Lisbon

morning in Lisbon

Following my tradition of writing about everything a week or more late, here's a description of my weekend in Lisbon. 14 girls. 16 hours in bus. The #1 medium-sized hostel in the world. A winning recipe right there.

To begin: the bus ride. Our supposedly 6 hour (already long) bus ride from Sevilla turned into nearly 8 hours.  As our ETA approached and passed, we were still driving through the boonies of rural, hilly Portugal, leading me to note every gas station we passed for when we escaped from our kidnappers.  Only kidding, parents.  When we finally spotted the lights of Lisbon we were more than an hour and a half late and going stir crazy after an agonizingly slow drive and an unnecessary number of pit stops.  Hoping very much that Lisbon would be worth this entire day of sedentariness, we ventured into the dark to find our hostel.

Entering the Home Lisbon Hostel (voted #1 for a reason) was like walking into a birthday party full of strangers that were expecting us.  A disco ball was glittering on the ceiling, and crowds of people were chatting, eating and drinking at long wooden tables all over the front room.  The concierge (is that what its called in a hostel?) cheerfully welcomed us, and gave Marie a free shot of Portuguese cherry liqueur for organizing the payment. Our top-floor rooms reminded me of berths on a ship - large wooden bunk beds with fluffy comforters and dark curtains you could pull across if you wanted to be antisocial and/or have a good night's sleep. Finally.

Friday, after cramming ourselves full of more eggs and rolls with nutella and jam than was really necessary at the (included!) breakfast, we ventured out to Sintra on the metro.  Sintra is a magical little medieval town nestled in the nearby wooded hills, historically the location of the palaces of all Portugal's rulers.  We climbed the steep forested path up to Palacio da Pena, one of the most fantastic palaces I have ever seen.  I think one of the Portuguese kings might have been pranked.  Why else you would paint a palace yellow and purple I have no idea.

Palacio da Pena

Later, back in Lisbon, Marissa and Lindsay and I went and visited Castelo de São Jorge.   A flock of obnoxiously friendly peacocks was wandering around the grounds.  From the ramparts we had a fabulous view of Lisbon's rolling hills full of elegant off-white buildings with coppery-orange roofs, the large bridge across the bay glittering in the background.

me, Lindsay, Marissa

San Fran? nope, Lisbon

Friday night we had dinner at the hostel, cooked by "Mamma" who ran the establishment with her sons. Delicious zucchini soup, salad, a large vat of Portuguese style rice with sausage, sangria, and fruit cobbler, followed by a guided pub crawl full of rowdy hostelers.  

Saturday we hit up the free guided walking tour of the city, which ended in a large flea market full of the most ridiculous assortment of random crap, from old keys to Portuguese comic books to underwear.  Don't worry, Dad, my inner packrat stayed hidden and nothing was purchased.  Later, we hopped on the tram to the neighborhood of Belém.  We might or might not have gone here entirely for the extremely famous pastry store.  Lots of pastéis de nata were purchased.  All were eaten. Oh, there was also a famous tower.  But the pastries overshadowed it.  Not literally, since towers are known to be rather large. 

at the Torre de Belém

After another fabulous dinner of bacalao, which is a necessary part of traveling to Portugal, half our group opted for the ridiculously comfortable beds instead of going out again.  Definitely don't regret that choice.  "I want our hostel beds back, I slept so well there" said no one ever about a hostel, except Marie when we got back to Sevilla. I'm telling you, Home Lisbon Hostel is the place to go.

Sunday morning was spent wandering around before our 6 hour bus ride. Which was 8 hours again.  Marie and I were reduced to making boredom induced alphabetical lists of all the countries in every continent.   We forgot to write Portugal.

However, this gorgeous country is anything but forgettable, and I thoroughly enjoyed my two trips here this fall.  It was so refreshing to visit a beautiful European city that wasn't overrun by tourists.  Visit Lisbon if you can! 

14 chicas in Lisboa