On Thursday, as I mentioned in my last blog post, we had Thanksgiving dinner at the fundacion. As promised, it did not disappoint. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and something that I think was supposed to be like stuffing but I'm not entirely sure. It was all very good though, and they even had the dining hall decorated with candles and everything. No cornucopias though :( I might have to bust one out for Christmas this year since I was deprived of them on the real holiday! The only disappointing thing was no pie, of any flavor. We did, however, have apple turnovers that were delicious!
After eating Elizabeth, Anny (another girl from the fundacion who was going to sleep in the airport as well before heading to Barcelona) and I caught the bus to Madrid and started what turned out to be quite the night sleeping in the Madrid airport. With being sick pretty much all week I was just exhausted and by the time we got to the airport it was almost midnight. Elizabeth and I didn't go through security right away because Anny was flying out of a different terminal and rather than just abandoning her to sleep alone in the airport we decided to go through security in the morning. Anny is a "pro" at sleeping in the airport as she has done it countless times this semester already so she showed us where she always pitches camp, in one of the cafes near check-in. I was surprised by the amount of people who sleep in the airports, travelers that is. But, I was also surprised at how little homeless people there were around...hardly any...I was expecting many more. Anny showed me how to make a "bed" by pushing 3 chairs together so I did as instructed and ended up sleeping for about an hour and then again for an hour and a half. In order to ensure not getting anything stolen I put my money and my passport in my pants. Elizabeth ended up staying up all night because she couldn't fall asleep and played countless games of solitaire...thanks for the deck of cards, Mama! We, also, ran into Fernando, Tita and Hector (some Puerto Ricans from the fundacion) that were also sleeping in the airport and flying to Rome the next morning. Fernando and I had a rap battle and Tita did her ever popular imitations of people speaking Spanish!! We got a kick out of that, as always. It was an epic night for sure with A LOT of laughs...laughing at things that probably really aren't even funny, but are at 3 in the morning running on a few hours of asleep while in an airport.
Before we knew it, it was morning and time for Elizabeth and I to go through security and for Anny to find her terminal. Airport security in Europe is a joke compared to in the states. You don't have to do hardly anything! With that being said, Elizabeth and I wandered around the airport and got a little snack before heading to go to our gate in order to kill some more time.
After figuring out the signs in the airport we found our terminal in the "retro" part of the aiport haha I took my dramamine and all was good on the flight over...only a 50 minute flight and they are an hour behind us so you gain an hour when going there. We landed in Lisbon at around 9am which felt like noon seeing as how we had been up basically all night. We took a bus from the airport to what they call the City Center and then got off to find our hostal.
First, we did some meandering around the city and fell in love with it instantly! So much beauty everywhere!! I kept saying, "oh my goodness, we are in Portugal!" and "can you believe we are really in Portugal?" We checked into our hostal which was gorgeous and cheap, even better. We ended up sharing a room with 4 other people, but they were all pretty great. After getting settled into our hostal and putting our bags down we decided to go do some more adventuring. We ate waffles (the same kind as we had in Salamanca...yummy!!) at a restaurant for breakfast and ate lunch at a local cafe. I got a ham and cheese sandwich/panini that was similar to something you would order at Panera. It was very tasty and the workers were so kind to us! They even gave us a free dessert that is popular in Portugal when we were done eating! I loved it, but Elizabeth was a little indifferent about it. It looked almost like a fruit cake with fruit and nuts and was very sweet tasting, kind of like a cinnamon roll.
Then, we went and climbed this tower (and by climb I mean we took an elevator!) and witnessed some amazing views of Lisbon!! It was very windy at the top and slightly scary...I failed to mention to Elizabeth before going up that I am afraid of heights. After, we checked out the Rio Tejo (or what the Spanish call the Rio Tajo)...it's the same river that runs through Toledo, basically runs right through my backyard so that's kind of cool. That was gorgeous and we saw an awesome bridge that looked like the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. Actually a lot of the time I felt like I was in California, straight out of a scene from Full House!
Our next thought was to go to the torre (tower) of Belem, but in order to do this we needed to take the trolley or the tram or the bus (so many forms of transportation!) because it really wasn't within walking distance. Everything in Lisbon is very spread out. We decided to get on the trolley (from 1955, mind you). I think there were room for like 10 people on that thing. Elizabeth and I ended up getting separated while in line to get on, and I ended up getting on, but Elizabeth did not. However, I did not realize this until about 10 minutes later and immediately (naturally!!) I start freaking out. I try to call her and text her and then remember that our very trusty Movistar phones do not work unless we are in Spain. Well, hello, we are not in Spain anymore...therefore I have no idea how I am going to get a hold of her. I decide that I am going to get off on the next stop and just watch for her to go by in the next trolley. I waited for about 10 minutes and I just happened to turn my head at the right time and see Elizabeth on a bus. I crossed the road without really even looking to try and catch this bus! Well, success! I got on it and Elizabeth and I were reunited again! Now I know how a lost little kid feels.
We ended up getting off the bus, then, a little too early before our desired stop (thanks to me!), but it was all okay in the end because we discovered this great coaches museum. There were so many and this museum was filled with so much history! It was actually really interesting. One coach from one of the Kings (I forget the name. Maybe Philip? or Carlos? they all have the same name.) had 2 bullet holes in it from when he was assassinated. And we could even take pictures in the museum which was awesome because usually that's prohibited. After we were done with the museum it was starting to get dark already, even though it's only like 5 at this point, but on the clocks of Elizabeth and Meg, it is at least midnight haha! We tried to take the bus a little further to see the torre of Belem, got off the bus at a super sketch bus stop and walked on a super sketch road. We couldn't find where to cross the road to get to the torre because there were all these fences since that is also where the train goes. We ended up just seeing the torre from a distance...but it is kind of curious because it is built right into the Rio Tejo...kind of interesting. And it was interesting to see it all lit up for night, as well at the Monestario de Jeronimo. Thankfully, we did not get robbed because I did fear for my life for a bit there while trying to find the darn torre. To celebrate this we stopped at Starbuck's to warm up a bit and sit and reflect on our wonderful day in...where are we again??...OH YEA, PORTUGAL!! It was awesome because they had Christmas songs playing and Christmas decorations up which was perfect for the day after Thanksgiving. It made Elizabeth and I feel very festive. We took the bus back to our neck of the woods and went back to our hostal. Instead of going to a restaurant to eat we decided to participate in the event that our hostal was putting on...and that was a dinner with a type of sausage that is very popular in Portugal (I forget the name of it though.) It was kind of like barbecued/smoked sausage and then there was bread as well as some ham and cheese. It was very tasty...Elizabeth and I had a lot of fun! And Elizabeth liked the wine they offered ;)
After dinner we changed into our pajamas and had a movie night in the awesome tv room at the hostal. We watched Ocean's 11 and just hung out. It was nice to have a relaxing night as well as to watch a movie (an American one, nonetheless!) because I haven't done that since coming here.
The next morning we woke up a little too early. I set an alarm but forgot to change my clock back an hour haha!! So, rather than waking up at 9:30 we actually woke up at 8:30. Either way, that meant we just had more time to adventure! We ate an amazing breakfast at our hostal...scrambled eggs, toast with jam, and also had some granola cereal (but it didn't compare to the SNC caf, kind of disappointing.) After breakfast we took a train to a nearby city, about 40 minutes from Lisbon, to Sintra. It is the land of the palaces...they have a total of 4 palaces there as well as many many other things that we were excited to find out about. The whole time I was there I felt like I was in a fairy tale...a little girl's dream, that's for sure.
We took a bus up to the Palacio de Pena (National Palace). It was an interesting bus ride...a very narrow windy, cobblestone road. I felt like I was on an African Safari tour bus or something. We made it to the top, no problem, bought our tickets and entered the palace. Two words. LOVED IT. No words can describe how awesome it was; you just have to experience it for yourself. Elizabeth and I had a field day here. And obviously the Queen's house has to have good views...we could see the Atlantic Ocean and saw many 'Merica planes!! We could even point out Lisbon from one of the Queen's patios. After touring the inside we walked around the entire thing by walking on the patio...360 degrees of beautiful views! Life was rough in Sintra, let me tell you what.
Elizabeth and I got a little snack and enjoyed it by looking at the breath-taking views of Portugal. And I even got chocolate milk....REAL chocolate milk! None of that Cola-Cau or Nesquik stuff...this was real chocolate milk. I was in heaven! Top that with a muffin and I am one very happy chica :)
After that we took the bus half way down to the bottom...got off half way so we could do some exploring by walking. At this point, it is getting dark so we decided to head back to Lisbon. About an hour later we found ourselves at this random seafood restaurant with 2 other people we were sharing our hostal room with. One girl, Isabel, was from Australia and was super nice! She worked in the hotel management business and didn't like it at all so decided one day that she was going to leave for 5 months and just travel. She has already spent almost 3 months in Italy and time in Madrid and Sevilla before coming to Lisbon. After Lisbon she is going to hit up Northern Portugal and then Northern Spain (Bilbao and San Sebastian) and then she will be going to Switzerland for Christmas and then Germany. She is living the life! I envy her so much! The other guy we were with was Ricardo or Richard. He's actually Brazilian, but it studying in Porto, Portugal. He was very nice as well and it was nice to have a Portuguese translator with us! He was really funny too...he said he doesn't like the word "beach" in English because he always says the "b word" by accident hahaha so we always had to help him. At the restaurant I ordered baked cod. It was good, but I didn't eat much of it because they drowned it in butter....gross!! Everyone else really liked their dishes though so that was good!
After dinner the 4 of us went walking around the city a little more, and it was so strange because it was so quiet, there weren't a lot of people around. Very different from Toledo! Also, another curious thing is the hour at which things close...much earlier than in Spain!
Elizabeth brought up a really good point and that is how much of the Portuguese culture we had observed in just being there for a couple days.
-Portuguese bus drivers are even crazier than Toledo ones--didn't know that was possible!
-A lot of the Portuguese are rude...with some exceptions of course.
-It is kind of a dirty city, and I'm not going to lie, after dark I didn't really feel safe. Not a lot of streets are properly lit.
Later that night we just kind of hung out in our cozy hostal with our new friends. I finally tried tea...because it was free at our hostal and Elizabeth loves it, but come to find out, I'm not really a fan.
We called it a night and headed to bed because we had a 4:30am wake up call. We had to take a taxi to the airport and I feared for my life several times in the 15 minute drive. The taxi driver was crazy and going highway speeds on a residential road. It was nonsense!! We made it in one piece, though and were in for quite the shock when the pilot said, as we were landing in Madrid, that it was 1 degree...just above freezing. What?! Sooo cold!! I know, I know...I am in for a rude awakening once I return to Wisconsin. :)
I was very sad to leave Portugal. 2 days is not enough time to see everything, that's for sure!! But this just means I NEED to return someday, that's all! Easy enough.
As the Portuguese would say...Bom dia (Good day!) I hope you enjoyed reading yet another blog!
Love you all! And see you VERY VERY SOON!
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| Elizabeth and Anny in the airport! |
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| welcome to Lisbon :) |
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| the view down the street from our hostal |
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| the tower with breath-taking views that we climbed |
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| the stairs of the tower |
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| I was afraid to get too close to the edge. |
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| We spotted an America shirt!! |
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| typical Portuguese dessert...looks gross but VERY TASTY! |
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| el Rio Tejo |
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| one of the coaches in the museum...the wheel was bigger than me! |
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| if you look closely you can see the 2 bullet holes |
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| el monestario de jeronimo |
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| the gorgeous train station |
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| worst map ever... |
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| Elizabeth and I before entering the palace :) |
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| this rock even had an arm rest! |
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| the very colorful palace! |
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| you can see the sun reflecting off the ocean in the distance |
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| I could get used to this view!! |
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