Portugal Memories

The day after Mika, after we were done packing and unpacking and packing, we drove (well, more like took a taxi) to the airport where we waited. And waited. And…waited! Again, it’s really fucking sad that a lot of planes fly from an airport that is smaller than a shopping store at the mall. Not to mention the delays, we got off easily with only one hour this time. Remember Barcelona? Yeah, I can’t forget!

Day One – Settling in, getting to know Lisbon

As we landed around 3 am, there were no buses/trains anywhere so we had to take a taxi. Good thing we had printed where exactly on the map is our apartment, because the taxi driver didn’t speak much English. Google Maps, saving lives since 2005. Actually, you’d be surprised at how many people don’t speak English in Lisbon, not even a little bit! So if I’ll go another time, I’ll make an effort to learn a bit of Portuguese. Speaking of which, it’s nothing like Spanish, which is a beautiful-sounding language. Portuguese….not so much, even though the writing is similar.

After unpacking and napping for a few hours, we went out. First stop – Castle of São Jorge, as it was less than 20 minutes away. That is, if you don’t get lost on the streets.  The castle itself is like any other castle, may not seem much at first, but the views from the top are outstanding. That’s where I saw for the first time sights that I’ve only seen online before, and got the feeling that I was there my entire life. Dating from the sixth century BC, the castle was used in the Middle Ages, in the context of the Christian Reconquista, to win the city of Lisbon from the Moors (I’ll tell you later about their castle as well). According to the legend, the Martim Moniz knight noticed that one of the doors to the castle was open, and he prevented the Moors from closing the door again by throwing his own body into the breach. He sacrificed his life but, in doing so, allowed Christian soldiers to enter. Nowadays it’s a nice miradouro (viewpoint) where you can admire the whole city, laugh at the many peacocks and taste traditional Portuguese pastries.

When you’re done with the castle, you can either walk (10 minutes tops) to the Sé Catedral (The Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Mary Major or Sé de Lisboa) or take the 28 tram. I suggest taking the yellow tram (you have to go back where you came from though), it’s one of their symbols and I really regret not having time for a  ride. The cathedral is one of the main attractions for tourists, mostly because its mixture of different architectural styles, you have Romanesque, you have Baroque and you have Gothic. Must not miss this one!

There are many sights in the area, but if you are tired (like us) or have a well developed schedule (like us), you’ll only have time for Praça do Comércio, with the Arch of Triumph, the statue of King José I and the beautiful yellow buildings. Formerly a royal residence – Ribeira Palace, it was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake and later was built a commerce square instead. Finished in the 19th century, the Arch guards the entrance of Rua Augusta, nowadays the longest shopping street in Lisbon (I’m taking about five floors Zaras and H&Ms. Plural.) We were too tired to go to all the shops and had the Carmo area planned for another day, so after admiring the Tejo river (all the way to Cais do Sodré), we walked from one end of Rua Augusta  to another – the Rossio Square, and then took the metro one station, because we hadn’t realized yet how close our apartment actually is.

Day Two – Something for everybody

Day two was a lot busier than the first one as we had a lot of things to see and it took time to get from one to another. We started the day with the Benfica stadium. Although it was smaller than the one in Barcelona, it was cool because it was a guided tour and they let you see more things…and they had two fluffy, little, sweet eagles….until you get closer to them, that is Afterwards, we Had To Stop to their biggest mall, Centro Commercial Colombo. It was right in front of the stadium anyway.

I knew the Zoo was close to the metro station, but the map wasn’t to explicit and people weren’t speaking English so we got lost a bit, we had to walk straight from the station. The Lisbon zoo isn’t any different than the ones in other European cities…when it comes to animals, same old lions, giraffes, or parrots that you find anywhere. What makes it unique though is a cable car ride that I definitely recommend, you see all the animals. Also, the dolphin show (preceded by a sea lion show) was better than any I’ve seen.

Afterwards, I really wanted to see Campo Pequeno, formerly a bullring, now a concert arena, it is a very interesting building that I’ve seen from the plane too, the only thing I saw and recognized that night. From there we took a bus (can’t remember to tell you which, I think they were all good) to go see the Botanical Garden. The bus ride was really great, we got to see Marques de Pombal and the Avenida Blvd, that I wish we explored more. The Botanical Garden though turned out disappointing. It was hard to find, up on a hill and I can honestly say that ours is better, this one just looked colorless and empty.

Day Three – Friends reunited, rejoice

On the third day of Christmas, I took the Aerobus to….you guessed, the airport, to wait for my bestest friend coming from London. As I got there almost an hour earlier (didn’t actually realized it was so close and that there wouldn’t be traffic), I bought some magazines and waited. This is important because: 1. Time Out Lisbon (English one) turned out to be a very helpful read and 2. I love Esquire magazine now

After unpacking and having lunch, we went out, back to Rua Augusta, this time to take the Santa Justa Lift (Elevador de Santa Justa) that connects Baixa to the Carmo area and ruins. The Carmo Convent, the remains of a beautiful Gothic church destroyed by the earthquake I mentioned before, is now used as archeological museum, you get to see a few mummies, it’s pretty nice. And the view from the top is worth it

Once we stopped once more in Praça do Comércio for pictures, we took a ferry to Almada, across the Tejo river, to see Cristo Rei, a huge statue, inspired by Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Or at least that was our intention, as we got terribly lost but manage to ask some locals for directions and take a bus. It’s actually pretty far from the port, you can’t walk there, like we initially thought. You buy tickets from the bus driver and get off at the top of the hill. The view of the whole city and the 25 de Abril Bridge is mind blowing. You may notice that the 25 de Abril Bridge looks a lot like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (I even heard a local calling it Fake Golden Gate Bridge as  he was being a guide for his mail order husband). That is because it was built by the same company that built the one in the USA. Either way, it’s really cool. Just a tip: if you’re driving a car and crossing it, stay away from the left lane when you’re going from Almada to Lisbon. You’ll thank me

On our way back, we had dinner to a traditional restaurant, nothing fancy, looked like a family business, but the food…my god, the food! Had the most delicious clams ever! And shrimps and lobster! Worth every cent, I tell you!

Day Four – Parque das Nações

The 4th day found us in Parque das Nações (Park of the Nations) after the longest metro ride ever! I assure you, you’ve never seen a station like the Oriente one! What I like the most was that the Vasco da Gama shopping mall (across the street) was similar to the station. We headed for the Oceanarium first, but we stopped  to take pictures on the road with flags from all over the world (it was Park of the Nations after all). The whole Parque das Nações area was used for the Expo ’98 World Expositions (still is referred as Expo by locals) and the Oceanarium building was the exhibition grounds  for the Expo. I loved the penguins, the coral reefs and all the different species of fish, we spent a few good hours there.

We got hungry when we left the Oceanarium (or the shop, to be more precise) so after the cable car that took us to the Vasco da Gama Tower we stopped to have lunch at the worst place ever. I mean, the food wasn’t bad, but the waiters were so air headed, it felt like we were home! I’m talking about having tapas after the main course, because they forgot to bring it, put it on the bill, said they don’t have it anymore and would get us another bill, then remembered they do have it.

Bellies full, we finally went to the Vasco da Gama mall where we….bought things, duh

In the evening, me and Irry went exploring Baixa, looking for a funicular railway, got lost, found by accident the São Roque church (which is beautiful inside, the outside isn’t anything special, but on the inside there are tons of gold!) and found by accident another funicular, Elevador da Gloria, that left us in Praça dos Restauradores (Restauradores Square), where we actually wanted to get to, as our final destination was Hard Rock Cafe. I was a HRC-virgin and loved every second of it! Seriously, you ought to go to one in your life. That is, if you somehow like rock music

Day Five – Removing one item from the bucket list

Friday was booked for….the ocean! We went to the airport (once again) to take the car we’ve rented and after we were done signing papers, we were one our way to Cascais. A friend who lives in Portugal told me that Cascais is supposed to be full of rich, snobbish people and I sort of got that impression when I was there, but it is a beautiful place nonetheless.

We drove more than 30 km (got there quickly, thanks to their highway) to Boca do Inferno or Hell’s Mouth in English (heh, Hellmouth, the Buffy fanboy in me was trying really hard not to say anything) where we saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time and let me tell you, we couldn’t have picked a better place to lose our ocean virginity, the scenery was breathtaking!

After we were done taking a million pics of every possible corner, we wandered around Cascais a bit, before heading for the Marina where we each decided what kind of yacht we want. We also stopped there to eat and I found out what my favorite dish is: a mix of clams, pork and shrimps, with a special sauce. Can anyone take me back? No? Okay!

Day Six – Belém area

Since we had tickets to Optimus Alive and still wanted to make the most of the time I had in Portugal, Saturday was carefully planned and I think it all went out better than expected. One of the things you shouldn’t miss for anything in the world if you’re going to Lisbon is Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery), there’s a reason it’s an UNESCO World Heritage Sight. We’ve only seen the church, it also houses the Maritime Museum and the National Archeology Museum, but the exterior will blow(-o-o-o-ow) your mind. Much like the Cathedral, it’s a mix of different architectural styles, Manueline, Plateresque and Renaissance. The interior courtyard and the arches will make you feel like you’re at Hogwarts.

Afterwards we walked to Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries), where we admired the…..monument, what else there was? Conceived by an architect for a certain Portuguese World Fair, it has statues of many navigators on its two sides.

Torre de Belém (Belém Tower or Tower of St Vincent) was our final stop before the festival. Just like Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, it is also an UNESCO World Heritage Sight, built as part of a defense system at the mouth of the Tejo river. If you’re like me and never heard of the Portuguese Manueline architectural style, the Belém Tower is the perfect example for this style that I came to like a lot on this trip. Getting on top was very tricky, because the stairs were very narrow and you had to wait and do an impression of a poster glued on a wall if there was someone going down. But the real challenge was meeting an overweight person on those stairs

I’ve talked about the festival in a different blog, do check it out if you’re interested.

Day Seven – (Post-concert) Depression

Day seven was sad. Not only because we had post-concert depression, as it happens after all the cool concerts, but because Irry was going back to London at noon. Hello another 2 months of not seeing each other.  So after packing her panties we went to see the Pantheon (The Church of Santa Engrácia) after finding out we could visit it on a Sunday. I gotta say, I liked it more than the one in Paris. Maybe because it wasn’t raining this time and my clothes were dry. Or cause it was empty. Or free that day. Either way, I’m glad I went.

Since we had time to kill and we knew the airport way too well, we went to Centre Colombo for some last minute shopping.

*insert goodbyes here*

Going back to the car we found a notice on the window, for illegal parking. Even though a flight attendant said it’s okay to park there and the sign said it’s a parking for taxis and tourists. We would’ve ignored it if it hadn’t been for a blocked tire. Luckily, there was a police car nearby and we went to talk to them.

Cop: Yes, the parking is for taxi and tourists!
Me: Duh, we’re tourists! *shows ID*
Cop: No no no
Me: The car is rented!
Cop: No, you do not have a tourist car…..tourist cars are only Mercedes, BMW and Audi! (we had a Volkswagen)
Me: *poker face*

It’s (not) funny cause it’s true! On the notice it said the fine is between 300 and 1000 euros, but thankfully, we only paid little over 100 euros. The rest of the time was spent making fun of the two cops, I think I’ve seen monkeys typing faster on a computer. And you know you’ve seen it all when you see a cop with a small printer on his lap!

Later that day we crossed both bridges (Vasco da Gama Bridge – the longest in Europe and the one I’ve mentioned before) and stopped at the beach….to look around as none of us had their bathing suits Before heading home, we had……is there a word for lunch+dinner combined? Linner? Have I talked too much about food? Well it’s only because the food in the Iberian Peninsula is the best I’ve ever had!

Day Eight – Sintra

Our morning in Sintra started with the Castle of the Moors and cold feet. Literally, I had shorts, cause we were about to go to the beach later that day and it was very chilly.But the castle, in the middle of the nature, must not be missed (I know I said this a lot, but it’s the truth!), I really enjoyed getting to the top to see the whole city. Even though my feet did not enjoy so many stairs!

Nearby is the Pena National Palace (and if you’re going to both, do buy a combined ticket, saves you some money), which is really interesting from an architectural point of view, it combines Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Islamic and Neo-Renaissance. And it’s very colourful on the outside, I spent a lot of time taking picture of every wall, window or arcade. On the inside it was like any other palace, and I couldn’t help but notice how small their rooms were! Fun fact: it is considered one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal, along with the Jerónimos Monastery, Belém Tower and the beautiful Batalha Monastery, that I haven’t had the time to see

After wandering around Sintra for a bit, we headed to a beach that we wanted to see. Only we couldn’t find it and ended up on the same beach we had gone a couple of days before.

Day Nine – Goodbyes *sniff*

We wanted to see the ocean one more time and since we had the whole day (flight was at 2 am), we went 100 km away from Lisbon, to the city of Peniche, saw the old harbor, then drove on the coast. Words are pointless, I’ll just let you enjoy the pictures!

Bottom line is, Lisbon (and Portugal) was everything I was expecting and more! The city itself has some shady areas, but the parts that I liked overshadow the other ones. The trips at the ocean were more than I’ve ever dreamed of. We found a small beach surrounded by  cliffs, it felt like we were in a movie. All in all, I don’t regret any money spent there, in fact, I’d do it all again!