Lisboa: Siempre Subiendo

As my astute readers may recall, I said that I was going to Lisbon the weekend of the 9th.  Well, I did, and what follows is my experience in that beautiful city.

Elevators were popular in Lisbon

I had the idea of going to Lisbon for about a month.  I knew that we had a puente, which literally means bridge, but can also be used for long weekends.  So, I knew we had this puente from the 6th to the 9th of December.  I decided that I needed to do something and Lisbon, being 2 hours away, seemed doable.  The first thing I had to plan was the way I was getting there.  I went to this website, Blablacar, which I had used before to get back from Cáceres.  I look at the list of travellers going for the same time span as me and I notice my roommates picture.  I quickly send him a text asking if he was going and would have space in his car for me and my friend Nick.  He said yes, and there we had our ride settled.

Lisbon at Night

Lisbon Christmas Tree

The next step was to look for a hostal, hostel.  The only two criteria I had were that it needed to be cheap and it had to include breakfast.  I looked at the locations of several different hostels and settled on the Good Night Lisbon Hostel.  Step two done.

So the puente came and my roommate, my other roommate (his girlfriend), Nick and I got in the car.  Less than two hours later, we were in Lisbon.  It's a very impressive sight because as you are driving into the city you see a giant Jesus statue.  It resembles the one that they have in Brazil, but the reason that they built it was a gift to god to keep Portugal out of the World War.  Guess what, it worked and now it stands on a hill looking down on the city.  I was in awe.

My favorite Plaza

Then we get to the city.  My too roommates were staying in a hotel, so they dropped us off at our hostel and we unpacked and started adventuring.  I have found that the first day should be dedicated to getting lost.  Nick just goes with the flow, so we walked to some places on the map and got lost.  It was perfect.

We did have one goal: to try the cazuelitas of Belem.  Belem is a neighborhood of Lisbon and it actually has really nice tourist attractions; however, their biggest attraction is the pastry called cazuelita.  Nick and I tried walking all the way there, but that turned out to be fruitless, so we caught a train and arrived there super quick.  The dessert is not much to look at.  It has a flaky cup holding this tan creamy substance.  Well, I ordered one and Nick ordered two.  After we ate them, we ordered some more.  I don't know how to describe it but delicious.  I don't have a sweet tooth, and I loved it.

After we left the "Factory of Pastries" we went for a walk and found this beautiful monastery just by chance.  We even crashed the misa, or mass that was going on inside.  The ceiling was the best ceiling I've seen in a church.  It was so intricate as if snakes were weaved into the ceiling.  I don't have a picture, because we weren't allowed to take any, but believe me when I say it was beautiful.

Nick and I also decided that we wouldn't go out that night because we were exhausted.  That plan changed quickly when we met some people in the hostel that tenían ganas de salir, wanted to go out.  We went to Barrio Alto, another neighborhood up a hill in the center of the city.  Yes, Lisbon is a very hilly city.  It feels like everything is uphill, and that you are always climbing not descending.  They also put all of the cool things on top.  This neighborhood is known for great bars and for people gathering in the streets and drinking.  It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we ended up going out.

Enter the next day.  Nick and I decided to do a walking tour at 10:30.  Well, we didn't wake up for that so we went to the 1:00 tour instead.  It was really interesting and the tour guide knew a lot about the city.  The most important thing that I learned was that there was an earthquake in 1755 that rocked Lisbon to the ground.  There is a church that lost its roof in the earthquake and still remains roofless. A lot of the beautiful buildings that are currently standing were built after the earthquake including this beautiful plaza called Plaza de los Comercios.

First Dinner We Bought (Cod)

After the tour, we met up with Mariel, the girl who studied abroad with me.  She arrived a day after we did and we decided to walk around the city with her.  On our walk, we actually ran into my roommates who were drinking beer in a plaza.  We talked there for a while and decided to go to the Castle of Saint George the following day.  This is a giant castle that sits on yet another hill overlooking the city.

We then returned to our hostel and decided to take a nap and then walk around the city at night.  Well, we woke up and all of the people in the hostel were talking about a bar crawl.  I had never done one so the idea intrigued me and we went out for the second night in a row when we had planned not to.  The bar crawl was awesome and I'm so glad I went on it. We met a lot of American studying abroad in Spain who were in Lisbon on vacation as well.  It was a good time.

Flag on top of the castle

Our third day in Lisbon was dedicated to seeing the castle.  I really liked the castle because it let you see a lot of the city from a different angle.  We actually took two elevators and walked uphill to get to the castle.  It's that far up.  We met my roommates and we took pictures of the views and the different rooms of the castle.  Honestly, it wasn't that much to see except for the views.  There is another castle that I will describe that I loved and the Castle of Saint George does not compare to it.

Male peacock in the castle

In our hostel, they cooked us dinner for 2 €, a price that might look cheap because it is cheap!  We even helped make it.  It was bacalao: a cod, potato, and egg dish.  Did I just say cod?! But I hate seafood.  That's true, voice inside Jacob's head.  So what happened? Those of you who have dined with me know that I dislike fish.  I would never go out of my way to eat cod or swordfish or anything fishy.  Well, the best place to try seafood for those people that are anti-pescatarian is Lisbon.  Every meal that I paid for had cod in it and I loved it.  We even went to a restaurant famous for its seafood and I ate not only cod, but shrimp and octopus.  I've matured a lot and now my family will have to pay for it when I start ordering lobster when we go out. Just kidding, I'm taking baby steps with shrimp.  Not too eager to try lobster yet.

This night we didn't go out.  I physically couldn't! I was so exhausted.  Instead, I slept for 10 hours and woke up excited for our last day in Portugal in a town called Sintra.

We all decided that we would go to Sintra the last day.  My roommate drove us with all our luggage to Sintra, a small town 20 minutes outside of Lisbon.  It's a beautiful town, but what really interested us was the Palacio de Da Pena, or this palace that sits atop of a tall hill.  We tried driving up it, but we ended up turning around because there wasn't enough parking.  The second time, we went up about halfway before we parked and walked up the rest.

My other roommate, who didn't venture with us, recommended this castle because it is something out

of a Disney movie.  She was right because there were so many colors and interesting designs.  Overall, Portugal maintains their monuments extremely well and this was no exception.  I don't want to describe it in detail because I think the pictures speak for themselves.  I do want to say that it was built in the 1800's on top of a monastery because this wealthy family just wanted to do it so they could have a summer palace.  Now, it's owned by the country of Portugal and is one of the most visited palaces there.


So look at the pictures and tell me that this isn't one of the most beautiful places you've ever seen.  Well, after the palace we drove home and that concludes my time in Portugal.  Did I have a great time? Yes.  Would I go back? Yes.  Do I have plans to go back? No, but I'm telling everyone who hasn't been that I would totally go back.  If you, reader, haven't been to Portugal, I know a guy who would accompany you ;)

Finally, I want to say that my thoughts are with my family right now.  You don't know how much I wish I was with you guys this weekend.  I'm glad I got to skype and you all got to see my Sunday European hairstyle.

La Temporada de Navidad Está Aquí

Another month has ended and I have to write this blog post before this weekend because I'm going to Lisbon.  Then I have to write that blog post before my family comes to visit me on the 21st.  December is turning out to be a busy month!

That's an empty stadium you're seeing

First I would like to talk about the soccer game I went to.  Or in English the football match.  I'm learning a lot of English English here.  Anyways, the two teams that were playing were Badajoz and Coria.  The game was interesting to say the least.  First, let me say that they are extremely level teams.  That being said, I'm in Spain, so I am biased and expect everyone to play like Messi.  Well, these teams played like our high schoolers play, but they are getting paid.  I mean to say that they kicked the ball to the middle of nowhere, they were so close together I could "put a blanket over them", and they missed shots that were right in front of an open net.  Crazy.

However, just like a high school team, the fans had a lot of hometown pride.  They brought drums and banners and made signs that said: "One team. One city."  One man, who I'm going to guess was pretty drunk, was going around yelling screaming Es nuestra ciudad! It's our city!  The aficionados, the fans, made the experience.  They all came together on a Sunday afternoon and yelled obscenities at the árbitros, referees.  During the half, they let all of the kids in the stadium run on the field and kick soccer balls around.  It was very cool to see the people of city come together in the same way Needhamites watch Wellesley lose in the Thanksgiving Day Parade (even though I heard this year that they actually won :( ).

Me winning in Risk

My best Spanish Tortilla (so far)

I have also been learning Spanish through the culture and through games.  Some of my Spanish friends are really into games and they taught me how to play Risk.  I learned words like: ¡Toma! ¡Chupate dos! ¡Fuera! and they got to learn how competitive I actually am, which turns out to be really competitive.

Town Hall

Cortes Inglés

Otherwise, I haven't been up to anything significantly different, so for the rest of the blog I want to show you some pictures that are making me really nostalgic.  Christmas in Spain is huge.  Well, not Christmas day itself, but the holiday season from Noche Buena, Christmas Eve, until Epifanía, Epiphany (the day of the three wise men).  The latter is actually when kids open all of their gifts.  They have to wait all the way until January 6th.

Plaza de Conquistadores

Plaza de España

Ever since the start of December, Badajoz has been abuzz with lights and, get this, carnival rides.  The night life here is so crazy that even at 10 PM on a school night, kids will be playing in the different plazas, or town squares.  It's a great way to bring family and friends together as well as a great way to promote shopping.  So sprinkled through this blog post are some of decorations! Enjoy!