Last Day in Lisbon/Europe: Pictures

(1): First beach in Cascais we hung on, (2): Second beach where we rented the boat, (3): Crazy slide peddle boat we rented, (4): View of Figueira and Rossio square from the castle at night & (5): Rossio train station at night

Last Day in Lisbon/Europe

Today was our last day of our trip. It's a bit depressing but looking back we had a really good time. Anyway, here is what we did today:

Today was our beach day. The forecast looked good, but when we woke up it was cloudy and didn't look great. Regardless, we were going to the beach, Cascais to be exact. We got off the train into a little town on the water. The sky was still cloudy, but looking bettter. We headed to the closest beach, which ended up being a tiny stretch of sand where there was about 5 other people. We hung out there for a little then decided to walk along the path above that followed the water. By the time we came to the next beach, the sky was completely sunny and it was real hot out. The first thing we noticed here were these big peddle boats that had slides attached to them. We wandered around trying to find out how much they cost to rent and who to get them
from, but ended up renting one for an hour and headed off into the water with it. Because there are so many rocks around the stetch of coast we were on, the water was more like a bay even though we were on the Atlantic; the water was very still and calm. We took our boat out and slid off it and jumped out of if. A few Portuguese kids asked us in English if they could use our slide just once, and very grateful after we let them. That boat and slide combo was pretty awesome.

After our time was up and we were whistles in, we decided to keep walking along the promenade to the next beach town, Estoril, which was probably a 5 or 10 minute walk. We got some drinks at a cafe on the walk then set up on a beach there and went in the water. When we got out, we started getting swarmed with alll these "sand fleas," tiny little black bugs that kind of bite or something. We first noticed them at the cafe, but they were literally everywhere and freaking us
out. We decided it was time to go back to Lisbon.

We grabbed some sandwiches for a snack once we got back, then got ready for dinner. When we were at the Castle Sao Jorge in Lisbon a few days ago, we came across a really nice restaurant in the castle that we agreed would be great for our last night. We had our hotel call to make reservations, and when they told us it was all booked for Tuesday night, I was sure that couldn't be true. I was determined to eat there and thought we could just show up, maybe have to wait a little, but definitely end up with a table. We took a taxi from Comercio Square downtown and our crazy cab driver, who was talking to himself the entire ride, got us there in about 5 minutes. We convinced the security guards at the castle gate to let us in only to find that the restaurant had a private party which was the reason it was completely booked. Still, it was worth the trip. The city and all the squares and monuments are lit up at night and from the castle you can see all that and the Tejo River.

We walked to a restaurnt in the center. I had steak and Alison had cod. The restaurnat made it very clear that they wanted us to leave after they closed at 11. It was awkward. After, we took our bottle of wine that we didn't have time to finish for dinner out to Rossio square. We saw camermn and two actors there filming a commeci. I asked two Portuguese kids who they were and they said the actors were both soap opra ish actors that were very famous in Portugal. They also said they really want to visit the USA (especially California and la) and asked If people in America are as crazy as the movies make them out to be. They were legit excited when we said we were Americans, I'm not sure how many foreing countries you'll get that response in.

We came home and now I'm writing this with all my bags left to pack as Alison is passed out. It's sad to be leaving here, but there are things we are excited to get back to in the states. Well see how long that excitement lasts for, our routines back home aren't too interesting compared to our day to day here. Anyway, it couldn't last forever. Back to the real world.

Day 4 in Lisbon: Pictures

(1): Prais das Majas, (2): Soup at lunch, (3) Downtown Sintra, (4): Pena Palace, (5) & (6): Moorish Castle

Day 4 in Lisbon: Day Trip to Sintra

Today we decided to take a day trip to Sintra which is about 35
minutes from Lisbon via train. Supposedly Portugal's aristocracy often
vacation here. We woke up around 8:30 because we wanted to spend the
morning on one of Sintra's beaches. We took a train to Sintra and then
a pretty crazy bus to the beach Prais das Majas. It was pretty windy
on the beach and we could tell that a lot of surfers probably came
here because the waves were so big. On the one side of the beach were
huge cliffs which we walked to. We only stayed a little over an hour
at the beach since it was cold because of the wind. We caught the bus
into town and had lunch at this place Tirol where we each tried some
traditional Portguese soup, I had cabbage, potato and carrot soup, and
Kevin had garlic, bread and chicken broth soup. They were both so good
and with soup two sandwiches drinks and sides lunch was only $10 which
is amazing.

After lunch we walked to the National Palace which dates back to the
15th century making it the oldest surviving palace in Portugal. The
palace was pretty small with not that much to see. It's funny because
the two chimneys are said to look like Madonna's bra from back in the
1980's.

We took a bus uphill to visit the Pema Palace which was amazing. If
you ever see a picture of Sintra it is most likely of this multi-
colored palace. The palace was built by Kimg Ferdinand from 1840 to
1885. I really liked this palace because all of the rooms we went into
were filled with cool pictures, furniture, great views etc. It really
felt like it was lived in and not as if the museum just placed objects
there that were not original. The palace sits high above the city so
there were fresh views of two castles and the National Palace. I
think this palace was my favorite attraction if the trip.

Lastly we headed to the Moorish castle which is 1000 years old. The
remains of the castle are scattered around through a huge forest. The
castle was built by the Moors but takem by Christian force in 1147. We
walked through some of the remains; we were way too tired to walk
through the whole castle which winded around the entire top of the
hill it seemed.

When we finally got back to the hotel we showered and relaxed for a
little bit. For dinner we went to a restaurant that both of our books
suggested. The restaurant, Casa do Alentejo, is a Neo-Moorish former
palace which serves simple Alentejan food. The room we were in had
walls filled with traditional Portuguese tiles. The food was really
good too. I ordered salmon with potato, carrots, zucchini and
mushrooms while Kev got pork in a spicy sauce with clams and potatoes.
We also ordered a bottle of vinho verde or green wine and tried there
version of chocolate mouse which Kevin said tasted like a cadbury
creme egg. I think we both agree that we enjoy Portguese food better
than Spanish food. After dinner we went back to our hotel and pretty
much passed out from our long day.

Day 3 in Lisbon: Pictures

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Day 3 in Lisbon: Sao Cathedral, Castelo Sao Jorge, and Night at the Museum

We woke up today with expectetions to go to the beach. After
breakfast, we put on our bathing suits, packed our towels and sun
block, and headed downstairs only to realize it was raining out. The
weather had made a dramatic change from the forecast the night before
which said it would be mostly sunny in Lisbon. We decided to get
changed into normal clothes, put our ponchos on, and walk up the hill
to the huge spanish department store called El Corte Ingles, or the
english cut (of cloth) in Spanish. To get there, we walked up a steep
pedestrian road through Eduardo the 7th park where there wasn't too
much to see as far as parks go. After wandering around the perimeter
of the huge department store building and finding nothing but closed
entrances, we came across an old man who spoke English and told us how
to get to the one door that was still open. When we got in, we found
that there were a bunch of bars and food places open, a supermarket
down there, and a movie theater. We ate some not so great food for
lunch then checked out the theater to find it was playing night at the
museum 2 in English. We made plans to come back that night since the
day was pretty dreary and we had been trying to find that movie in
English since Madrid.

As a result of the benadryll I took ealier and since it was still
pretty gross out, we went back to the hotel and took a short nap. When
we woke up, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was really hot out.
We walked downtown and visited the cathedral of se which had some cool
cloisters where they were uncovering roman ruins. After that we walked
up to the Castelo de Sao Jorge where we saw great views of the city
and river and were able to climb along the castles walls and though
the inside. We also saw a few peacocks.

We took the bus down from the castle and went to eat at a place both
of our books recommended that is famous for it's grilled chicken
called Bonjardim. We ordered a bottle of "green wine," green not
because of the color but because it is a young wine (it was actually
white wine) which is very famous in Lisbon. We ordered the chicken
which came out in under 2 minutes and was a whole chickn pretty much.
It was extremely good though, we both really liked it. On the table
was this piri-piri pepper sauce that you painted on to the chicken it
this little brush that made it spicy but really good. For desert we
had the waiter bring out his favorites and we ended up picking two of
them, a piece of something kinds like apple pie and some flan which
tasted a little too much of eggs for my liking but was good
nonetheless. Our waiter was great so we gave him a pretty solid tip (a
little over 20%, here it's customary to leave only 5-10%.

After dinner we stopped at the hotel then walked back to El Corte
Ingles to see night at the museum. The movie was funny and very
enjoyable. We kinda forgot we were in Portugal when we came out of the
theater. We also felt a little like locals, walking out with all the
Portuguese people. I'm not sure how many people visit other countries
and go to the movies there, but we were glad we did.

Day 2 in Lisbon: Pictures

(1): Stairs from first to second floor right outside our room in the hotel, (2): Funicular we rode, (3): Beer hall for lunch, (4): Cloister of the Monastery de San Jeronimo, (5): Inside or monastery church, (6): Pastels de Belem pastries, (7): Tower of Belem, (8): Monument to Diacoverers, & (9): Coach Museum