Lost in Lisbon

Note*

I am inaccurately calling this post Lost in Lisbon, we were not actually lost most of the time. Of course, there were moments when we were wandering around in circles, but mostly that was on purpose; we were exploring Lisbon, rather than getting lost. However, I like the alliteration so I’m sticking with my title.

Halloween weekend was a Puente (long weekend) in Spain. Instead of celebrating Halloween (officially it’s not a holiday but kids are starting now to dress up and go trick or treating), Spain celebrates the day after, the Day of the Dead. In all honesty, I’m not exactly sure what that is a celebration of; I suppose it is to honor the dead. But here in Spain, it seems more like it is an excuse to have a day off. I could be totally wrong, so Spaniards reading this, don’t be offended.

So, to aprovechar (take advantage of…sounds way better in Spanish) the long weekend, Samantha and I took the overnight bus from Sevilla to Lisbon on Wednesday (Halloween) night. The bus left at midnight, and arrived at 6:30 the next morning. We decided on that bus so that we would have the most time possible to see Lisbon. Well, not surprisingly, as soon as we got to our hostel, we slept for almost the entire day. For those of you who have been on a 6+ hour bus ride before, you understand our need to sleep in an actual bed...Imagine sleeping on an airplane (you are pretty uncomfortable, right?). Well now take that image and add less comfortable seats and the sensation of feeling every turn the bus/plane makes, plus not having heat or blankets…now you are really uncomfortable. And so were we on the bus..ergo, our decision to sleep more!

It was just the two of us on the bus from Sevilla, but we met two of Samantha’s friends from school at the hostel. In fact, the whole trip was their idea. Her two friends, Laura and Julia, are twins who are currently teaching English in a pueblo in Granada. I had met them earlier in the year because they were in Sevilla for two weeks for an orientation, so it was great to see them again.

After the twins arrived, and Samantha and I woke up from our “nap”, the four of us went out for dinner. Since I was feeling a little sick I didn’t join in on the partying that night, but there was more of that to come in the following days.

The four of us atop Castelo de Sao Jorge

We spent all day Friday and Saturday exploring Lisbon…visiting a beautiful cathedral, an old fortress, a castle, a monastery and more! We watched and listened to Fado (typical Portuguese music), we ate and drank typical Portuguese food and drink.

Above: Said beautiful Cathedral  

Below: Beautiful stained-glass window inside said beautful cathedral

Fado music

On Sunday, although we still hadn’t seen all of Lisbon, we decided to go to Sintra, a town approximately 45 minutes outside of Lisbon. And boy am I happy we did that. Sintra is a little town in the mountains, and it looks like it was pulled straight from a fairytale. The roads are windy, there are trees (enchanted forests) everywhere. There is a big fortress/castle at the top of the hill. Around every corner there is a view more beautiful than the next, a view that looks like a page from Snow White or Cinderella.

One of the breathtaking views

Cinderella's Castle

Unfortunately, it was cold and gloomy, making it feel even more like a fairytale in my mind, but made it uncomfortable to be outside for too long/made it difficult for my pictures to capture the true beauty of the town.

En fin, I highly recommend to anyone who has not been to Lisbon to put it high up on the list of places to visit, up there with Prague. Seriously, go! I’m so glad I did. 

photos don't lie

look how pretty!