent late nights, sunshine, and boozing, we barely made our bus to Lisbon. It was a shorter ride of only about 4 hours and Rob (one of the Australians who was heading to the airport in Lisbon via Cairo) kept me company while Alicia slept and missed some great scenery.

In Lisbon it was stimulating to come out of the metro station greeted again by a big city. Did you know Lisbon is the only European capitol on the coast? After checking into our hostel we took it easy. All we accomplished that day was making it out for dinner where I had curry Mariscos (a mix of seafood) and rice, a typical Brazilian dish. Because we are good at being romantic Alicia and I shared a frosty pineapple dessert and called it a night.

The second day revived after a good sleep, we rode the street trolley across town to the Castle. It is perched on a hill so we had some great views of the city and the ocean. At the market nearby we bought a few cool things but saw, mostly, a lot of junk. We made our way down to the water to Belém to see the Cathedral and the Marina after almost not getting served lunch because we waited to long (we’re just becoming so Spanish). After lunch we stopped by the famous Café Pastéis de Belém and were practically herded into the bakery. The queue was out the door and inside was a zoo, but the pastries were yummy. I guess people can get pushy when it comes to fresh, warm flakey cups of creamy custard dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar…

On Wednesday we took a day trip to Cascais, an old fishing village about 30 minutes north by train. We picnicked on its tiny beach with PB&J’s and pears, walked the Marina, and visited an ancient and elegant castle museum. The garden behind the castle was green and jungle-like with roosters, ducks, and peacocks. A camera crew was set up filming a Portuguese soap opera. We made it back to Lisbon by evening, just beating the sunset at a popular hangout/view spot for locals – unfortunately having forgotten our tall-boy beers and joints… just kidding Mom ; )

Later we met up with Sebastian, another one of the three Australian boys we met in Lagos who currently lives in Barcelona… deciding to be Spanish the three of us had tapas and sangria in Barrio Alto, a hub of bars and clubs at the top of a hill in the city. We partied pretty hard that night thanks to Seb, and the next morning Alicia was off to Ireland to meet John (the boyfriend), and I was on my way to meet Danielle in Barcelona!

That week I ate the best and the freshest-tasting fish I’ve ever had… plus because Portugal has always been closely allied with Great Britain almost everyone spoke English. It was an amazing week and I finally got some sun on my skin. I’ll have to tell you about Barcelona in my next post, maybe if I am up to it after my siesta.

Tchau!