Lisbon
Day 1- Happy Easter everyone! I hope you have (had) a
wonderful time celebrating and were together with friends and family. My Easter
started off rather early this morning. Europe’s daylight savings happened
today, well last night, and so Abbie and I knew we had to be careful in setting
our alarms to make sure we got up in time to catch our flight from Madrid to
Portugal. We had about a 15 minute walk to a bus that we were told that’d take
40 minutes to get to the airport (really it only took half of that), so that
meant alarms would go off at 5.45, so we could be leaving by 6.00 a.m. But also
because of the time change that actually meant our alarms would be going off at
4.45. The alarms were set and we attempted to get a few hours of sleep, but
soon enough my alarm was going off, so up I got, as quietly as possible, and
got ready. About 5 minutes later I noticed Abbie’s alarm hadn’t gone off yet
and she wasn’t moving. I got worried that we were going to be late, so I was
about to wake her up when I checked my watch. My watch said it was only 3.50.
My phone was smarter than me and changed itself ahead an hour, so I was up and
ready a whole extra hour early. Slightingly I crawled back into bed and lay
awake waiting for Abbie’s alarm to go off, knowing I’d be kicking myself later
for loosing that sleep.
Once we were both up and ready, we walked over to the bus
stop. I know Spaniards are known for being night owls, but it was crazy the
amount of people who were still out at 6 in the morning! We made our way,
hopped on the bus, made it through security and after an hour or so, jumped on
the plane to Lisbon! Once we landed we grabbed another bus and made our way to
our hostel. We checked in and dropped our things off and went to find something
to eat.
The colors in this city are incredible! Every building,
every house, is beautiful! I feel like I am living in an Easter basket right
now. Unfortunately the colors are slightly dampened because it is currently
pouring buckets of rain outside. We made our way to a little café and grabbed
some lunch. Afterwards, we wandered through the city a little bit, but were
soon driven back to our hostel from the down pour of rain and being soaked to
the bone.
We are resting in our hostel now for a little while. I was
able to skype a little with my Momma and then my brother Kevin and his
girlfriend Kari. I got caught up with my pictures and even posted some of my
earlier writings in my blog, while Abbie took a nap. Soon I’ll wake her up and we’ll
head out to find some food!
Well, our original plan was to hit up a grocery store and
make ourselves a meal, but, being Easter, it was closed. In fact, most things
were closed, so we ended at a Hard Rock Café. It was kinda pricey, but we
thought we deserved a nice meal on Easter. Our waitress let us know that at
night there was a free concert starting at 11. So as Abbie and I finished up
eating, we decided to head back to the hostel, shower and change and then come
back to see the free concert.
I hopped in the shower first and as I finished getting
ready, Abbie was borrowing my computer to skype with her family. I lay down and
decided to take a quick nap while she was getting ready. Next thing I know, I
woke up at 11.05 to Abbie coming in from the shower in her pajamas. She told me
that skyping and her shower took longer than she thought and it was raining, so
she thought she’d let me sleep and we could skip the concert. So after a quick
change into my pj’s I was in bed and sleep away our long day of travels.
Day 2- This morning we awoke to sunshine, even though it was
forecasted to rain all day. Having the Norwegian saying ‘There is no such thing
as bad weather, only bad clothing’ drilled into my head and not wanted to be
caught off guard, I still packed along my umbrella.
Today we hopped on one of the famous yellow Lisbon trams and
headed to a part of the city about a half an hour from our hostel. Here we
spent the afternoon wandering around the Geronimo’s Monastery and the Belem
Tower- two World Heritage Sites. Unfortunately, both were closed on Mondays, so
we weren’t able to go inside. I’ve heard a lot of really good things about the
monastery, so if you ever get a chance to go to Lisbon, don’t go to the
monastery on Monday so you’ll be able to go inside. We spent the afternoon
wandering through the streets and down by the harbor and looking at a statue they have of famous Portuguese explorers (including Vasco da Gama) called Padras dos Descobrimentos. I was lucky to bring my
umbrella because it did start to sprinkle a couple of time.
Eventually we made our way back to the tram to catch a ride
back to our hostel. The trams are always very full of people, so sometimes you
get to stand pretty close to your neighbor. When we first hopped on the tram
back, we were packed like sardines. Then gradually after a few stops the crowd
thinned out; however there was an older man standing next to Abbie and I who
was not backing off of our personal space. At first he was standing basically
on top of Abbie, practically forcing into the lap of the person sitting next to
her. I kept my eyes on him and if he got too close, I was going to pull Abbie
back by me or go up and stand between them. Eventually the girl sitting got
off, so Abbie hopped in her seat. I went up and stood next to her.
Unfortunately the man came and stood right next to me. I kept moving closer and
closer to Abbie, widening the space between me and the man, but he just kept
moving closer. At first I thought he was just a creepy old man, that was until
I felt him try to slip his hand into my back pocket and then I knew he was a
pickpocketer. When I felt him do that, all I did was turn blatantly around and
stare at him- throwing daggers with my eyes, the look I’ve picked up from all
the times I’ve seen my Momma do it. At this point in time he backed off and
even switched the area he was standing in. All I could think was did he think
that I was that stupid to keep my money in my back pocket? (Like a good little
tourist I keep my money and all of my valuables safely in front of me and in my
hands. And then I slightly wish he had taken what was in my back pocket and
then he would have been walking feeling really cool haven stolen a bunch of receipts
and a half of a map from a little girl on the tram. I checked with Abbie and
she had all of her things, so we got off lucky. Both Spain and Portugal (more
so Spain and especially Barcelona) are known for theft, burglary and
pickpocketing, so we have done pretty good with not having lost anything.
After a little shopping (shoes are super cheap in Portugal!)
we made our way back to the hostel and rested. Soon we headed out for some
supper at a restaurant recommend by our hostel. We stopped back in our hostel, planning
on changing before we headed over to a Fado bar. Fado is a traditional form of Portuguese
singing, which often sounds very mournful and is typically talking about love
and life. At the bar we were going to, Monday was amateur night and free entrance.
Unfortunately, we never ended up making it there- about 30 minutes before we
were going to head out, a giant thunder storm came rolling through- lightening,
heavy rain, thunder, the whole shebang. So once again we were stranded in our
hostel, but that just provided another great night’s sleep.
Day 3- Last day of
spring break and our wonderful adventures and the sun never stopped shining!
After a quick breakfast, we were out exploring the neighborhoods more in our
area of town. We were gradually making our way to a flea market our hostel had
told us about that runs every Sunday and Tuesday. The streets were winding and
the house beautiful and the sun was shining down- everything was perfect!- except
our map. I would say only 1/5th of the roads were marked and in the
area we were walking, I’d say maybe 1 out of every 10 were marked. This of
course makes it very difficult to find your way around. After about an hour of
wondering, and getting slightly on each other’s nerves, we found our way to the
beautiful Sao Vicente de Fora Church. We were able to walk around inside, even
use the bathroom, and enjoy the simple garden outside.
Thankfully, we wandered a little bit more and found the flea
market right behind the church. The rest of our morning was spent wandering
through the market and people watching. I even bought a couple of picture of
Lisbon, done by a local photographer.
In the early afternoon, we took a trip up to the castle and
spent a couple of hours walking around its grounds. The castle had been built
in the 11th century, so all that mainly remained were the walls of
the structure and an archeological sight, but you were able to walk around and
climb up there. There was an amazing view of the city from up top, which
provided for some great pictures.
Also, wandering around the grounds was a bunch of peacocks.
Quite a few females and then some very brightly colored males. As Abbie and I
were busy taking pictures of one of the males, we look right next to us and
another one had opened his feathers! That was the first time I had ever seen a
peacock with open features and it was quite a sight to be seen.
After the castle, we had a quick lunch and made our way to
the harbor. The rest of the afternoon and early evening were spent soaking up
the last bit of sunshine we could get.
Eventually the time, and an oncoming migraine for me, sent
us back to the hostel. There we finished the evening packing (another super
early morning flight for us), stopping and picking up fruit for breakfast at
the grocery store and a quick dinner. Eventually we found our beds for a short
period of time.
Day 4- Our morning started entirely too early. A taxi picked
us up at 4.45 (it was even too early for any public transportation) and our
first flight departed at 7.00. We had a 3 hour layover in Madrid and now a 4
hour wait for the train in the Rygge airport. Soon, I’ll find my bed back in Bø
at 12.30 tonight. It’s a long day of traveling.
Overall, my spring adventures these past two weeks have been
wonderful. It seems like ages ago since I was in Scotland. I’ve been asked what
city I liked the best, but that’s like trying to pick your favorite child- you
just can’t do (or maybe you can, but you shouldn’t!). I loved the pubs in
Scotland, the beaches in Barcelona, the parks in Madrid and the colors of
Lisbon. I loved the lively atmosphere in them all! But I will say I did
appreciated the warm weather in Spain more than the cold of Scotland and the
rain of Lisbon, but you can’t let weather dampen your parade!
But now I must be back to Norway, back to school and back to
the books. April brings a month full of finals and I want to get them all done
before my Momma rolls into town! 36 days until she’s here and 52 days till I
touch down in the States!
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