PORTUGAL! Day 1

Like I mentioned in the last post, Courtney and I woke up around 3:15 to take a taxi to the airport. We had planned on taking the bus, but it was a little sketchy to have to walk all around town at night, especially because Courtney lives in the more ghetto part of town. Well, our taxi came promptly at 4 AM, and we were on our way! Our cab driver was super nice. He knew a little bit of English, so he was trying to talk to us in English. It was so cute! He said he would listen to a radio program that teaches English to Spanish speakers as he drove around. We, of course, got to practice our Spanish as well. It's good to take any chance we can to speak to the natives. It scares me, but it's good for me as well!

They're always very kind and willing to help us out, which is awesome! Well, we didn't have any problems getting to the airport, but when we were standing in line to get through security, I looked at my ticket and realized that it said my flight was for the next morning.... My stomach dropped to the floor right at that moment! I have absolutely no idea how that one got mixed up! Actually, I have a bit of an idea. In Spain, they do their calendars differently. Monday is the first day of the week, instead of Saturday. I probably looked at the date wrong and clicked the wrong button. It scared me so bad! Luckily, though, we made it through security without any problems, and we had plenty of time before we had to leave. No one was there at the airport! Getting there 2 hours before was definitely a bit early, especially since it was 4 in the morning. Oh well. Well, finally the time came to board, and lo and behold, I couldn't get on the plane because it was the wrong ticket... I told the attendant in my poor Spanish that I had bought the ticket for today and I don't know what went wrong, and she told me to wait on by the side so she could help me after she got all the other passengers on board. Well, we both sat and waited, biting our nails the whole time, until everyone else was on, then got her attention and... SHE LET US ON THE FLIGHT!!!! I was praying so hard! Whew. We were both giddy as we sat in our seats! Not only because we had just witnessed a miracle, but also because it was 6 in the morning and we'd only gotten 3 hours of sleep, and also because we were on our way to Portugal! Whoo hoo! I was loving life, for sure.

The flight from Madrid to Lisbon is very short. I barely dozed off for a brief nap when we landed safely at the airport. We got off, ran to the bathroom like everyone does after a flight, got some money out of the ATM, then jumped on a bus to go to the hostel. Success! We didn't get lost once. Right in time for breakfast as well! Perfect timing. :) We dropped off our stuff, ate some breakfast, then left for Sintra! The best way to travel in Europe is by bus or train, so we took a train! The train is always fun! I'm just glad I didn't crash, because I was pretty tired. No sleeping for me, though! You're not in Portugal every day, after all. When we got off the train, we found directions to what we wanted to do, then started walking up the hill to the main part of town. The city of Sintra is beautiful!!! I felt like we were in a tropical paradise. There were palm trees everywhere, beautiful flowers, moss and ferns growing on everything you looked, and everything you could want in a paradise! It was so great. The weather was a bit overcast, but it was definitely warmer than it had been in Spain. Nice change! We took quite a while to get up to the main city (there were just far too many picture opportunities!), but finally we got up there.

We walked around the city for a bit and took more pictures, then jumped on a bus and went up to the castle on the top of the hill. These bus drives in Sintra were absolutely nuts! First of all, the roads are teeny tiny, so the bus hardly fits on the street in the first place. Second, they drive like maniacs! I felt my stomach go up to my throat as we sped up and down the hill! Ha! I'm really glad we didn't die. It was quite the experience. Finally, we reached the top, but then we found out that it cost 17 Euro to tour both the castle and the palace. We weren't planning on that one, and we'd just spent 5 euro on the bus ride up. I wanted to spend my money on souvenirs instead of seeing another palace and another castle (since we'd just seen a ton in Burgos and Leon), so I opted out. Instead, the rest of us who didn't buy the tour pass walked around the castle on a path with a view and enjoyed the relaxing walk. I loved not having a set schedule! I've absolutely loved Spain, but I was totally worn out from going going going all the time. Relax time is super important, especially when you're on vacation!

After walking around the grounds of the castle and the palace, we took the bus back down the hill and hit the shops! Apparently, Portugal is known for their cork and their chickens. I never did learn the significance, but there were references to those two things everywhere, especially in their souvenirs! It was kind of fun. I loved shopping here! I bought a few things for some family and friends, and also enjoyed some bakery specialties with my friends!

So, as we've discovered, we're really bad with directions. No matter how many times we check a map and how many people we ask, we still seem to take at least an hour to get wherever we're trying to get! :) I guess that's good for building memories though! After everyone got back together from shopping and castle touring, we tried to find this restaurant that was recommended for a great Portuguese meal. Let's just say it took quite awhile to find. Lots of walking, and some complaints from some very hungry people! Ha! I actually wasn't that hungry, so I didn't mind too much. I've learned to just laugh at things like this instead of getting mad. Finally, we found the place and set down with our group of 11. None of us, except for our friend Priscilla whose family is from Brazil, spoke Portuguese, so that presented a bit of a challenge when trying to order. Basically, we went through the menu, she explained what everything was while asking the waitress, and everyone ordered through her! It was pretty comical, actually! I had just blown all the money I brought to Sintra on souvenirs, and I wasn't that hungry, so I decided not to order anything. Besides, ordering food in Europe is expensive! It was nice, though, to sit down and enjoy each other's company and revel in the fact that we were in Portugal!

After lunch, we made our way back to the train station and headed home. We wanted to have enough time to still hit up one more site in Portugal before the day was over. It's really hard to do things in Europe, because all the places we've visited so far close extremely early, at least compared to the U.S. During the day, nearly all shops, minus some grocery stores and bars, close down for siesta from around 1-4, then they close for the night around 8:30 or 9. This is not good for tourists! We have to plan our plans around this, which can get tricky since we have a limited amount of time anyways. Anyways, we got back to Lisbon, stopped at the hostel for a few minutes to freshen up and drop off our souvenirs, then headed out again to find the bus stop and go to Belem. On our way, we passed the Plaza Mayor.

Like I mentioned before in an earlier post, most big cities that we've visited have a Plaza Mayor. This one overlooked the ocean and was very big, lined with shops, bars, and other restaurants, and complete with a giant statue in the middle. So pretty! I thoroughly enjoyed everything that Portugal had to offer! Next, we hopped on another train and rode about 15 minutes or so to a place called Belem. We wanted to see a tower on the beach, and we got there in perfect time! The sun was just setting, and it was absolutely beautiful. Plus, we got to dip our feet in the ocean for the first time! So much fun.

We probably spent about 2 hours or so here, then we caught the trolley back to the hostel in the heart of Lisbon. This trolley was crazy!!! It was so old and rickety, and super tiny too. More and more people started to pile on, and we were squeezed in there like sardines! They had signs hanging at the top of the car saying "Beware of pick-pocketers!" That was reassuring. :) I put my bag in front of me, though, just for safe measure! You can never be too careful. Oh! One more cool thing I forgot to mention about Belem. From the tower, we had a view of the rest of the city. There was a bridge that was a copy of the San Francisco bridge, a tall statue that looked like the famous one in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and a beautiful nearly-full moon. It was a perfect sight!

Ok, back to what I was saying earlier. When we got back to Lisbon, we just HAD to stop at this bakery shop right down the street from our hostel (mostly because it was the only one still open!) and get some treats. The best thing that Portugal has to offer in form of desserts, at least in my opinion, is a Crema de Nata.

These things may not look super great, and I first I thought they would be gross, but believe me, they are not. Yummy! Every time I think about them, I get an intense craving! They look like they were in the oven for too long because the tops are all black like they've been burnt, but they're supposed to look like that apparently. It doesn't taste burnt, either. It's more like it's been caramelized and made into the perfect little bite! Yum yum yum! This is definitely one of my highest suggestions for anyone who visits Portugal. TRY ONE OF THESE! :) After our treats, we headed back to the hostel. Thank goodness, because I was going to crash at any moment. Still running on 3 hours! I showered, got ready for bed, and Skyped my mom, but the bad thing about hostels is that you share a room with at least 4 other people and can't always be in control of what's going on in the room. Luckily, we had the room all to ourselves because we had enough people in our group to fill the beds, but they all wanted to stay up and play poker, and they couldn't go downstairs to play because everyone down there was drinking and having all kinds of "fun." I'm a very light sleeper, so I had to wait for everyone to decide to hit the sack, then I was able to get to sleep myself. Although it was a long and exhausting day, I had the time of my life. It couldn't have turned out any better!