The day my Mom was leaving and I was also leaving for
Let me first start that
We arrived to Málaga, and a friend of Angie’s picked us up with his friend to drive us to the hostel. They were very sweet, waited for us to drop everything off and then brought us into the center. Ironically enough, they brought us to Pimpi, a popular Málagan restaurant we had visited with IES. We were actually in the same room as before, but instead a group of 70 loud Americans, we were with 70 even louder Spaniards. We had a good time, tasted some of the famous Málaga “agua” and went back to the hostel.
The next morning we took a flight to
Kind of a random story, I know, but it’s just such a perfect example of the European (or at least Spanish/Portuguese) system. They make us go through all these hops to get our official papers, return 5 times to an office that is only open from 10-12 and closes for smoking breaks, and after all that back and forth, the papers are never even asked for again later.
Anyway, we took a bus from the airport to Rossio plaza, right in the heart of Lisboa. Dropped our stuff off at the hostel, and took a walk around the city including walking up to the elevator where you can see the whole skyline with lights- beautiful. Walked around a bit more (were very excited when we discovered that Lisboa had an H&M) and grabbed a cab to go to a restaurant for dinner and a Fado show.
After months of non-friendly Spanish restaurant service, this restaurant was such a nice welcome. I’m guessing that the couple owns the restaurant, they were so sweet, kept coming over to us, you could hear everyone yelling and bagging pans in the kitchen, and the woman even sang Fado for a bit as well. There was another younger male singer (also the waiter) and another older women who was introduced to as a famous/important Fado figure. The show was really good, very powerful voices, and we had some yummy Portuguese food (fish of course for me).
The next day we traveled to Sintra, about an hour outside of the city. I think from the moment we started walking around, we all fell in love with Sintra. Even thought it’s a relatively small place, there is just so much to do, so many castles and museums, restaurants and cute cafes. When walking into the town, which is tucked inside a mountain, there is a huge garden in the cliffs and modern art along the pathway.
We went to the Palácio Nacional de Sintra, which was really pretty and had lots of cool stories. It was where the Royal family lived, even when the Muslims took over, and there was even one room where the King imprisoned his brother. I also really liked the kitchen that has two cones for a roof and is still used to this day in important government functions.
Afterwards we bought some roasted chestnuts (a new favorite, and you can’t resist singing the song) and wandered over to Quinta de Regaleira. This place was incredible, completely fantastical and surreal and like a playground for adults. The owner worked really closely with an the Italian architect Luigi Manini that for the beginning part of his career was a stage designer, and it really shows. Everything was super creative, elaborate and ornate… the library had a mirrored floor so it looked like you were going to fall into a sea of books, and the stairwell was like a slide. However, the best part was the gardens. There were towers, grottos, statues, sacrificial groves, bridges.. all kinds of things to explore. We left to grab lunch (which took forever) and returned later so we could explore properly.
The descriptions and explanations of the architecture, including that of the gardens, was also incredibly bizarre and funny. It talked about a place in the gardens to “criticize the accent of your consciousness” and all other kinds of mythological and strange/mystic phrases.
Afterwards we grabbed some famous Sintra pastries, which had an apple filling and were incredible. Amazing- I have never had as many good pastries as I have had in
We took the train back that night, hung around in the hostel for a bit and then went out to Bairro Alto to grab Indian food, yumm. Bairro Alto is where a lot of the bars are, and the street was just hopping with people, a really fun part of the town. We got back to the hostel and then went out to a few bars with other people in the hostel, and had a really fun night dancing.
The next day was declared explore Lisboa day- so we played tourist all day. We visited Alfama, went to the castle (Castelo de Sao Jorge), and the Cathedral (Sé de Lisboa) and walked around the small streets. Then, we went to back to the center, and visited an old church that has since been converted into an archeological museum. This was one of my favorite places because the roof of the church was unfortunately destroyed in Lisboa’s large earthquake, but now the stone frames are left and open straight to the sky. It was a beautiful day, so I loved this inside/outside church with grass growing inside.
Then we grabbed some lunch for later (fruit, bread, salad etc) and took the tram to Belém, the seafront part of the city. We first visited the Mosteiro Dos Jerónminos (Monastery) that was beautiful and had an inner court yard that looked the West Minster Abby and the scariest Jesus on the cross I have ever seen.
We ate lunch at the public gardens where they had music coming from the loudspeakers. We then walked over the Torre de Belém, and half-way there realizing they were 5 min. from closing started running. We got there right when they were shutting the doors, and the attendant, so corrupt, said they people could come in for 15 euros for 15 minutes. We decided the torre wasn’t that large anyway and instead hung out by the water for sunset.
It was such a beautiful day, and there were so many people out just walking around and enjoying the view. One of my friends made the good point that being surrounded by so much water and seeing that never-ending ocean is such an inspiration to explore. You really could imagine being in Lisboa, waiting for the ships to come in and out of the harbor, coming back with all these tales of these exotic places they’ve been to. As Americans, we hear all about the “discovery of
Then, saving the best (or at least most delicious) part for last, we stopped at Pasteis de Belém, the famous pastry shop. I had expected a quaint little pastry shop, perhaps with a few tables in the back. But oh my god. This place was a living monument to the famed pastries that look like little custard tarts. The line was out the door, and so while some of the girls were in line, I went into the bathroom and to look at the restaurant. There were a bazillion rooms, one room where you could see them making the pastries, and the only thing on the menu are drinks and the pastries. You don’t need anything else.
We all bought a few, and wished that we could eat 20 more. They were amazing, even better with a bit of cinnamon and then went back to the hostel. We hung out in the hostel for a bit, I attempted to sign up for some classes for next semester and then we went out to get a few drinks and some fun. We had an early flight the next day, so grabbed a cab and headed for the airport- everything worked out fine despite some line mix-ups and we got to
There is always such a let-down after a trip, all the excitement of a new place, but coming back to
On top of the elevator
Sintra
Royal Palace
La Quinta
They are.. criticizing the accent of their consciousness?
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