Portugal was never really on the list of places I was dying to go. I always kind of forget that Portugal is in Europe, so when my Australian friend Nick suggested we go there, I was kinda taken aback and a little skeptical. Because of this, I had zero expectations. And because of that, it is one of my favorite places I have ever been in my entire, short life!
There is no word to describe the ambience of Lisboa (or Lisbon in English). It's fantastic and a little magical. It's more efficient than Spain, but still much more relaxed than the United States. I loved every second of it. I guess I should actually talk about what we did... but it wont do it justice.
Firstly, in order to get there, we took a night train? I've always wanted to take a night train... but they aren't all they're cracked up to be. The tickets were cheap since we didn't pay for a bed, just chairs. It was just like riding in an overnight bus. It wasn't awful, just not the best way I've ever travelled. The great thing about it was that we arrived early the next morning, ready to start exploring! It basically covered a night of hostel stay and transportation all in one, cheaper price. So it was worth it.
The morning we arrived, we casually went to a bar for breakfast and got juice/coffee, just so we could change into our adventure clothes. If this was College Station, my yoga pants would have sufficed, but alas, in Europe, you must make an effort. It's a good thing I guess.
We wandered around Lisbon a little bit, searching for our hostel which was a nice far walk from the train station. We got some pretty scenic views on the way, including from a dock that was apparently illegal (but there were no signs!). Some walking adventure pics:
View from the illegal dock
That water was freezing! Lisbon is right on the coast...
Posing with some cool groovy street graffiti ladies
After finding our hostel (which by the way was super precious and was based on famous poets and had free breakfast every morning) we continued on a little walk around Lisbon! Our goal was to eventually find the harbor where we would take our boat tour around the coast.
The walk ended up being way longer than we thought... but still really cool!
Found the Museum of Beer!
At the docks
This bridge looked really familiar to us... it's the same as the one in San Francisco! Same architect and everything.
Taking a much needed break from our traipsing.
We had originally planned to take a certain sunset boat cruise... but since we're in a foreign country with no iphone or google maps (i don't know how you did it, parents and other older folk) we kind of just wandered around until we found a tour. Any tour. And we found an awesome one called Hippotrip! We had about an hour to kill before going on it, so we hung around the area by the docks. There were tons of cute little shops so we stopped at one to get some coffee before sitting by all the boats.
I cannot tell you how funny this picture above is to me and Abby. You had to be there, but it's our computer backgrounds and we crack up every time we see it. Just one of those things I guess :)
Having fun before taking our tour!
So our tour that we found was called HippoTrip, and it was an amphibious bus. That means it is both a bus and a boat, so we did like 45 minutes of the tour on land and 45 minutes in the water. It's one of the funnest things I have ever done. We had a blast, especially because we were the only four on the tour! We got to wear the captains hat and wander around the boat and take as many pictures as you want. There's something to be said for being a tourist in February :)
Captain Thompson at your service!
A beautiful sunset from the boat/bus thing
Our amphibious bus, Lola!
Excited to start our tour with Alex!
After our awesome tour we headed back to our room to freshen up and go out for dinner! We wanted to go to the pink street, which we had heard all about from our tour guide and a lot of people in Spain. When we got there though... was it a joke? Because there was nothing spectacular about the pink street. It had a pink road, and a few pink signs. In pictures, it looked like the street was a huge party scene with tons of people and neon lights. It wasn't. We thought it was hilarious and hung out at a restaurant there anyway!
Saturday was reserved for visiting Sintra, Portugal. Most people have not heard of Sintra, but we were recommended to go here, and it did not disappoint. More than that, it was amazing. Sintra is filled with fairytale castles, palaces, and beautiful grounds complete with underground tunnels and moats and drawbridges. It was also home to the best ham and cheese sandwich I've ever had. Most of the pictures can be seen on facebook but here are a few from the first place we visited: Palacio de Peña!
We couldn't believe we were seeing this with our own eyes! It's a bunch of different colors because with each new occupant, they wanted to add a little piece of themselves to the palace.
Abby and I were pretty proud of our royal selfie in the Queen's bedroom.
Just beautiful to look at!
An amazing view of Portugal from the top!
The whole gang!
super casual
Love this picture and this friend :)
Walking the grounds of the Palace!
These trees were GIGANTIC.
Before we move on can I just talk about the amazing ham and cheese sandwich I had for lunch? I ordered it because it was like the cheapest thing on the menu... and it did not disappoint. It was on apple raisin bread and it was melty and gooey and amazing.
After lunch we visited our second cool place of the day. It was a castle... but a very strange one. Unlike the Palace we had just visited, the focus for this castle was definitely the grounds surrounding it. I wish I could explain what it was like, but I just can't. There were tons of underground tunnels, wells, beautiful scenery, waterfalls.. you name it, they had it. It was like a child's dream back/front/side yard. It was huge, with wonderful views and creepy caves. I loved every minute of it!
Something interesting about this place: there were literally no rules. No guards, no signs. We ran around, touched all the walls, went underground, played beneath the waterfall, stood at the bottom of the well, screamed things that would echo back at us, and took flash photography. No one yelled at us. It was magical.
The lake/entrance to underground caves
Beautiful grounds
Stood at the bottom of this well and was just so thankful for everything
Funny story about these pictures... pretty sure you weren't supposed to climb back there, but once again, no signs! My friends and I decided it was definitely used as a torture chamber so of course I had to climb in, but once I got back there, I actually got really freaked out because it was a long, dark little crevice. So the second picture is me super scared and climbing out like right away. But it was fun.
Adventuring...
Can this be considered spelunking?
Beautiful waterfalls!
Standing under this waterfall with these girls... doesn't get much better.
We did eventually check out the "castle" on the property, but we only stayed a few minutes. Once again though, there were no signs and even though it was like a museum, there were no rules. We felt like we weren't even supposed to be in there, but no one stopped us? It was a really strange feeling.
Side note to end off this trip: we found a statue of an upside down baby and kind of loved it. We posed for about a million pictures with it but I'll spare you and just post one.
The next day, we headed to Saint George's castle, located on the top of a huge, steep hill in the middle of Lisbon. We had to take a tram to get up there but then walked the rest of the way. It gave us a great view of Portugal! The walls were all fortified back from hundreds and hundreds of years ago, so it was a great, casual way to spend a Sunday morning.
Beautiful view of Lisboa!
You better believe we yelled "Load, ready, aim, fire, boom!"
Da gurlz
Hanging out on some thousand year old fortified walls
thanks for the cool window pic, abbs
I just LOVE doors and how they are all unique
Thanks to some nice dude we finally got a picture of all five of us!
These peacocks walked around like they were no big deal
Hang in there... almost done. That's more for my own benefit. I wish you all could just watch this in movie form instead of me having to write it, but alas.
SUNDAY afternoon before we hopped our night train, we visited the famous Monastery! It was beautiful on the outside, and the cathedral was beautiful as well. However, the museum part cost 8 euros and we're pretty cheap so most of us waited outside while Bailey did her thing and perused the cool history in there (lol if only everyone knew this story sorry Bailey). We hung out in some beautiful gardens and took about a thousand pictures while Nicholas ventured off to find McDonalds.
Frolicking in the fountain spray
Thanks Abby for da pic
Selifiez 4 dayz
Taking photo cred for this one... aren't they all so attractive
Abby gave me poses and I tried my best. "The rock star"
"The Donut"
"The Flying Side Kick" (proud of this one)
I don't even know but we were feeling it...
This blog post is definitely coming to an end like right now. I had a BLAST in Portugal and I got to see and learn so much. We laughed the whole time. Literally, never stopped laughing and it was wonderful. Since that weekend, I've been to Barcelona, Austria, and Germany, so stay tuned! If you care. I don't blame you if you don't ;)
Love you all, miss you all, see you soon!
