Portugal-my travels to the most western point of Europe

This past weekend I traveled to Portugal. It was another crazy trip just to get to Portugal and to return to Santander, but our stay in Lisbon was wonderful. On Fri. Oct. 31, Emily and I took a train in the afternoon to Madrid. Then we took another train at 10:45pm to Lisbon and arrived in Lisbon at 8am on Sat. I slept almost the whole ride so I wasn't too tired when I arrived to the city. Emily and I took a taxi from the train station to our hostel. Now, when we arrived at the street our hostel was on, we were a little worried about the location because it looked a little sketchy, but once we got inside (and climbed the 5 flights of stairs) one of the owners, Francisco, greeted us warmly and showed us the hostel. The inside of the hostel was beautiful. It only had 4 rooms and ours was the only one that was a private double room. It had a community bathroom (which they cleaned daily), a kitchen for our own use and a living room with computer, books and a TV with dvds for us to use. The hostel is owned by a young woman, V (I forgot her name, but it started with a V) and she co-owns it with her brother Fernando. The room was small, but perfect for the two of us because we just needed a nice clean place to sleep.



Dia 1
We told Francisco that we were interested in going to Sintra. He spent about 20 mins explaining how to get there, what sites to see and he even gave us a map and a travel book to use while we were there. All the owners were very helpful during our entire stay. So around 9 am Emily and I left the hostel to find the train station that had departures to cities near Lisbon. We stopped at a bakery to get breakfast to go (which is not something that is done in Europe) and went to the train station. Our hostel was in a great location because on our walk we passed the metro, which was a 2 min walk, and to get to the train station, which was in the main plaza Praca Rossio, it took us a little less than 10 mins.
Placa Rossio

The train ride only took 25 mins to arrive in Sintra. The city of Sintra is absolutely beautiful. It is a small city, but spread out over a large hill. The city is a medieval town that still has preserved 3 palaces, a castle and many gardens that were used during the middle ages. Because we were on a time crunch, we chose to see 3 sites that we were told were worth going to. The first place (which is near the bottom) was the Palacio Nacional. Now the palace wasn't much to look at on the outside, but did have some beautiful paintings, decorations and wall designs on the inside. These palaces were used by Portuguese Kings and Queens in the past, but that is all I know, because we didn't have a tour. After the national palace, we took a bus to the top of the hill (it was worth the 2 euros because it would have taken us 2 hrs or more to get to the top). When we arrived we decided to go to the Palacio Pena (the palace of worth). Now this palace is said to be one of the most beautiful palaces in Portugal and when you look at my pictures you will see why. We had to walk up the hill a little farther to arrive at the palace, but once we passed the walls that were guarding it, it was easy to see the beauty of the palace. It had many colors and different architecture for every part of the palace. The majority of the architecture is Moorish, but I believe it has some baroque as well(don't hold me to it). We were able to climb the towers of Pena and at the top you have an amazing view of the entire city of Sintra and if you look in the right direction you can see Lisbon in the distance. It was amazing.
Palacio Nacional

The city of Sintra

The view from Pena.
Palacio Pena

The view from Pena. Pena in all its glory!

After Pena, we visited our last site and we decided to go to the Moorish Castle (which is what it is actually called). Now the castle isn't there anymore, it's just the ruins and the fortress of the castle, but it was still incredible to see. Emily and I hiked up another hill to get to the castle and went up the towers to have another breathtaking view of Sintra. We even got our picture taken there! Still standing were the walls and doorway of a church that used to be a part of the castle. After seeing these three sites, we decided to head back down to the train station. On our way, we stopped in little shops to see what they were selling and passed by so many adorable homes and shops.



We left Sintra around 3:15 and arrived back in Lisbon at 3:45. We decided to go back to the hostel to rest for an hour and then after talking to Francisco again we went downtown to explore the city a little bit. We ended up walking down Cais de Restaudores (street of restaurants) which also had many clothing shops. Then we walked around Praca Rossio, which has 2 beautiful fountains in the center and a statue of Don Pedro 1, who was one of their kings. We continued walking past Rossio and along the way found H&M and stopped in. Unfortunately, I bought a few things, a purse, cardigan and scarf. Then we made our way to Praca Comercio. This plaza reminded me a lot of Plaza de San Marco in Venice because of the size of the plaza, but it is nowhere nearly as incredible as the one in Venice. In the plaza there were many people selling their paintings of the different districts of Lisbon (there are more than 10!) and I found one that I couldn't part with. The man was very sweet and tried his best to explain to me in Portuguese (which I can not understand a single word of) what he had painted. He was speaking slowly, but all I understood was Alfama which is a district of Lisbon known for Fado music (more on that later). The one thing I find interesting about Portuguese is that the way they write their words is completely different than the way they say them. So, it is difficult for me to understand, BUT I can read it really well and understand what is written because their language is written very similar to Spanish. Even though I don't understand the language I LOVE how it sounds. The only word I learned to say is "obrigado" which means thank you.
Plaza Comercio

Now this will sound bad, but Emily and I noticed that there was a Hard Rock cafe on our way back to the hostel so we decided to eat there. Well, apparently Hard Rock is VERY popular with Europeans so we had to wait a while, but we went into the shop to look around. We ended up spending 20 mins talking to one of the workers at the shop. He was Portuguese and born in Lisbon, but he spoke English (surprisingly with an American accent) very well that I could have thought he was lying about being Portuguese. He overheard Emily and I talking and he asked us if we were English. Now we were so excited to be mistaken to be Brits (because we love their accent so much) and he didn't understand why so we ended up engaging him in conversation until our table was ready. One thing I learned from him though, is that every hard rock cafe in every city has a different color which represents that city and is unique to that city. Also, each city has its personally designed shirt. I thought that was interesting because it makes each Hard Rock cafe different. Well, to say the least we enjoyed our dinner.
Hard Rock Cafe, Lisbon

Dia 2
Today started off really well. Emily and I woke up around 9 am, had a banana and a croissant (that we bought the day before), and then went to talk to V about what to visit in Lisbon. We knew today (Sun) we wanted to see museums and monuments because V had told us that they are all free this Sun because it was a national holiday (Dia de los Muertos). She told us that the museums and monuments would be free from 10-5 today so we took advantage of those times and left our hostel around 9:45. We decided to first go to Belem, which is a district of Lisbon farthest to the west. I believe that in English Belem means Bethlehem. This area was one of my favorites because the buildings were not as tall as in Lisbon and everything was so close together. In Belem we saw many different things. First, we went to the Modern Art museum which was interesting, but because I don't really enjoy modern art I didn't get a lot of the pieces, but this one below I did enjoy very much. This is for you Mary!
Judy Garland by Andy Warhol
The Modern Art Museum in Belem.

After the museum we got a little lost in the town while looking for the Torre de Belem, but it was alright because the town was very beautiful. We finally found the tower and decided to go inside. The tower used to be a fighting base. The tower is from the middle ages and it was built to keep intruders out. On the middle floor of the tower there are cannons pointing out from every window. The bottom floor had a prisoner's cell, which was very small. Then, Emily and I were able to go on top of the tower. The view was wonderful because the tower is situated right next to the Rio Tejo. We sat in front of the tower for a little bit to take in the view and watch a soccer game in the park next to the tower.
Torre de Belem
Emily and I

Inside the Tower.

Next, Emily and I walked along the main road of Belem and passed the Monumento de Descrubedores. This monument was very interesting because it was built to be dedicated to all the famous Portuguese explorers. Some of the explorers are carved into the monument and the monument is facing the Americas to show the direction the Portuguese traveled to. Behind this monument, we saw El Puente de 22 de abril (the bridge of April 22nd). This bridge is a replica of the Golden Gate bridge. I think that most of you will find this interesting.


The last thing we did before we left Belem (because EVERYONE told us we had to do this) was that we went into a pastry shop (one that is VERY well known) and bought a very famous pastry that's made in Belem called a bolo. It is actually very good. I'm not sure what it is made of, but it has a soft, fluffy surface like a pancake and the inside has a little bit of what I think is custard. I never took a picture, but I found one online so here it is:


Around 1pm we took a tram back to Lisbon and we got off in the district of Bairro Alto, where we had lunch. It was very difficult to find a place to eat because many of the people did not speak English and we couldn't read the menu, but we finally found a little restaurant that made sandwiches similar to Paninis, where the cheese and meat is grilled, but the sandwich isn't thin. We both got a chicken sandwich and it was pretty good. After lunch there was one more museum that I really wanted to go to and Emily didn't care either way so we headed to the district of Alfama, which is known for all the Fado restaurants. The museum I wanted to see was the Museo de Fado. Now Fado music is the traditional music of Portugal even though it only began in the 19th century. The music is sung by a man or woman and the music can be happy or sad. The music is played by two guitars. One is a Fado guitar, which is absolutely beautiful and the other guitar is acoustic. In the Museum I wasn't allowed to take photos, but I found some online to help you see what the guitars looked like. The museum was wonderful. It only cost 3 euros to enter and it came with a guide that you listened to. Around the museum there were numbers posted and you used those numbers to learn about Fado. The museum had information about how the music started, what types of songs there are, how the fado guitar is made and even famous singers of Fado. It was interesting to find out that there are at least 3 very famous female singers named Celeste. While in Portugal, I found out that my name (both first and last) is very common. So not only am I a descendent of Spanish heritage, but Portuguese as well!!! Anyway, at the end of the tour there are two walls that are covered with photographs of famous fado singers and you are able to listen to their songs. Fado is very beautiful and the guitars are just magnificent.
Fado Guitar
Fado Museum

After the museum, Emily and I had only two more sites to see which were on the way from the Fado Museum. We went to the Catedral Se, which is Lisbon's biggest and most well known cathedral. Then we wanted to go to the Castelo de San Jorge, but we had to pay 8 euros to go in and because it was already dark we decided against it. We did walk around the gardens, which had an amazing view of Lisbon, since the castle is on top of a high hill. For dinner we ended up staying in Alfama and went to a Fado restaurant. It was so fun to just sit and listen to live Fado singers. There were both men and woman singing so it was really nice to hear the two. After the museum, Emily and I just walked around Lisbon's center where I bought a painting of Alfama and then went back to the hostel.
Alfama

Dia 3
The 3rd of Nov was our last day in Portugal. We had done everything we wanted to in Lisbon so we decided that after lunch (until 6 when we had to go to the airport)we would visit two more cities in Portugal that were close to Lisbon so that we could know more of Portugal. We decided to go to the cities of Estoril and Cascais (the Portuguese pronounce it as Cash Caish which is very fun to say!). We first stopped in Cascais because it was farther away. Francisco, from our hostel, told us that the lighthouse in Cascais is the most western part of all of Europe. Before we left we had lunch at this really fancy Italian restaurant which was delicious! We were so excited to eat there and the best part is that we were surrounded by Italians because everyone who worked and ate there were Italian.


We decided to stay for 2 hours and we went to a tourist office to get a map and info on how to get to the lighthouse. We ended up walking 40 mins to get to the lighthouse, but along the way we saw the port where all the fishermen are. We walked by the town, which is adorable, and the buildings, which are painted in all different colors, and we finally arrived at the lighthouse. It sits above the ocean (of course) and it drops down to a rocky area. After we visited the lighthouse, we decided to go to another site in Cascais, that the tourist office told us about, which is La boca de Inferno (the mouth of hell). Now the reason it is called this is because when you get to where that point is, the land curves so that it is like an open mouth and then below are lots of large rocks at the opening of the caves. The person helping us told us that when the water is calm you can see into the caves and we were lucky enough to be able to do so. It was incredible and the water was a wonderful mix of blue and green. We took LOTS of pictures there.

La boca de inferno.
La Boca otra vez.
One of the beautiful buildings in the city.

This is the fisherman's port.

Around 4:15 we took a bus from Cascais to Estoril. When we arrived in Estoril we realized that there wasn't much to do there, but they have one of the biggest casinos. We decided to go take a look, but unfortunately it was closed. So we walked around the main street, passed by a fortress by the ocean, and then went back to the bus station to go back to Lisbon. We went back to our hostel to get our things, then went straight to the airport, and then once again took an all night bus (from 12:30am to 6am) to Santander.

All in all it was a fantastic trip and I had a wonderful time in Portugal!
Besitos, Celeste