Love Letter to Lisbon: Part 4: Saturday

Saturday, September 15. Today's the last day in Portugal. I'm taking you out of the city to somewhere new and about a 20 min drive from Lisbon.

I met with the tour guide and the small group at 9:30am in the hostel reception, and he took us through the train station out back and loaded us in the van.

The sun was rising and I admired the buildings getting smaller and smaller as we drove down the highway towards Sintra. Over the hills, our tour guide pointed out well known places in the distance such as the Queluz National Palace.

He gave us rundown about the history of Sintra and why it is so culturally important. Try wikipediaing it, since I definitely can't simplify the history in one post! He mentioned that Sintra is 20-25 celsius while Lisbon 30-35 degrees. The unique landscape with the high mountains on one side and the ocean on the other, so cooler air stays in Lisbon. Because of this, there are so much more unique plants / forests. 

Eventually we pulled to the side of a road and parked. We walked into the town lf Sintra by first walking through a flea market and a garden Parque du Liberade before finally seeing the town.

Lots of moorish heritage here. Including a fountain building with seating area. It is a concave structure, coupled with the tiles it carries whispers from one side to the other!

While walking through the town, we stopped at the National Palace of Sintra. Built by the lucky/fortunate King Manuel (4th in line). He was the previous's king younger cousin and through a series of incidents, he became the next king so he was considered "lucky". He recognized that and built many palaces to honor the Portuguese naval expeditions. This is known as Neogothic or Manuellian. The national palace was a retreat for kings looking to escape Lisbon for cooler air.

We stopped at a pastry shop and had some pastries and coffee. Sintra had many well known local pastries. I got the travesseiro da piriquita pastry - basically a pastry puff with almond cream. Travesseiro is ‘pillow’ in Portoguese, which is the cutest name. Yum! I inhaled the whole pastry before I remembered to take a photo of it. We spent a while here just chatting and getting to know each other.

We arrived at the Quinta da Regaleira. Our tour guide gave us quick recommendations before setting us free for two whole hours. Our group mostly stuck together to make sure no one gets left behind. There are no markers in the gardens except some poles with maps of the garden with a small red circle marking where you were and vague directional signs for specific monuments or lakes. Google maps doesn't show the routes like it does for Versailles. So it was tough, but we made it work.

After some wandering and seeing a well hidden rock structure, inside it we found our first destination: the Initiation Well.

Starts 3 meters above ground then 10 meters below. The well or inverted tower contains nine platforms which are said to represent Dante’s Divine Comedy and the nine circles of hell. It exits to the caves, marking it as a "cleanse" or renewal and you're back above ground.

The "lake" was the hardest to find. It took us multiple times walking back and forth some of the same routes. At one point I found a hidden water reservoir in a cave, and after talking to some other tourist - the Argentinian woman speaking Spanish to some of them - we realized that this hidden reservoir was the actual lake! We climbed up the stairs and saw that the trees have obscured most of the view. But it was still pretty cool.

We headed back down the hill and towards the palace. We stopped by the chapel just before it, inside had an altar and several tables and chairs like it is for a school.

We still had an hour to spare so we went to the actual palace. We walked through the gilded rooms, with amazing tiles, carved wood, and paintings. The outside is so scenic with full trees surrounding us, you can't help but hug a column and pretend you're royal.

At the end of it, we met at the exit of the park and found the tour guide with the van. He handed us our lunch and we munched on it as we headed towards our next destination: Cabo do Roca - the Westernmost Point of Continental Europe.

Here there is a monument marking the edge of continental Europe, photo taken with me posed next to it. On it is a quote on it by a Portuguese poet Luis Camoes (1524-1580) who described the area, as written on stone, “where the land ends and the sea begins”.

Our last stop, we parked at the edge of Cascais town, famous for their large beach. We walked to a sidewalk that was overlooking the edge of the land, just near the beach. There we saw Boca do Inferno (Hell's Mouth), a large cave with raging waves crashing into it, giving it its name. 

We continued driving along the coast of all beach towns towards Lisbon. Amazing sea views. See the bridge in distance as city gets closer. Driving in parts right on the sea walls. Sun burning my face and arms through the window. Blue skies and not a single cloud. Feels like everyday is summer in Portugal. Got a bit sad as we drove closer back to the hostel as reality started to set in - it was almost time to go.

It was a sad night packing and re-packing, arranging a cheap transfer ride to the airport the night morning and relaxing. I quickly typed up the first two days of Lisbon I realized. I left the hostel at 7am Sunday morning, the morning shift desk person giving me a bag of breakfast to takeaway and welcoming me to the "crew" and waited for the airport transfer, headed back to Boston.

It is crazy how quickly 17 days passed. Vacation never feels long enough but this one especially so. Lisbon has surprised me the most and I still feel like I want to see more. Much like Rome, I feel like I left another piece of my heart in Lisbon. The people were kind, I still remember the Portuguese businessman helping me through the confusing metro gates on my first day just arriving in the city from the airport. The city is beautiful and the hostel was amazing. The food is delicious and diverse. Can't forget the pastries!

I plan on coming back for sure.

I definitely recommend Lisbon and Portugal in general if you were thinking about it or if you haven't thought about it! I prefer Lisbon over Paris. So much more smaller, sunnier and scenic, and not as crazy with the tourism scene with people climbing over each other trying to get a picture of a painting. There's more to it than that. 

Obrigada, Lisboa. Until next time.

Love Letter to Lisbon, Part 3: Thursday & Friday

Thursday September 13 - originally I had planned to go to the beach but ended up going to Belém with Harrison and Jessica. We planned vaguely the night before and texted the morning after to decide time and place to meet. It was a slow morning. I still woke up pretty early due to my internal clock; woke up with a slight headache, that’s not too bad. Got dressed and had breakfast at the hostel buffet though my stomach soon after did not agree with that. Womp womp.

Around noon I walked to Cais do Sodré (which is both a suburban train station and metro station) with Harisson to meet up with Jessica there. We bought tickets and got on the train towards Belém.

Belém is also part of a tour offering through the hostel but we wanted to visit it on our own to go at our own pace. Belém is coastal town 10 mins away by train with lots of naval history and are known for their pastel de nata (cream pastry!) Our to do list was shortened due to two locations being closed or too far to walk. Still, we managed to do a lot within 6 hours.

It was of course another beautiful day in Portugal. 

After walking on the hills of Belém and finding that the Palace was too far to walk and the gardens being closed for a week, we walked back towards the shore and went to a gothic-style monastery called Jerónimos Monastery which is a world heritage site. 

We spent a while admiring the architecture and snapping quite a few photos. We walked outside and around the building to go to the archeological museum that was offered with our combo ticket. Also pro tip: they sell Belém tower tickets at the museum too so you don’t have to wait in line and worry about the time. The museum was put together in the late 1800s by their king at the time and boasted a small collection from Portuguese archeology exactions of artifacts and (stolen) treasures. It’s a small collection but interesting. 

We headed to, in our opinion, the main feature of Belém: the Tower de Belém. We were lucky to get tickets from the monastery so we didn't have to go through the line. The tower is comprised of four floors, and a tiny prison area in the lower level. It is right on the water so you can see the ocean up close and get great skyline views.

To get to the top, you had to ascend 93 narrow stairs going around cyclical to the top. Because the stairs were so narrow and step, it was timed so that people has 3 minutes to get up, then 20 seconds to get out on whatever floor they're closest to, the 3 minutes to get down - and repeat.

Now we have to get the pastry, which is half the point of going to Belém (though you can get this pastry anywhere, especially Lisbon - but not like it). We stopped at a pastry "shop" just on the water and got the pastel del nata that Belém was famous for. We enjoyed it facing the harbor. So good, even the pigeons were boldly sitting on the table across from us staring at us and the pastry, and pancaking (sitting with their feet tucked under them, like cats do)!

We were driven by the idea of having fish dinner on the water so we walked along the shore looking for a good place to stop at. We ended up at a restaurant near the boat docks and I tried cuttlefish for the first time (with ink) and we shared a bottle of green wine. We enjoyed the cool breeze an watching Portuguese men sitting on lawn chairs and chatting across from us and having a really nice view of the Ponte 25 de Abril and the Christ King statue beyond the channel.

After some time, we went back and caught the train. Harrison, Jessica and I exchanged Facebooks and said our goodbyes to Jessica who was staying at a friend's house in the area.

When we got back to the hostel I bumped into Anupa again talking with a woman named Erika. Due to chatting with them, I missed saying goodbye to Harrison who was leaving the next day super early so I later sent him a message since I felt bad for him. Anupa introduced me to Erika. Turns out Erika lives in Cambridge, not even a mile away from me. Crazy small world! We ended up chatting for like an hour. I again lost time that I planned to blog but that's okay - I will take good conversation anytime. 

Erika was also planning to go to the beach, so I invited her to join Jessica and I. We exchanged phone numbers so we can meet up the next day. I was definitely looking forwards to relaxing and sunbathing. And touching the Atlantic Ocean for the first time on the opposite side!

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Friday - September 14: Beach Day.

I had previously chosen the beach spot and Jessica and Erika both approved. It is a smaller beach further down the Caiscas coastal beach area west of Lisbon. Basically this one train stops at all the beaches making it easy to access. 

We went to Estoril, and chose Praia do Tamariz. We met up at Cais do Sodré at 10am and headed off. It was a quick 20 minute ride. 

As soon as we got off the train, we were at the beach. At 10:30, there wasn't an unbearable amount of people and we found a good spot. 

I napped on and off and tested the waters at one point with my feet. It was cold at 65*F - which reminded me this was the Atlantic Ocean, not the Mediterranean I've gotten used to. After grabbing paella for lunch, Jessica and I went off to get some ice cream and to take some nice photos and met back up with Erika on the beach. 

I took the plunge, literally, and swam in the water fo a good chilly 10 minutes before running back to my towel and fall back asleep. It was a good relaxing day! Jessica and I left at 5pm while Erika stayed behind to sunbathe longer. 

Jessica and I exchanged goodbyes at Cais do Sodré and I headed back go my hostel for a shower and a quick meal from the bar. I needed to decompress from being at the beach!

At the bar area while eating, I saw Anupa again and we ended up chatting for over an hour - talking about our trips, relationships and life in general and exchanged Facebook info. She had gotten back from her Sintra tour from the hostel and highly recommended it to me. I was on the fence since it was a $50 tour, but ultimately I wanted to see more of Portugal so I signed up for it.

My last day will be going to the town of Sintra, about a 20 minute drive from Lisbon. I'd be going via a van and getting a more personal visit in another part of Portugal. 

Love Letter to Lisbon, Part 2: Wednesday

Wednesday September 12. I walked around the old town of Alfama and got lost several times over. Physical maps and Google maps doesn’t really help when streets are going up and down a steep hilly area with small narrow streets. First I wanted to check out the Castelo de São Jorge at the top of the Alfama area. Took a bit to actually get there due to the windy roads, but eventually I got there. Since it was still early in the morning, the line for getting a ticket wasn’t that long.

I headed back down the hills and closer to the shore to find the National Pantheon. I went inside a church on the way called São Vincent de Fora. At this point, I felt like I was  checking off monuments via google maps after walking around a lot.

It was later afternoon as I wrapped up Alfama and headed back to my hostel to rest my feet. I got back and deduced to go to the BBQ rooftop party at my hostel’s sister hostel by the shore. I got my ticket and was told to meet in reception if I wanted to have someone walk me over (which is standard,  it is an option to walk over by yourself if yo wanted to). I opted to hang out in my hostel room and relaxed until it was time to go at 7:30pm. 

In the reception area, I again bumped into Paulo and Harrison who were also going, along with a woman from India named Anupa. Taken by a hostel volunteer from Mexico, we all walked from our hostel to the sister hostel by the water for the sunset BBQ. We arrived just as the sun was setting and grabbed some box wine and bbq food. We sat down at the picnic table under a half-tent covered with colorful streamers and lights, surrounded by beanbags — very much a bohemian vibe going on on that roof. We met Jessica from Brazil who Harrison may have known through a different tour though I might be wrong - she wasn’t staying at the hostel but had a friend with connections. So it was me, Anupa, Jessica, Harrison and Paulo all hanging out and eating and drinking boxed wine. Harrison and Jessica invited me to go with them to Belém the next day on Thursday (and I would). All of them were going to the pub crawl later and I liked them all very much so after some talking.... I ended up signing up for the pub crawl later that night! 

It’s my first. I never really imagined I would enjoy a pub crawl since it was always gonna be crowded. And it was,  but the company was good and drinks were great. Our Tuesday night fado tour guide ended up tagging along so he could get experience being a “guide” for the pub crawl - which is how the volunteers get experience in different areas. First we had a bit of a drinking competition before we set off - we had to drink our beer in succession and quickly flip the plastic cup from the lid so it landed upside down. We tied and then the other group won. I learned I am terrible at flipping cups! Then we set off.

All in all, we hopped about four bars and some had dancing areas so we danced in between too. Eventually we ended up at an outdoor exclusive club and danced the night away to flashing lights and deep electronic/rock music. Harrison, Jessica and Anupa and I pretty much had our own dance circle so we stayed together. At one point, our tour guide made sure we were okay before he had to go since the “crawl” has ended. We stayed probably for another hour after that point. Before I knew it, I was crawling into bed close to 4am. 

What. A. Night.

I had so much fun.

Not a lot of photos besides half-lit blurry photos :)

Here’s one good one. The others are either me sweating my butt off with the other folks or blurry buildings in the night. Well, I kept a beer bottle for memory’s sake. 

Thursday, I would regret eating my breakfast due to mild hangover and set off to Belém by train with Harrison and Jessica. Nothing like rearranging my hastily put together plans for better plans.