Lisbon!

So most of this post will be dedicated to my weekend trip to Lisbon, but let me just say first that fried bread is the most delicious thing in the world and I’m pretty sure that it would be the one thing I would eat for the rest of my life if I had to. But only Mati’s fried bread since I’m sure all the others would not compare.  Anyway, back to Lisbon! Approximately two hours before we left for Lisbon, one of the program staff told us that Portugal is an hour behind Spain, something I hadn’t even thought to check out.  So with that information, some pages ripped from my guidebook, and a delicious lunch made by Mati in our stomachs, Maureen and I boarded the bus to Lisbon.  Maybe it had something to do with the time difference, but the bus was about 9 hours – 2 hours longer than we had originally thought.  Other than the fact that it was cutting into our short time in Lisbon, the ride wasn’t actually so bad.  I had plenty of reading to do – classes finally started at the center last week so I had my first two classes of Political Cultures of Spain.  Also the views from the bus were pretty spectacular once we got closer to the coast and into Portugal – the greenery and mountains were a nice change from the flat, dry land outside of Seville. We passed through some really cute towns near the ocean and then ended up stopping at a rest stop around 8.  At first I was kind of disappointed that we would be at a rest stop for sunset, but when the sun actually went down I was really happy that we were stopped and could enjoy the sunset instead of driving and not really being able to see it.  The sky turned really pink and orange and it was probably the best sunset I’ve seen while on this trip. Then we got back on the bus for what I thought would be another hour.  Oh how wrong I was. It was dark by then so when an hour later we arrived in this spot that I thought was right outside Lisbon, I got really excited that we had arrived. Two hours later, we actually arrived at the first bus station in Lisbon. Even though it wasn’t the stop we had planned to get off at, we were so anxious to get out of the bus that we decided to just get off right then. The bus station turned out to be architecturally interesting and the metro station below was even prettier.  There were two big, colorful mosaics on the walls and the floors were tiled instead of the usual gray concrete. When we got out of the metro, we spent a good 10 minutes staring at a map of the area trying to find the street with our hostel. Finally we gave up and decided to ask directions and actually understood the answers in Portuguese.  Well, we thought we did.  After walking a few blocks, we realized we were still completely lost and went into a hotel to ask for directions again. This time the guy gave us a map, which was essential since the hostel was on a tiny street and there were almost no indications it was there from the street, so we needed the map to know where we were.  Finally we arrived at the hostel, which was very nice and clean, and opened our sandwiches that Mati had given us that afternoon.  After wolfing the sandwiches, we decided to go explore for a little and walked down toward a huge archway we had passed on our way.  It was beautiful but there weren’t many people out in that neighborhood, so we decided pretty quickly to return to our hostel to rest up for a full Friday.

view from the bus

sunset at the rest stop

bus station

We were awoken Friday morning by some loud travelers entering our room. At first I was angry because I wanted to sleep a little more and didn’t understand why anyone would be entering the hostel at 8 in the morning, but the human alarm clocks turned out to be our friends Margo, Taylor, and Chrissy who had taken the night bus from Seville and just arrived in Lisbon.  We had planned on meeting them at the hostel that night since we weren’t sure if our paths would cross during the day, but luckily they were able to check in to the hostel early and we could spend the whole day together.  After a delicious breakfast of cereal and toast (I think cereal is one of the food items I miss most here), we left to find the important tourist sites near our hostel.  A two minute walk away from our hostel, we found a very pretty church.  We didn’t actually catch the name and because people were praying, we could only visit the crypt.  About 50 steps away from that church, we came across a cathedral, which turned out to be the Se Cathedral, one of the items on our list of places to see.  The Se dates from the 12^th century and in the back there is an excavation with ruins from B.C.  I liked that this cathedral was impressive for its history rather than its interior design because it was a change from all of the other cathedrals we have seen to find ruins and decaying walls.  After the Se, we walked in what we thought was the direction of the Castle de Sao Jorge, our next stop, but instead was the direction of the water.  It was a nice little detour because we saw some more buildings covered in tiles and the ocean closer up, although you can’t go right down to the water because Lisbon is a port town not a beach town.  Once we realized our mistake, we headed back in the direction of the castle and found it pretty easily – everything in Lisbon is fairly close since it’s not a very big city, especially for a capital.  It’s more charming than most capitals because even though it is fairly cosmopolitan with much more diversity than you see in Seville, it has an almost vintage feel if that’s possible for a city. It reminded me a little of San Francisco because it has old trolleys as a legitimate form a public transportation and a bridge that looks a lot like the Golden Gate bridge and lots of hills, but Lisbon still feels European with it’s painted cobblestone sidewalks and streets and old buildings everywhere.  The castle had a gorgeous view of the ocean and the huge statue of Jesus across the harbor.  Mostly all that is left of the building is ramparts but the towers had some more nice views of the city if you could make it up the insanely steep and narrow staircases. After passing by about 5 peacocks on our way out of the castle grounds, we headed back toward the area of the hostel to find lunch. We ended up at a restaurant that was fairly crowded and seemed to have lots of Portuguese people, so we felt like we had found somewhere local and good quality.  Our waiter happened to also be the bartender even though we were at the table farthest from the bar, so he decided to check on us once every 15 minutes.  We made the mistake of saying we weren’t ready to order when he first came by and paid dearly – our lunch lasted almost two hours because we waited so long to order and then finally get our food.  We ordered cod with chickpeas and potatoes since it is supposed to be a specialty in Lisbon and I also got seafood chowder, another popular dish.  The seafood chowder was really good, but the cod seemed a little overcooked and way oversalted. Oh well, you can’t win with every meal and I’m starting to realize how spoiled I am by Mati’s cooking. Every restaurant I eat in after having her food just seems mediocre in comparison.  After finally escaping from the restaurant, we went to a nearby plaza to catch the tram to Belém, a suburb 15 minutes outside of Lisbon.  I was very impressed with the public transportation in Lisbon – there are trolleys, buses, and a metro that all seem very clean and efficient. 

When we arrived in Belém, we headed to the Monastery Dos Jerónimos, one of the many UNESCO World Heritage sites I’ve been visiting over the past month.  I can see why the monastery was granted “world heritage” status because it is truly one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen – such intricate carving on the exterior and gorgeous arches and more carved pillars inside.  All of the decorations were so intricate, I don’t want to think about how much time it must have taken to complete.  We spent a while just staring at the incredible courtyard before heading across the street to the Monument of Discoveries. It’s a huge white stone structure that commemorates some of the major Portuguese explorerers of the New World.  It was pretty impressive in size, but I really enjoyed just sitting next to the monument and looking out on the ocean as cute sailboats floated by.  Then we walked over to the Tower of Belém, an adorable stone watchtower by the ocean that seriously looks like it came out of a movie.  Not sure which movie, but maybe after seeing the pictures someone can tell me.  We walked up and had yet another spectacular view of the ocean and bridge – I sometimes get numb to seeing another amazing cathedral or old building but I almost never get tired of a beautiful landscape, which is definitely a good thing for this semester.  We decided to head back – after a long day of hill climbing our feet needed a break – but first stopped at a bakery to get some Portuguese pastries.  I got some flaky pastry filled with possibly an apple-flavored cream, but whatever it was filled with was absolutely delicious. When we got back to the hostel, everyone else decided they wanted to siesta but I wanted to shop/explore more. Even though most of the shops were closed (which was weird because in Seville they don’t close until 9 or 10 and it was only 7:30), I still had a lot of fun wandering by myself for a little bit. I explored a neighborhood we hadn’t visited yet and saw the elevator that Lisboans used to take to get to the Barrio Alto (tall neighborhood) but now is just a tourist attraction that affords yet another view of the city. I also passed by and entered for a second A Brasiliera, a famous café that early 20^th century Portuguese literati frequented.  Outside of the café there were lots of people sitting at the tables or on benches and listening to two street performers who were very good. It was a really fun atmosphere and I stayed for a little while to listen and take some pictures of the streets at sunset.  Then I returned and it was time to find some dinner.  We went to another big street that leads from one of the main plazas to the water and found a restaurant with outside seating.  Even though street vendors come up to your able every five minutes, it’s still really fun to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather while it is here. Again the food wasn’t spectacular, but it was good enough and Portuguese wine is really good and cheap, so that was a fun accompaniment to dinner. After dinner we wandered for a little while around the area, but soon a stupor set in from all of the walking of the day and we went back to the hostel.  When we got back, we realized that we would have roommates for the night, who showed up twenty minutes after we returned.  They were three nice Poles who spoke English well, so we chatted for a little while.  When my friend asked what they thought of when they thought of America, one responded with George Washington and Woody Allen.  I guess they watch of lot of Annie Hall in Poland! 

Monastery Dos Jeronimos

Tower of Belém

street near A Brasiliera

Saturday began with another great breakfast including a cake made by one of the hostel staff the night before (we smelled it baking in the oven).  Then we headed out to find a famous flea market held behind a church.  We wandered for a while in the small streets surrounding the church and finally Margo asked an elderly woman who was standing on her balcony for directions.  We not only understood the Portuguese this time but also followed the directions to the correct place.  The flea market turned out to be exactly what I was looking for and the opposite of El Rastro in Madrid – it had lots of old quirky stuff, lots of it junk, but some of it really interesting watches, jewelry, or even comic books in Portuguese.  We wandered around for a while but eventually realized we could probably spend the whole day in the market since the stalls never seemed to end, so we set our own time limit.  We found a restaurant with a view of the water and sat down for a quick lunch.  This was the first restaurant in Portugal or Spain, for that matter, where we didn’t have to wait half an hour just to get the waiter’s attention.  I had melon and prosciutto (it was a little heavy on the melon and light on the prosciutto) and a yummy tomato soup.  Then we made a quick pit stop at the hostel to get directions to the train station (it was on our way) and headed to the train station to get return tickets to Seville and tickets to Sintra, a town 40 minutes outside of Lisbon that we had heard was worth a visit.  After getting our return tickets and feeling a sense of relief that we did have a way to get home, we got on the train to Sintra.  After a little confusion because we had to switch trains, we made it.  Let me say now, I am in love with Sintra. It is an adorable little town in the mountains with small streets, cute little shops, and lots of green.  It reminded me a little of traveling through Provence last summer with my parents because of the incredible scenery and tiny village feel.  As soon as we walked into the town center, I wished we could stay longer (we only had two hours because we had to get back in time for fado reservations.) Since we were in a rush we quickly walked toward our destination, Quinta da Regaleira, a palace with a huge estate.  We had to wait in line for about 15 minutes to get in because the woman at the entrance was being very very slow.  At the moment when I was about to explode with impatience, we finally got to the front of the line and got.  Maureen had a sudden burst of energy right as we walked in and decided it would be a good idea to run up the mountain because she really wanted to get to the top.  The rest of us decided to follow suit, for reasons I still don’t know, and we quickly ascended.  After a little while of running, we lost steam and stopped at one of the sites of the grounds, the Initiation Well. I’m not sure why it’s called that (we didn’t have much time for reading) but maybe they made people run up the stairs of the well or just threw them in the middle and let them struggle out?  There were a lot more sites, such as an aquarium and a chapel, that we unfortunately didn’t get to see because of time.  We didn’t exactly reach the top either because at some point we realized we would have to walk back down, which would take a while too. But we did get some amazing views of the surrounding mountains and stopped into the palace for a quick peek.  On the way back, Taylor, Chrissy, and I stopped in some ceramic places, since Portugal is evidently supposed to have really good ceramics. Sintra definitely had the best stores we had seen – with shelves and shelves of plates, bowls, and little knick knacks.  Since my mother told me to get her some Portuguese ceramic - and I always listen to my mother! – I hurriedly bought a few dishes before running to the train station and making it just in time for the train back to Lisbon. Once we got back to the city, we had a little time to buy sandwiches for the bus the next day and then had to get ready for dinner/fado.  Fado is a combination of singing and narrative poetry that tells a sad or nostalgic story.  We tried to go to one on Friday night but they were booked, so some other girls from our program who happened to also be in Lisbon made reservations for Saturday night.  Five minutes before the fado was supposed to start they texted us to let us know that it was actually pretty expensive because there was a minimum of 20 euro and everything on the menu was pricey.  We decided that even though we wanted to see fado, we didn’t want to spend that much so we went to the restaurant right next to our hotel that had fado too, which the Poles had actually recommended to us Friday night. Luckily we could get in even though we didn’t have a reservation.  We were a little far from the stage, but most important is hearing the music, which was really cool.  The singers were all very impressive – you could see the effort that it took for them to sing with such force and emotion.  Also, the audience was really into it and at one point a lot people joined in on a song and the whole restaurant was filled with music.  The food was also probably the best meal I had in Lisbon – rice with duck, chorizo, and some delicious spices and a green bean soup.  It was so fun and interesting to hear the songs and we stayed for almost three hours at dinner – thankfully not because of bad service but because we wanted to!  It was a great end to an incredible trip to Lisbon, which I felt particularly good about because it was the first trip I planned by myself and it went very smoothly.  Hopefully that means good things for the trips to come!

Sintra

more Sintra