Barcelona's rival: Lisbon!

I feel guilty for it, but I’ve come to think of updating this as a bit of a chore. Only because I can tell I’m not writing as well as I could and I feel like I’m doing a lot of day-to-day updating. I could change it, but I want to be able to write down everything and so it automatically becomes what it is. Another reason for feeling this way is that it is nearly impossible to describe a lot of the things I’m seeing and doing. It’s difficult for me to explain why I love Barcelona to people that have never been here. Saying it’s ‘amazing’ just isn’t enough because what exactly is amazing about it?

It’s the same thing with my trip to Lisbon this past weekend. Now that city is amazing. Why? I can’t explain it, it just is. The city as a whole is just so awesome because it’s a large city – it is the capital of Portugal after all – but it doesn’t have the same kind of feel as Barcelona or Rome or any other city I’ve been to, really. Lisbon consists of what feels like and endless amount of steep hills. The view from the top of any of these hills is breathtaking because there are no large streets or big buildings, just streets barely wide enough for a car to drive through and houses clustered together. So that’s pretty, and a reason that I love it. The Portuguese also are nothing like any population I’ve ever encountered. No one was ever snarky with me for not speaking the language. No one stared at me as I walked around by myself, clearly not familiar with the city. Not one male that I passed thought it would be cool to holler “EY, GUAPA!” at me, which is a nice change from Barcelona. They all seem to be just very tolerant and easy-going people.

I should preface and say that I barely even made it to Lisbon that morning. I had set my alarm in time for me to wake up, shower, get to the metro, get to the airport, check in, and fly. Well, I woke up one hour before the flight took off so I basically stormed out and hailed a cab, almost got killed by a bus, got to the airport 20 minutes and 30 euro later, went to the bathroom, got on the plane, and I was off. All day I kept thinking of the morning and laughing out loud because it was just so amazing that I was actually there.

I stayed at the most amazing hostel ever. I’m not a hostel pro by any means but I’ve been to a couple and this one definitely topped the list the minute I stepped inside the green gates. It’s located in the Alfama district, the oldest in all of Lisbon, and it is so charming. I took a super old tram to get there, which was super cool in itself cause it was all wooden inside and I thought it’d fall apart at any moment, which it didn’t. Also, going up and down all those steep hills is an experience in itself in those things. Anyway, I got off on my stop and walked around a bit trying to find the place. Green gates, bright pink house? Uhhhh… okay, so I walk in to check it out and I’m greeted by the most cheerful of the cheerful people, Dangolia, the Czech manager of the place. She showed me around, showed me my room, introduced me to other people also staying there and then she told me a couple of things I could do that day because it was only about 11 a.m.

Oh, I should mention that when I stepped out of the airport at 9:30, it was already 18 degrees Celsius. Suck on that! Hah!

I grabbed a map and set out on exploring Lisbon. Found a really cool castle, Castilo de Sao Jorge which is a Muslim castle dating back to the 6th century. It’s located on top of the largest hill of Lisbon so obviously the view was amazinggg! Being in there made me feel like I was in a movie or videogame or something, it was legit, tons of towers and canons and stuff. Vasco da Gama was greeted and celebrated in this castle after he returned from India. At one point I decided to walk down about one million steps, thinking that there’d be something cool down there. There wasn’t. So I had to walk back up. I. Wanted. To. Die. My legs were definitely on fire. There was a guy in the castle playing like medieval music on a guitar, which fit perfectly with the surroundings, and adding to the movie/video game feel.

After the castle I looked at the map and found the Belém area, which I was told I absolutely had to go to because they apparently have the best pastries ever. Well yea, of course I’m gonna go then! I decided to set off walking because it didn’t look like it was very far away and because I like walking around, especially in a place I’m not familiar with because I find it to be the best way to see things. Well, 2 hours later I was finally in Belém. People at the hostel actually laughed at me when i told them because that’s apparently a crazy thing to do. I found the pastry place, Pastéis de Belém, which was pretty much like Magnolia Bakery in NYC, in Lisbon. The place has been around since 1837 making these delicious things… There was a line out the door and I was listening to people order and they were all ordering those pastries! So, I got two and an espresso and then went to look for a place to sit down. It didn’t look like I was in any kind of luck but a friendly security guard (yes, the bakery had several security guards) quickly showed me a place to sit and I realized that the place was actually GIANT! The pastries were DELISH! No idea how you’d make them, what they’re actually made of, nothing, just that they were soooooo good!! Definitely worth the 2 hour walk.
I went into the Belem monastery too, which was cool but really just another religious building. It was free for students, so that’s cool.

That night I ate at the hostel because a Portuguese girl was coming to cook traditional Portuguese dinner for those who wanted, and I definitely wanted. She made Caldo Verde, which is soup made from potato and some kind of leafy cabbage, served with bread and “burnt” chorizo. She said that no, it was not flambéed because “Flambé is too chic for this”, so yea, it was burnt chorizo. Really really good food. A couple of us hung out and drank some wine until we went to listen to some Fado music at a nearby hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Fado is traditional Portuguese music in which the singer most often sings about something he or she is very nostalgic about, or some kind of tragedy.

Friday was spent exploring the downtown area a little bit and just hanging out and enjoying Lisbon. Not much to say about Friday, other than there was a pub crawl organized by the hostel. What. A. Mess! We all got pretty wasted and i had thought it would be a great idea to just stay out and go straight to the airport at 6 a.m. It didn’t work out that way and I missed my flight.

Not that I was upset about that at all… I got a train ticket and then I just hung out in Lisbon some more. There are definitely worse places to be stuck, let me tell you. Every Saturday night, the hostel puts on a BBQ for anyone who wants to join, all you can eat and drink for 9 euro and I was excited that I’d be able to stay for it. I helped Dangolia and Gil, another hostel worker who looks like an amazon mixed with Greek god kinda thing, with the cooking and preparation of the SANGRIA!!!! It was a lot of fun and the food was delicious. A DJ came and everyone was a little bit buzzed by 9 and suddenly everyone was dancing the macarena! I was sad to leave, as my train was at 10:30 but I knew I’d be back soon for more good times with these amazing people! Gil walked me to the train, told me he’d show me around his beach town, Cascais, when I get back, and “see you soon!” and I can’t wait!

Basically, I’m absolutely in love with the place and my next trip has already been booked. Speaking of booked, everything is. Portugal on April 29th, Denmark on may 3rd, Iceland on may 15th, USA on may 20th. I can’t believe this amazing experience is coming to an end so soon….. I’m sure you can expect a very nostalgic update very soon..

Pics from Lisbon:
http://gallery.me.com/rakel88#100130