Lisbon!
Ashleigh landed from the United States at 8:00am and we were back at the airport by 2:00pm to fly to Lisbon!
We ate some delicious and much needed Burger King before departing for Portugal. Upon arrival, we hopped in a cab and arrived at our AirBnB in Barrio Alto. We had a bit of trouble getting in the apartment, but finally made it inside and had a quick conversation with the owner Mafalda.
Next, our weekend began! Right near our apartment, we discovered a really neat lookout, where all of the young locals bring wine and beer and socialize with an incredible view! After some pictures of the view, we explored the hilly, red-roofed city from end to end. After some hassle, we finally landed at a beautiful restaurant on the water for dinner! We had a cheese platter along with prawns (head included, which freaked everyone out). Really yummy and scenic meal. Later we walked to Madame Petisca, a new restaurant in Lisbon which sits on top of a boutique hotel and offers incredible view of the city. We tried Portugal's special Green Wine, and liked it a lot more than we thought! Comparable to champagne, but less sparkly. We also ordered spinach croquets, nuts and olives before we headed home for the night!
After a lot of rest, we woke up the next day anxious and ready! We walked around for about an hour before we could find a place open for breakfast on a Sunday. Come to find out most places don't open until 10 or 11. So much for getting up early... but we were happy to have walked around and get our barrings. We had quiche and tea for breakfast and then were ready to climb to the top of the castle. We could see the castle from our brunch spot, but had to go all the way down and up the giant hill in order to get there! It was quite the treck, but we saw a beautiful view of the water along the way. When we finally made it to the top of the castle we understood why it is only recommended for "fit people" and discouraged for "elderly or disabled". As we walked through the old castle ruins, we almost immediately saw one of the most incredible views I have ever seen! Of all the red roof homes and all the way to the water, we took tons of pictures! "Wine with a View" (brilliant idea) became our new favorite company. They sold glasses (bottles in our case) of wine at all of the major tourist attractions in Lisbon, so we were able to drink our way through the city!
Lisbon is famous for their pottery and ceramics, so we all picked out a little treasure to remember our time in such a lovely place! After walking most of the way down, we jumped in a taxi to take us to the other side of town by the Tower of Belem. An incredible building completely surrounded by water, like a little island! There is a huge clock on the side, and it is a major attraction of Portugal. We wished our weather was a bit nicer, but we were still able to take nice pictures.
In Lisbon we realized we are really good about not picking the first bar or restaurant we see, but we carefully walk around and select the best one for the group, with the best food, and best prices. This became a joke for the rest of the time Ashleigh was here. We couldn't understand why we were so particular about where we spent our time! But after careful consideration, we found a delicious seafood restaurant right on the water near the Tower. Lisbon is known for its seafood so we knew this was the spot to pick! We all shared really unique and exquisite dishes, and really enjoyed lunch!
By this point, we were all really tired, but knew we couldn't end our trip yet! After a late lunch, we dropped our stuff at home, put on warmer clothes, and decided to live as the locals live. We went to the store and bought too many bottles of wine, and sat and drank at the lookout spot with all of the young local people. Little did we know, this decision would change the rest of our night! We planned on finishing the wine, and then going to grab a light dinner somewhere close to home... but after we finished our two bottles, we wanted a bit more. So I asked the only English speaking people I could find where to buy wine close by, after they answered we ended up talking to these three boys for hours, and they invited us over to dinner! This is one of the things you're told not to do while abroad, enter strange mens homes...but there were four of us, so we were thinking we had power in numbers.
We stopped by the grocery store, and went back to start to prepare dinner. They had a really cool flat, with a great patio that we sat and listened to music and drank more wine all night. Dinner wasn't ready until midnight!!! So by that point, we had already lost two soldiers (Tay and Carolyn fell asleep) but Ashleigh and I thoroughly enjoyed the Cous Cous feast! Great boys from Belgium and Slovenia, we miss them already!
After a very unexpected evening, everyone came home and went right to sleep as we had an early flight in the morning. Ashleigh and Carolyn failed to set an alarm. Taylor set an alarm, but for the wrong time. And I set an alarm, but it mysteriously didn't go off (still don't know how this happened). So I woke up TWO HOURS later than we were supposed to, and abruptly woke everyone up and told them we had five minutes to pack and get out of the apartment. Uber was arriving in 4 minutes. SOME MIRACLE occurred and we made our flight, with time to buy McDonald's breakfast. Incredible. Still in disbelief. But in hindsight we got two extra hours of sleep instead of sitting in an airport, but BOY was that a close call. I was a nervous wreck.
We landed safely in Madrid, and are boarding a train later this afternoon to go to Valencia. (Yes, we are crazy, we know)
We ate some delicious and much needed Burger King before departing for Portugal. Upon arrival, we hopped in a cab and arrived at our AirBnB in Barrio Alto. We had a bit of trouble getting in the apartment, but finally made it inside and had a quick conversation with the owner Mafalda.
Next, our weekend began! Right near our apartment, we discovered a really neat lookout, where all of the young locals bring wine and beer and socialize with an incredible view! After some pictures of the view, we explored the hilly, red-roofed city from end to end. After some hassle, we finally landed at a beautiful restaurant on the water for dinner! We had a cheese platter along with prawns (head included, which freaked everyone out). Really yummy and scenic meal. Later we walked to Madame Petisca, a new restaurant in Lisbon which sits on top of a boutique hotel and offers incredible view of the city. We tried Portugal's special Green Wine, and liked it a lot more than we thought! Comparable to champagne, but less sparkly. We also ordered spinach croquets, nuts and olives before we headed home for the night!
In Lisbon we realized we are really good about not picking the first bar or restaurant we see, but we carefully walk around and select the best one for the group, with the best food, and best prices. This became a joke for the rest of the time Ashleigh was here. We couldn't understand why we were so particular about where we spent our time! But after careful consideration, we found a delicious seafood restaurant right on the water near the Tower. Lisbon is known for its seafood so we knew this was the spot to pick! We all shared really unique and exquisite dishes, and really enjoyed lunch!
By this point, we were all really tired, but knew we couldn't end our trip yet! After a late lunch, we dropped our stuff at home, put on warmer clothes, and decided to live as the locals live. We went to the store and bought too many bottles of wine, and sat and drank at the lookout spot with all of the young local people. Little did we know, this decision would change the rest of our night! We planned on finishing the wine, and then going to grab a light dinner somewhere close to home... but after we finished our two bottles, we wanted a bit more. So I asked the only English speaking people I could find where to buy wine close by, after they answered we ended up talking to these three boys for hours, and they invited us over to dinner! This is one of the things you're told not to do while abroad, enter strange mens homes...but there were four of us, so we were thinking we had power in numbers.
We stopped by the grocery store, and went back to start to prepare dinner. They had a really cool flat, with a great patio that we sat and listened to music and drank more wine all night. Dinner wasn't ready until midnight!!! So by that point, we had already lost two soldiers (Tay and Carolyn fell asleep) but Ashleigh and I thoroughly enjoyed the Cous Cous feast! Great boys from Belgium and Slovenia, we miss them already!
After a very unexpected evening, everyone came home and went right to sleep as we had an early flight in the morning. Ashleigh and Carolyn failed to set an alarm. Taylor set an alarm, but for the wrong time. And I set an alarm, but it mysteriously didn't go off (still don't know how this happened). So I woke up TWO HOURS later than we were supposed to, and abruptly woke everyone up and told them we had five minutes to pack and get out of the apartment. Uber was arriving in 4 minutes. SOME MIRACLE occurred and we made our flight, with time to buy McDonald's breakfast. Incredible. Still in disbelief. But in hindsight we got two extra hours of sleep instead of sitting in an airport, but BOY was that a close call. I was a nervous wreck.
We landed safely in Madrid, and are boarding a train later this afternoon to go to Valencia. (Yes, we are crazy, we know)
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