Bom dia! (Good day! in Portugese.)
As promised, this entry is all about my trip to Portugal this weekend. What a good trip it was! I´m really glad that I went, and I´m so thankful that everything went smoothly, especially travel, and thrilled that the weather was absolutely pristine.
So since it was a four day weekend, Friday through Monday, (Monday being The Day of Hispanidad and therefore a national holiday in Spain) I felt like this weekend lasted forever. I went out in Cáceres on Thursday until very late with a few Erasmus girls and enjoyed that very much. On Friday afternoon, I and seven other students (one more girl decided to come at the last minute, so we had seven girls and one guy) boarded our bus and took the two-part journey to Lisboa-- by the way, I insist on calling the city by its Spanish name even when I refer to it in English. Added up, the trip takes over 4 hours, not counting the hour time change, but they were comfortable buses and I can always use that time to write in my journal. Upon arriving in Lisboa, we saw on our directions that we needed to take the metro to get within walking distance of our hostel. Too bad the ticket kiosks were in Portugese... Actually, we figured it out without a problem, and caught the incredibly clean and up-to-date metro, then switched to another line, and finally stepped off a mere three blocks from our hostel. Found it no problem: Was that easy, or what? I didn´t even have to use my Portugese phrase book that I´d brought along (though I would later).
We checked in and settled into our rooms (I had an all-girls room with three of the other ISU gals). The decoration of the Yes! Hostel is "mod," with pictures and themes of Lisboa, and the whole place was very clean. That night we ate the food our host mothers had packed for us then a few of us ventured out to walk around the urban area just a bit.
On Saturday we ate a continental breakfast there and tried to decide what to do. Eight people is a lot but we´re not so good at splitting up evenly or changing things up, so a girl named Hannah and I spent most of the day and really the whole weekend doing things together. We had read a recommendation to visit the area of Belem, so we opted to check that out. After first walking through an outdoor craft market and both buying necklaces, we tackled the complex bus system. Belem, in my opinion, is not a reasonable walk from our hostel, especially when you will walk ALL weekend, so we were glad when we finally got on a bus that took us there, albeit some time later and a couple extra euros poorer.
I, Travel Guide Ellen, highly recommend this area for anyone who visits Lisboa! We walked along the shore of the Tajos river, seeing the Torre de Belem, a gray castle-like defending tower from the 1500´s that looks like a chess piece, and going up to the top of the Monumento de los Descubrimientos (Monument of Discoveries). The latter was built in 1960 in honor of all the people who contributed to the Era of Discovery and I think it´s super neat! The Monastery of the Jerónimos is also in this area and we went into the sanctuary (for any history buffs who might know who Vasco de Gama is, his tomb is there) since this part was free and we were pressed for time. Apparently I should have gone on Sunday, though, because another main section (el claustro) is free to visit then, and I do regret that I didn´t get to see that. Now, these three things are probably the most popular sites in Lisboa for tourists, but I didn´t mind--they really are neat.
Something I learned: that Portugese don´t have siesta and their schedule is more European than Spanish. Returned to our hostel for a very late lunch, meeting up with our whole group again. It was a hot, sunny day and I was tired from all our walking, even with our bus rides both ways. So I chilled out while the rest of the group went to visit a castle on a hill--I wanted to go, but I simply didn´t have the energy. That night, we opted to pay 8 Euros for dinner cooked at the hostel, featuring stew of Portugese seafood as well as salad, excellent bread, and drinks (the hostel has a mini bar in the commons area, too). It was delicious but served almost an hour late. Oh well--not like we had anything we had to do! Afterward, a few of us went out to check out Bairro Alto, another recommended area, known for its active nightlife. There were tons of people around, and we stepped in a couple bars, but I wasn´t very impressed. Apparently there aren´t open container laws, either, so the party just spills out into the streets, and when I saw the same streets the next morning, it was a MESS of litter. Lame. I did attempt to use a few words of Portugese, though. Or when in doubt, just Spanish with "sh" sounds instead of S´s... For example, in Portugese it sounds like "Doosh cervehash. Obrigada." (Spanish: "Dos cervezas. Gracias." English: "Two beers. Thank you.") So, Lisbon/Lisboa is pronounced "Ishbua" in the local language and accent.
Oh, Bairro Alto literally means High Neighborhood, and you do have to walk considerably uphill to get there. Lisboa in general is compared to San Francisco, CA for its hilly streets, and the tram is a popular mode of transportation for tourists and older folk. This is something I didn´t do, but that´s okay. I did try the recommended "pasteis de nata" (sounds like Pashtaysh d´nata) or custard cream pastries, which are delicious, but I think I was the only one out of our whole group who tried them. They missed out!
Sunday, Hannah and I again paired up, since now the rest of the students wanted to see Belem. We rode up and down in the Santa Justa elevador, a tall skinny building that looks related to the Eiffel Tower (an apprentice of Eiffel did design it!), which you can take to get to Bairro Alto without climbing the hills. Then we planned to take the ferry across the river and see what we called "the Jesus statue," or Cristo Rei. Buying tickets for the ferry proved to be very difficult, however, as we were unsure just where and how to buy them in Portugese. Finally someone showed us on a map, and the ticket window guy spoke a little English, and suddenly the ferry was there and we were boarding it. Again, now that I am a travel expert, I recommend this experience. The ticket costs a mere 81 euro cents one way, if you return your paper ticket for the 50 cent refund, and the ride is a pleasant 15 minute view of the Lisboa skyline. Now that we were bus experts, we found one to take us to Cristo Rei (Christ the King), and enjoyed snapping photos and wandering around the huge statue. If you´ve ever seen a picture of the Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, you get an idea, because Lisboa´s statue was inspired by it. 2009 is the 50th anniversary of its completion, too.
Bought food at a nearby supermarket to make our own late lunch at the hostel. You don´t realize how much walking you´ve done until you get back and sit down! That evening, four of us went out for coffee at an outdoor cafe on a high hill that overlooks part of the city and the river: So beautiful! So peaceful. Back at the hostel, I met a really interesting kid from Isreal named Barak and we talked for awhile. He´s in Lisboa to volunteer for three weeks before returning to Isreal to start his mandatory 3 year service in the army. Absolutely fascinating. He was the only hosteller I really talked to the whole weekend though. Feeling a little ill, I turned in early. We checked out the next morning, rode the metro back to the bus station and then returned to Cáceres, with a very boring, 3.5 hour layover in Badajoz. Now I have a sore throat, but I hope it clears up soon--I don´t want to get sick again!
So, yeah, I wish you could have been there in Lisboa. Good times. Just a little strange to travel with people I don´t really know that well, and a bummer that now I´m sort of sick. For corresponding pictures, I'll post an entry soon with the link to a Facebook album, once I make one!
Well, my one class of the day is done, now I only have two more days of classes this week! But that does include tutoring kids and student teaching at the language school.
¡Hasta luego!
Ellen
P.S. While in Portugal, I heard that President Obama won Nobel Peace Prize. Strange, because I don´t keep up on US news, and personally I think it´s too early in his term to even get nominated for such an honor. Okay, that´s all with political commentary.
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