Saturday 5 de marzo
Started off the day a little later but enjoyed another delicious breakfast in the hostel, this time with our roommate from Buenos Aires. Did some email, showered, regrouped and then made our way towards the train station, stopping along the way so Rodrigo could pick up some groceries. At the train station, I was so impressed by how new and punctual the trains were! Also, they seem to have a really good public transportation system that integrates bus, metro, train (maybe more?) on all these little rechargeable green cards. The sky looked overcast so we were happy to be in the train! 40 minutes later we arrived in Sintra (a town which has been named a UNESCO world heritage site and is home to 33,000 people) and it started to rain. We ducked into a little restaurant for lunch -- I had some asperagaus soup, delicious bread, salad and then an amazing apple pastry thing (looked like a giant balloon with a cinnamon stick poking out the top and it was full of fresh local homecooked apples). Things are surprisingly cheap here -- soup is like 1.5 euros, salads and sandwiches (in a restaurant) are only 3... I don't understand how this country is so modern and artsy and efficient and also so cheap compared to the other EU countries?
After lunch, it was like a miracle, blue skies, sun, the smell of spring flowers, view of the ocean, lush greenery all around --a portugese paradise I never knew existed! We walked along the curvy road towards the historic center, savoring the view of the ocean, the beautiful stone sculptures along the sidewalk, the mudéjar buildings and the gardens on both sides of us. There are all kinds of things to see here but we just didn't have time to do them all. Apparently the kings of Portugal had a summer residence here (Palacio Nacional de Sintra), and there's an incredible old Moorish castle from the 8th or 9th centuries -- a little more rustic than the one we saw yesterday! Perched on a hillside, Sintra looks out upon the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park (that's why it's so beautiful and well-preserved I guess). As we ambled up to the church and the main plaza, passed beautiful flowering magnolia trees and some sort of community garden. Popped into a little port wine shop for a little shot of local "ginja" -- cherry liquer -- which came in a cute little dark chocolate cup. Stumbled across the little pink house where author Hans Christan Andersen once lived. Lord Byron also wrote home about Sintra, calling it the most beautiful village in the world. Then we proceeded to hike up to the castle -- a beautiful green walk, reminded me of Ireland. With the Fado music still in my head and Rodrigo and Xavier dancing like butterflies (they're both professional dancers and so incredibly graceful) we ascended the impressive mountain side. There were some more archaeological ruins and signs explaining how the Portuguese government is trying to prepare the castle to "maximize tourist-attracting potential" -- a phrase that greatly amused me. But overall I just really enjoyed the chance to be out in the stillness of the nature, especially since it smelled so much like spring time!! When we reached the entrance to the castle, we first found some very playful felines. Then the guard told us that we couldn't enter without a ticket, which had to be purchased all the way down at the bottom of the mountain. He also informed us that, since it was almost closing time, we probably wouldn't have enough time to go back down and climb back up before he locked the gates. Clearly, their whole ticket vending system was not up to "tourist-maximizing" par!! They have quite some room to grow. We had to laugh after climbing up and up for so long only to be turned away at the summit, but the walk was definitely worth it for its own sake.
So we descended back to the village, admiring the squat little houses of bright cheerful colors and then taking a curvy little cobblestone road that led us through the hillside municipal gardens (with a charming old greenhouse and colorful metal statues of animals). Back in the village, we stopped at an adorable tea café. Rodrigo informed us that there are lots of British influences in Portugal (such as tea houses like these) because Portugal has had a very strong historic relationship with England for a long time (beginning with the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance from 1373 -- the oldest alliance in the world that's still in force!!). There have been Anglo-Portugese marriages over the centuries and Portugal often relied on the British for support against Spanish encroachment. Anyway, I was very pleased to enjoy the fruits of this relationship in the form of a piping hot cup of English tea (I had a homemade apple-cinnamon blend, made from fresh apples and cinnamon stick, which we actually ate afterwards haha). It was raining like mad and dark by the time we finished, so we hopped on the train back to Lisboa.
Back at the hostel, found a little free guide book with recommendations for restaurants, chose one called "Fábulas" because it was close by (located on a little staircase street called something along the lines of Sao Francisco -- yet another reminder of my birthplace haha). We were delighted by what we found inside: an old building (centuries old) made of old stone arches. There was a bustling kitchen and coffee bar in front and 3 big rooms with tables and seating arrangements of all sorts -- couches, big old communal tables, little sewing desks for 2 people (the built-in sewing machine was just chilling right there on the table next to the customers' coffees and cakes haha) -- an eclectic, cozy, inviting mix! We opened the menu and found further evidence that this was the perfect place to round out an excellent day in portugal. Basically, there was no way to go wrong with this menu. Eliana and I ended up choosing a Venus salad (with chevre cheese foam, sautéed pears and rocket) and a mushroom-cheese crepe, both of which were splendid. The wine -- fruity and aromatic -- was incredibly flavorful, and for dessert we had housemade apple cake and a drink called "electric coffee" (aka spiked). We were so content haha. Afterwards, went to explore the local neighborhood. I think we must have gone to at least 5 or 6 different bars, each with it's own personality. First a techno bar (with blank white walls, pinkish lights and a delicious mango drink), then a reggae bar, an american oldies bar, a "mushrooms" place, a europop bar -- so many different kinds. It was great because Javier and Rodrigo are professional dancers, and they can dance to anything. As soon as they got warmed up, the entire bar would be mesmerized just watching them. It was so much fun to watch them, and Javier even taught me merengue and some other steps in this little caribbean place on the corner. In that same place, just before we left, a couple came waltzing in and tangoed with such ferocity I was afraid an innocent bystander might get hurt! The girl was wearing very tall black heels and a bright red coat -- clearly they wanted to be noticed! Anyway, it was fun to watch them too. We paused for a few moments outside a metallica bar so Cullen could rock out to one of his favorite metalhead songs.. Javier and Rodrigo also checked out the gay bar scene, but since it was Eliana's bday as of midnight, we all deferred to her when it came to calling the shots with regard to which places to enter. Also, almost everyone in the bars and in the streets was dressed up for Carneval (I think pirate was the most popular costume but there were a lot of black swans too!) We stopped at the hostel for a little bit around 2 so Javier could change into his velvet red pants that he'd been dying to wear (he also couldn't resist lacing up a pair of white shoes and a silver lightning bolt earring) and then we descended to the shorefront to the discoteca scene. Ended up in a place called Europa which was okay, not the greatest, but entertaining and they had some decent music. The DJs were 3 youngish women with pixie haircuts and the bartenders were also very young (clearly they were together). The majority of the discoteca patrons were a little older than we would have liked, but more young people entered as the night went on. We stayed there until 4am when I just couldn't be on my feet anymore! Went straight to bed...
Sunday 6 de marzo
Slept until 9:30 when Eliana woke me up for breakfast. This time we breakfasted with a Mexicano and Columbiano who are studying architecture in Barcelona but are here in Lisboa for the weekend. After breakfast, we went out to explore the city a bit more, grateful for the glorious sunshine! It was almost too hot and we had to shed a few layers. Stumbled across a really cool Design museum in the city center. My favorite piece was a sofa set called "sunset in New York" -- there were several pieces of different heights that looked like grey NYC skyscrapers and then a giant red semi-circle cushion piece in the back-center that was definitely the sun. Really cool...
Next took the bus down to Belém where we found a wonderful little arts and antiques market. I was amazed by how many of the really old antiques were actually from Hong Kong, China, Japan -- clearly evidence of Portuguese prowess as a trading power over the last centuries! There were some really beautiful tiny little round tea cups so delicately painted... I was tempted. Eliana got herself a ring, perfect commemoration of her bday! Then we had 30 minutes left to check out the Cultural Center one last time -- this time to see an exposition of 40 Portuguese cartoon artists. Really fun, creative, lots of pen/ink/whiteout, some great watercolors... one of my favorites depicted an art gallery with really high ceilings. The paintings had all been put up really high on the ceilings and so the visitors were given balloons to float up and admire the paintings! Then all the balloons somehow popped, haha!
Quickly caught the bus back to the hostel, caught the train to the airport (admiring the colorful murals all over the city -- just like in the mission district of SF!!) on our way. Eliana and I shared a queso fresco sandwich just before she and Cullen departed -- I had another hour to catch up on homework, reflect, enjoy some Portuguese mineral water (full of minerals, for sure) before catching my Iberia flight back to Madrid -- only a little longer than an hour! I'll miss Portugal! Such a wonderful weekend of discovery and good memories. I'll have to return....
Started off the day a little later but enjoyed another delicious breakfast in the hostel, this time with our roommate from Buenos Aires. Did some email, showered, regrouped and then made our way towards the train station, stopping along the way so Rodrigo could pick up some groceries. At the train station, I was so impressed by how new and punctual the trains were! Also, they seem to have a really good public transportation system that integrates bus, metro, train (maybe more?) on all these little rechargeable green cards. The sky looked overcast so we were happy to be in the train! 40 minutes later we arrived in Sintra (a town which has been named a UNESCO world heritage site and is home to 33,000 people) and it started to rain. We ducked into a little restaurant for lunch -- I had some asperagaus soup, delicious bread, salad and then an amazing apple pastry thing (looked like a giant balloon with a cinnamon stick poking out the top and it was full of fresh local homecooked apples). Things are surprisingly cheap here -- soup is like 1.5 euros, salads and sandwiches (in a restaurant) are only 3... I don't understand how this country is so modern and artsy and efficient and also so cheap compared to the other EU countries?
After lunch, it was like a miracle, blue skies, sun, the smell of spring flowers, view of the ocean, lush greenery all around --a portugese paradise I never knew existed! We walked along the curvy road towards the historic center, savoring the view of the ocean, the beautiful stone sculptures along the sidewalk, the mudéjar buildings and the gardens on both sides of us. There are all kinds of things to see here but we just didn't have time to do them all. Apparently the kings of Portugal had a summer residence here (Palacio Nacional de Sintra), and there's an incredible old Moorish castle from the 8th or 9th centuries -- a little more rustic than the one we saw yesterday! Perched on a hillside, Sintra looks out upon the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park (that's why it's so beautiful and well-preserved I guess). As we ambled up to the church and the main plaza, passed beautiful flowering magnolia trees and some sort of community garden. Popped into a little port wine shop for a little shot of local "ginja" -- cherry liquer -- which came in a cute little dark chocolate cup. Stumbled across the little pink house where author Hans Christan Andersen once lived. Lord Byron also wrote home about Sintra, calling it the most beautiful village in the world. Then we proceeded to hike up to the castle -- a beautiful green walk, reminded me of Ireland. With the Fado music still in my head and Rodrigo and Xavier dancing like butterflies (they're both professional dancers and so incredibly graceful) we ascended the impressive mountain side. There were some more archaeological ruins and signs explaining how the Portuguese government is trying to prepare the castle to "maximize tourist-attracting potential" -- a phrase that greatly amused me. But overall I just really enjoyed the chance to be out in the stillness of the nature, especially since it smelled so much like spring time!! When we reached the entrance to the castle, we first found some very playful felines. Then the guard told us that we couldn't enter without a ticket, which had to be purchased all the way down at the bottom of the mountain. He also informed us that, since it was almost closing time, we probably wouldn't have enough time to go back down and climb back up before he locked the gates. Clearly, their whole ticket vending system was not up to "tourist-maximizing" par!! They have quite some room to grow. We had to laugh after climbing up and up for so long only to be turned away at the summit, but the walk was definitely worth it for its own sake.
So we descended back to the village, admiring the squat little houses of bright cheerful colors and then taking a curvy little cobblestone road that led us through the hillside municipal gardens (with a charming old greenhouse and colorful metal statues of animals). Back in the village, we stopped at an adorable tea café. Rodrigo informed us that there are lots of British influences in Portugal (such as tea houses like these) because Portugal has had a very strong historic relationship with England for a long time (beginning with the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance from 1373 -- the oldest alliance in the world that's still in force!!). There have been Anglo-Portugese marriages over the centuries and Portugal often relied on the British for support against Spanish encroachment. Anyway, I was very pleased to enjoy the fruits of this relationship in the form of a piping hot cup of English tea (I had a homemade apple-cinnamon blend, made from fresh apples and cinnamon stick, which we actually ate afterwards haha). It was raining like mad and dark by the time we finished, so we hopped on the train back to Lisboa.
Back at the hostel, found a little free guide book with recommendations for restaurants, chose one called "Fábulas" because it was close by (located on a little staircase street called something along the lines of Sao Francisco -- yet another reminder of my birthplace haha). We were delighted by what we found inside: an old building (centuries old) made of old stone arches. There was a bustling kitchen and coffee bar in front and 3 big rooms with tables and seating arrangements of all sorts -- couches, big old communal tables, little sewing desks for 2 people (the built-in sewing machine was just chilling right there on the table next to the customers' coffees and cakes haha) -- an eclectic, cozy, inviting mix! We opened the menu and found further evidence that this was the perfect place to round out an excellent day in portugal. Basically, there was no way to go wrong with this menu. Eliana and I ended up choosing a Venus salad (with chevre cheese foam, sautéed pears and rocket) and a mushroom-cheese crepe, both of which were splendid. The wine -- fruity and aromatic -- was incredibly flavorful, and for dessert we had housemade apple cake and a drink called "electric coffee" (aka spiked). We were so content haha. Afterwards, went to explore the local neighborhood. I think we must have gone to at least 5 or 6 different bars, each with it's own personality. First a techno bar (with blank white walls, pinkish lights and a delicious mango drink), then a reggae bar, an american oldies bar, a "mushrooms" place, a europop bar -- so many different kinds. It was great because Javier and Rodrigo are professional dancers, and they can dance to anything. As soon as they got warmed up, the entire bar would be mesmerized just watching them. It was so much fun to watch them, and Javier even taught me merengue and some other steps in this little caribbean place on the corner. In that same place, just before we left, a couple came waltzing in and tangoed with such ferocity I was afraid an innocent bystander might get hurt! The girl was wearing very tall black heels and a bright red coat -- clearly they wanted to be noticed! Anyway, it was fun to watch them too. We paused for a few moments outside a metallica bar so Cullen could rock out to one of his favorite metalhead songs.. Javier and Rodrigo also checked out the gay bar scene, but since it was Eliana's bday as of midnight, we all deferred to her when it came to calling the shots with regard to which places to enter. Also, almost everyone in the bars and in the streets was dressed up for Carneval (I think pirate was the most popular costume but there were a lot of black swans too!) We stopped at the hostel for a little bit around 2 so Javier could change into his velvet red pants that he'd been dying to wear (he also couldn't resist lacing up a pair of white shoes and a silver lightning bolt earring) and then we descended to the shorefront to the discoteca scene. Ended up in a place called Europa which was okay, not the greatest, but entertaining and they had some decent music. The DJs were 3 youngish women with pixie haircuts and the bartenders were also very young (clearly they were together). The majority of the discoteca patrons were a little older than we would have liked, but more young people entered as the night went on. We stayed there until 4am when I just couldn't be on my feet anymore! Went straight to bed...
Sunday 6 de marzo
Slept until 9:30 when Eliana woke me up for breakfast. This time we breakfasted with a Mexicano and Columbiano who are studying architecture in Barcelona but are here in Lisboa for the weekend. After breakfast, we went out to explore the city a bit more, grateful for the glorious sunshine! It was almost too hot and we had to shed a few layers. Stumbled across a really cool Design museum in the city center. My favorite piece was a sofa set called "sunset in New York" -- there were several pieces of different heights that looked like grey NYC skyscrapers and then a giant red semi-circle cushion piece in the back-center that was definitely the sun. Really cool...
Next took the bus down to Belém where we found a wonderful little arts and antiques market. I was amazed by how many of the really old antiques were actually from Hong Kong, China, Japan -- clearly evidence of Portuguese prowess as a trading power over the last centuries! There were some really beautiful tiny little round tea cups so delicately painted... I was tempted. Eliana got herself a ring, perfect commemoration of her bday! Then we had 30 minutes left to check out the Cultural Center one last time -- this time to see an exposition of 40 Portuguese cartoon artists. Really fun, creative, lots of pen/ink/whiteout, some great watercolors... one of my favorites depicted an art gallery with really high ceilings. The paintings had all been put up really high on the ceilings and so the visitors were given balloons to float up and admire the paintings! Then all the balloons somehow popped, haha!
Quickly caught the bus back to the hostel, caught the train to the airport (admiring the colorful murals all over the city -- just like in the mission district of SF!!) on our way. Eliana and I shared a queso fresco sandwich just before she and Cullen departed -- I had another hour to catch up on homework, reflect, enjoy some Portuguese mineral water (full of minerals, for sure) before catching my Iberia flight back to Madrid -- only a little longer than an hour! I'll miss Portugal! Such a wonderful weekend of discovery and good memories. I'll have to return....
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