The one with Cork and Malaga

Friday was a weird day for us.  It felt like a travel day, and I definitely felt like I was really to be home, but our flight didn't leave until 8 PM.  So we had the whole day to fill.  First, we slept in, which was awesome!  After having to get up "early" for all the day trips, some extra sleep was SOOOOO NICE! Then, we decided to pay for one of the those hop-on, hop-off buses to see the city of Cork and kill some time.  It was neat to hear some of the history, but also difficult to picture.  Cork has a really long history dating back to at least the 1100s, but most of the city has been built on the ruins of the past or doesn't even exist anymore.  For example, much of the city was very reminiscent of Venice in its early existence, being marshland and navigated by small boats through the canals.  This is not at all what you see today because the marshlands were all drained centuries ago.  

The parts that are still around tend to be more modern, like the old Ford factory.  Henry Ford was an immigrant from Ireland, in case you didn't know, so he established a factory in Cork and, to this day, still gives the mayor of Cork the first Ford car sold in the city each year.  Speaking of cars, another interesting thing we learned is how license plates work in Ireland.  The first two numbers represent the year the car was manufactured.  Then there is one or two letters to represent the county it was first sold in.  The last numbers represent how many cars had been sold before it.  For example, 08-D-45 would be a 2008 car sold in Dublin that was the 45th car sold in Dublin that year.  And the license plate stays with that car forever.  So now if you go to Ireland, you will know how the license plates work :)

Finally we flew from Cork to Malaga, where we arrived in the middle of the night.  We headed back into Semana Santa madness, but we were still kind of surprised by the number of people out and about at 1 AM in the morning.  We got a good night sleep and rose early to hit up the beach before the final leg of our journey back to Zafra.  It was GORGEOUS!  After all the cold and snow, it was fan-freaking-tastic to feel the sun on my skin and shed my winter coat.  That scarf I am wearing in the picture, I didn't even need it.  I can't wait to go back to the beach.  We have some fun beach trips planned for May, so maybe it will even be warm enough to hang out in my bathing suit.  Here's hoping!  It was a great close to a great trip.  I saw so much and worked my way under the two month  mark.  Less than 2 months until I head back to the United States!! So much to do, so little time!!

The one where Sandy had a little lamb

Thursday was our last day trip for Ireland, around the Ring of Kerry, a beautiful stretch of land through County Kerry known for its coastal awesomeness and green lands.  While we did get to enjoy the coast, we missed out on a lot of the green.  We were too early this year.  Europe is having a weird year with LOTS of precipitation and a much colder Spring than usual. Because of this, we experienced no rain on our whole trip, but there was some snow almost everyday.  The scenery was beautiful, but not the green you normally see in the pictures, just to warn you.  Before we even started the trip, we had to make our way to Killarney, collecting people at various stops and even switching buses.  Finally around 11, we began the 112 mile loop that makes up the Ring of Kerry.  

The first town we drove through was called Killorglin, known for their summer festival known as Puck Fair Festival.  It is the oldest traditional fair in Ireland.  The festival involves going up into the mountains and getting a wild mountain goat to bring in to town, put a crown on his head, and name him the King for three days.  The origins of the festival are rather interesting.  Way back when, there was a shepherd who would come into town telling tall tales (kind of like the Boy who Cried Wolf).  One day, he was out herding his sheep when he came across some men plotting to attack the town.  He knew that no one would believe him and so he riled up the wild goats, causing them to stampede into town.  The townspeople came up to the hills to figure out what was going on, learned of the plotting men, and were able to prepare the town, ultimately defeating the invaders.  And so to this day, they celebrate and thank the wild goats for helping them.  I don't know if it is true, but it is a cute story.  

Next we made our way up and around the Kerry edge of Dingle Bay.  Today it is known for its diving, which is popular because of the many shipwrecks in the area.  Dingle Bay is a treacherous area because it has so many sunken islands, and historically, it was nearly impossible to navigate it safely.  It also holds Inch Beach, a large draw for surfers.  But as pretty as it was, my favorite part is pictured to the left.  At one of the stops, there was this old man with adorable baby lambs!  It was the best.  Marissa and I talked about it, and if I could have a baby lamb, I would name it Sam because Sam the Lamb sounds good, but so does Sam the Sheep.  We also had a great time because our driver, Michael, explained how the sheep farmers of the area know which sheep belong to which farmer and also how the farmers know the mommy sheep is expecting baby lambs.  It was a little graphic, but also downright hilarious. And now I know where baby sheep come from; according to our driver it involves "an interview" between the mommy and daddy sheep, lol.

For lunch, we stopped in the coastal town of Waterville.  It was a pretty little town, known for being popular with Charlie Chaplin.  That is me and him hanging out on the beach to the right.  He wasn't feeling particularly funny on this day, but we had a good time hanging out anyways.  We stopped in a fun little pub for some sausages and chips, as well as some good warming tea.  Just to clue you in, this is the hardest day trip to talk about, not because it wasn't worth it or beautiful, but because most of what we saw was countryside, without a real name, and the pictures didn't do it justice really.  Of all of the day trips, this one I felt would be most appreciated in the later spring or summer when the countryside would really be at its best.

By this point we were wrapping back around to head back in towards Killarney, so we drove past the three lakes of Killarney and Killarney National Park.  We got out and did a little hike over to the Torc Waterfall, pictured below.  The trees were all covered in a pea green moss that was actually really mystical and beautiful.  I can only imagine how green and breath-taking this area would be with all the flowers in bloom and trees covered in lush foliage.  Looks like I am going to have to go back.  Back in Killarney, we had a bit of a wait before our bus came to pick us up, so we roamed the streets and ended up in a Candy Shop.  We caved and bought some fudge but were disappointed by its flavor and texture, sadface.  By the time we were back on the bus to Cork, I have to admit I was looking forward to coming back to Zafra.

The one with the Cliffs of Moher

Wednesday was the day trip that I was probably most excited for, to the Cliffs of Moher.  I will get to its awesomeness, but first things first...First stop on the trip was Limerick city.  We nearly stayed here, but ultimately decided against it because it didn't have many hostel options.  It was a pretty city, but I think we made the right choice.  Cork, being bigger and closer to more things, was better suited to our needs, and staying in Cork the whole time meant one less time switching hostels, which was nice. Mostly we were in Limerick to pick up more passengers, but it also included some nice views of King John's castle, situated along the River Shannon.  The castle was constructed in the late 1100s and played a big role in the Catholic/Protestant conflicts.  Nifty!  

Then we  moved on to another of those dolmens I told you about, this time called Poulnabrone Dolmen.  In Gaelic, the name means "hole of sorrows," and it dates back to 3000 BC.  People used to believe that, by passing the bodies of the dead through the dolmen, the dead would move from this world to the next.  Maybe you don't care about all my little facts and such, but this is what made my trip awesome, that and the baby calves and lambs we saw everywhere :) 

Next we drove through an area of land known as the Burren.  It is difficult to describe its vastness, but it essentially a ginormous area of limestone that extends for something like 80 square miles.  Most of the area is used for beef cattle grazing because it isn't fit for much else, at least in terms of farming.  Legend says that Oliver Cromwell, when invading from Britain, said, "Not enough wood to hang a man, water to drown him or soil to bury him," about the area.  Coming down from the rocks, we hit the coast and stopped to check out the Baby Cliffs.  Marissa thought it was funny but I was terrified about how close to the edge they let you get.  I was envisioning one of us having to inform the other's family of a terrible accident.  Luckily, we all made it back onto the bus safely, and we headed on to lunch in a little seaside town called Doolin.  It was a cute town, and lunch was good, especially this soup I got that may have been a potato soup, but I don't know.  It was good for sure!

After lunch, we hit up the Cliffs of Moher. In case you haven't heard of them, this awesome bit of scenery is featured in almost every movie taking place in Ireland (this may not be true, but it is in Leap Year) because of its sheer awesomeness.  It is as Irish as NYC is American. And it is not all hype.  It is everything that you would imagine.  They are nearly 700 ft in height, complete with walking paths in both directions at the top.  The visitors center has some interesting tidbits about the cliffs and the surrounding wildlife.  From the top, you would never guess that there are sharks, blue whales, bottlenose dolphins, sea urchins, puffins, and all sorts of marine life swimming below the waves so far down.  It is pretty out of the way of most big cities in Ireland, but I highly recommend it.  I would even go so far as to claim that no trip to Ireland is complete without it; yep, it is that good!

The trip was more or less over after the Cliffs. We drove through some cute towns with interesting histories.  One of them was the birthplace of the inventor of the first U.S. submarine, Joe Holland, for whom the Holland tunnel in NYC is named for.  Last stop of the day was at Bunratty Castle for a quick picture and bathroom break.  The castle dates back to the 1400s and was a typical square fortress of the time.  One of the interesting things about this type of castle is its entrance.  Usually there was an arched door at the entrance, and when being invaded or attacked, once the first door was breached, the soldiers would find themselves in a very small entrance hall in front of an even stronger door.  Above the hall would be an open area for castle occupants to drop boiling oils, shoot spears, and other weapons at the invaders, allowing them protect their castle for longer.  If I ever build a castle, I am definitely including one of these.  It was a long day in all, but I am sooooo glad that we went!

The one full of Blarney

We started off Cork right, let me just tell you.  We walked over a mile to get Fish and Chips from the famous Jackie Lennox Chip Shop.  Never heard of it, you say?  Well, you don't know what you are missing, because for a decent price, you can get some AWESOME fish and chips. And it is totally a local hangout, based on what I saw.  This time we switched things up and got haddock (instead of cod).  It also came with tartar sauce (YUM) and traditional mushed peas.  They were...interesting?  I don't know; I heard that they are an acquired taste.  Many people eat them on their chips, but I don't know why you would want to "ruin" your chips.  Anyways, it was soooo delicious and so much food that even I couldn't finish it all, and that is saying something!  To make it even sweeter, we got a great discount on our three other Paddywagon tours that we booked through our hostel, Kinlay House.  I highly recommend both, if you are asking!


Tuesday we had our first day trip from Cork, to Kinsale, Blarney, and Cobh.  It was a good way to start this round of tours off because it was pretty relaxed and did not involved too much travel or sitting on the bus.  First we hit up Charles Fort, built in the 1600s to protect Kinsale from attack.  The weather was not very good, with wet snow falling severely reducing visibility.  We weren't supposed to stay long, but we left even earlier when someone came out and told us the fort was closed. Oops!  Evidently, you are supposed to pay for admission...maybe on a good day it would be worth it, but this way not that day.

So we headed down the road to Kinsale, which was a compact, cute little town.  It is known as a leisure town, with fishing and water sports in the summer, but in the winter and at low tide, it was quiet.  We were only there for an hour, but it was difficult to know what to do with ourselves.   The weather was not nice at all, so it wasn't much fun to just walk along the waterfront, but we did that for a little while.  The best was sitting in a small cafe with a big cup of steaming hot tea.  The owner came out and chatted with us for a bit, which was nice.  I would definitely say that as a whole, it seems that the Irish are a very friendly lot, definitely willing to help someone out and give advice.  After a little more time, we got back on the bus and moved on.

Next stop was the much anticipated Blarney Castle.  Let's be real, this is the main reason why people do this tour, and it didn't disappointment.  If you go, don't get distracted by the castle.  While it is really neat to see, there are caves, gardens, and paths to be walked and explored.  Those are what I enjoyed more than anything.  And I know,  you are wondering, did I kiss the stone?  The answer: a mostly okay with it, no.  You can't see from the picture of Marissa doing it below, but it is really high...and you can see that you have to lean backwards while looking down to do it.  The idea of it sounded painful to my joints, and let's just say, heights are not really my thing these days.  Supposedly, kissing the stone will give you the gift of gab.  The story originates from a time when English landlords were supposed to collect rent and taxes from areas in Ireland for Queen Elizabeth.  Well the one in Blarney always had a persuasive excuse for why he didn't do it, and when discussing the matter with a subject the the Queen said something to the effect of, "that is a load of Blarney," hence the expression and the superstition of the stone.  Below you can see the difference between blarney and baloney, which I thought was pretty funny.

As I already suggested, we spent a good hour or so checking out the gardens, such as the Fern garden above and walking the Lake Path.  It was absolutely deserted; we saw only one person along the whole path.  I imagine that it is positively radiant with green plants in the later Spring.  Luckily the weather had turned relatively pleasant and much warmer for our time in Blarney, which made it much more enjoyable.

Next we traveled back down through Cork and out to the coast to the port town of Cobh (pronounced like Cove, it's Irish).  We stopped at a local cafe first things for some enormous sandwiches, which was perfect timing because a sudden snowstorm popped into town and made conditions outside miserable for about 30 minutes.  Once it cleared up, we headed up the hill to check out St. Coleman's Cathedral and the views of the harbor from the top.  What Cobh is most famous for is being the last stop for ships heading across the seas to England or in the other direction to the Americas. During the Irish Potato Famine in the 1800s, over 2.5 million immigrants left through this port on their way to the Americas.  Furthermore, Cobh was also the last stop for the Titanic, taking on around 110 passengers here, of which 42 survived.  Below, you can see the remnants of the dock that was used to load ships, including the Titanic.  Finally, we headed back to Cork, tired and done for the day.

Dock used to load the Titanic

As usual, we rested for a bit and then made our way back into town for dinner.  We found a good-looking Kebab place and settled in.  Let's just say that we did not get what we expected.  With a few accent problems, the guy gave us some sauce choices.  I could only discern "spicy," same with Marissa, so we both went with spicy.  As he made up our kebabs, the guy asked if we were sure.  We hesitantly said yes, and I think from that point, we were doomed.  Maybe the guy wanted to see us sweat (literally) or maybe he wanted to challenge us, but he definitely did both.  I HAVE NEVER EATEN SOMETHING SO SPICY IN MY LIFE.  My nose was like a faucet, my eyes were pretty much crying, the sweat was dripping, my face/mouth/lips were burning and every I looked at Marissa I couldn't stop laughing because she looked the way I felt.  But I made it through and finished almost every bite (it was also huge).  It may not be an experience that I am anxious to repeat, but it was an experience.  And it was actually really delicious, if you can get over the 'burn a hole in your stomach' spiciness factor.  What a day!

Before I knew what I was getting into...

The one with Bangers and Mash (Dublin)

We arrived in Dublin around dinner time, which didn't leave much of the day for us after we checked in to our hostel, Abraham House. I was less than impressed.  The room was dirty with trash on the floor, looking like it hadn't seen a vacumn in quite some time, but such is staying in hostels. We headed to the popular Temple Bar area to find something to eat. I have to say that it didn't bother me much at all when we ended up eating burritos again and getting a student discount as well.  We also stopped by another hostel to book a day trip with Paddywagon tours for Sunday and then packed it in for the night.

Sunday we started our day tour through Glendalough, Kilkenny, and Wicklow bright and early.  These tours actually ended up being awesome. How much you actually learned on the trip depended on your attention span and your driver, but there is no other way to see as much of the country short of renting a car, and neither Marissa nor I was up for driving on the wrong side of the road.  We started our day in Glendalough, a valley with two lakes and the ruins of a monastery dating back to the 6th century.  In the picture is the celtic cross, the circle dating back to the Pagan worship of the sun, with the cross as an obvious Christian symbol.  You may wonder what I am doing, hugging the cross.  Legend tells it that if your fingers touch around the cross, you will find love within the year (theoretically in Ireland).  Good news, my fingers touched, but this could also mean that I have long arms.  After checking out the ruins, Marissa and I walked down a cute path to check out one of the lakes before getting back on the bus and moving on.

Brownshill Dolmen

Next we headed up through Wicklow Gap, which has a reputation of waterfalls, fine views, and greenery that it really did not uphold.  A scene from the movie P.S. I love you was filmed here, and our driver told us that people come up looking for this magical waterfall that supposedly goes right by the road, but in the film, they super-imposed it next to the road to make it look better.  In reality, it is on the other side of the mountain and really difficult to get to.  What we saw was slightly snow-covered mountains and low-hanging clouds, but it was still beautiful.  We also passed by a field where they filmed part of Braveheart; I must admit it is still on my "must-see" movie lists, but maybe I will recognize it! Next we made a quick stop at the Brownshill Dolmen.  Ireland is sort of known for these random dolmens that are often just big rocks stacked in some way on little rocks, but they leave historians befuddled as to how the big rock got there.  This one was a megalithic tomb, dating back to as early as 4000 BC and weighing more than 100 metric tonnes.  Pretty neat I guess.

The big stop for the day was in Kilkenny, a cute little town known mainly for the castle, as you can see.  We grabbed some lunch at subway and roamed around the streets in search of interesting buildings and things to see.  We checked out the Black Abbey which dates back to the 1200s and is named for the black robes the monks used to wear.  The castle also has a history dating back to the 1200s, spending most of its history in the hands of the Butler family before being handed over to the government in the 1960s.  Many royals have been entertained here over the years and it has a fascinating history.

We got back on the bus, quite a bit colder and significantly more tired.  We had visions of going and finding a popular pub somewhere in the Temple Bar Area, but we were done.  So we hit up the closest place to our hostel, O'Shea's.  It actually ended up being perfect.  Marissa and I both got the local fare of bangers and mash, which is essentially sausage and mashed potatoes.  Mine was specifically sausage made from pork and leeks with mashed potatoes and covered in an onion gravy.  Oh My Goodness! It was so good that I have thought of it often since then, and my mouth salivates now just thinking about it.  I would return for this meal alone.  Afterwards, with our bellies significantly fuller, we turned in for the night.

Day 2 in Dublin was reserved for some sight-seeing before we caught the bus to Cork, where we spent the majority of the rest of our trip.  As is often the case with our trips, we wanted to see the city, but we didn't really want to spend much money to see it.  This was especially the case for this trip because we elected to do four of the Paddywagon tours.  Because it was Monday, the museums were all closed, but we walked to the area to check out the buildings anyways.  We wandered into the National Library, which ended up having this great ceiling.  The security guard was really friendly and gave us a recommendation for a good place to eat, not that we went, but I love it when local people are helpful and friendly.

Next we headed over to check out the Trinity College campus, one of the oldest Universities in Ireland.  It has a particularly interesting history surrounding the conflict between English Protestants and Irish Catholics.  It is also known for housing the Book of Kells, an ancient text with elaborate script and pictures.  We also went and found THE Temple Bar, though I am still not sure why the whole area is named after it. I think out driver said something about how they were going to demolish the whole area, but then preserved it because of its historic value, and then it became known as the Temple Bar area, but why?  We tried to check out the Dublin Castle, but right now, some Irish person is the acting European Union president for like six months and so the castle is closed the public, and you can't even see most of the outside, bummer.  We satisfied another craving and grabbed some burgers before catching the afternoon bus to Cork.  Dublin = Success!!

The one with Marissa's flashback

Post-London, we headed north in England to a little town called Grantham.  If the name means nothing to you, then join the club.  I had never heard of it, but Marissa studied at Harlixton there while at Evansville University.  And her 'host' family offered to let us stay with them for the night, so I was game.  It was interesting for sure.  After dropping our things at Jenny and John's house and enjoying a cup of tea (How British are we!!), we headed over to the Harlixton manor to check it out.  The way it works is that students from EU and a few other universities come to England, stay and take classes in the manor.  Families in the area volunteer to bring the students to their homes a few times a month for a home-cooked meal and a glimpse into British family life.  The manor was built by some rich guy with too much money on his hands and ultimately donated to the University for study abroad.  It was a unique mixture of opulence and university.  For me, the best part was the chocolate snacks we snagged from the vending machine ;p

Afterwards, we headed back to John and Jenny's' for more tea.  Have to say, I am a fan, though I take it with sugar like a good American does.  The families of two of their daughters also joined us later in the evening, which was awesome because they brought CHILDREN! One of them has a three year-old boy and a 9 month old baby girl who were just precious.  The boy, Harry, was so shy at first, but by the end he was playing mountain climber in between us and didn't want to leave. ADORABLE! We ate some Chinese food, which was nice, adding to our multicultural food theme.  Eventually we snuggled into bed with our books and enjoyed the feeling of a comfortable bed, for once.

We woke up to a snow storm, which was actually quite beautiful.  The only problem was that we needed to be able to fly out to get to Dublin.  We enjoyed an elaborate breakfast of tea (of course), bagels, fruit, yogurt and cereal, then settled in to watch the forecast and keep in eye on the airport news.  Lucky for us, the airport reopened before our flight, so we headed to East Midlands Airport on schedule.  The lines there were atrocious due to all the canceled flights from the morning, but ours seemed to be okay.  Everything was fine until we boarded the plane and sat there for an hour.  It didn't bother me because I slept like my life depended on it, but evidently they had to de-ice the plane twice.  Better safe than sorry, for sure.  Eventually we began the short flight across the sea to Dublin :)

The one with Winning London

Our Semana Santa trip (Holy Week) started on Wednesday night after school.  I gathered all my last minute things, and we headed off to catch the bus to Sevilla.  We took the shuttle to the airport as usual, listening in on some spring-breakers who were clearly studying abroad in Spain.  It is interesting and funny to see all the different people who come to Spain.  Our flight went off without a hitch and got into London around 12 AM.  By the time we got through customs and bought bus tickets to Victoria, it was nearly 1 AM. London Stansted Airport is way the heck outside of London, so it was almost 3 in the morning before we finally nestled into our hostel beds.

Thursday we began our morning with the typical hostel breakfast, toast with Nutella!  Yum :) Because we had such a late night, we slept in decided that the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace would be the first site to see.  It was already packed with people by the time we arrived, and I can only imagine how busy it would be in the summer months when tourism really picks up.  The flag was up, meaning the queen was at home.  We know that she really was 'in' because several ambassadors arrived by horse and carriage to be sworn in; it was all rather exciting!

By the time we moved on, we were quite cold from standing still so long, but we soldiered on.  We headed over to the River Thames to check out Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the Eye of London (the GIANT ferris wheel), basically the obligatory sites in the area.  It was neat to see them up close and in person, but I have to say that my world was not shattered or anything.  We elected to not go up on the Eye of London because it is expensive and we hate the pound! I probably can not say that enough.  It was bad enough when we got to Spain and our $$ were not worth as much, but now we've got Euros, and when you are once again getting destroyed by the exchange rate, it really isn't fun.  So we had a goal on minimizing spending in London. That is also why we only spent two days there...

Anyways, next we hopped on the Tube to head towards Piccadilly Circus.  I don't want to sound like I am whining, because I really did like London a lot, but compared to Times Square, it was just a couple big TVs with advertisements.  Furthermore, we were getting hungry, so when we saw someone carrying Wok to Walk take-away, we spent a good half hour walking the streets trying to find the restaurant.  We weren't successful, but we weren't too torn up about it.  We walked to Trafalgar Square to check it out, and from there we caught the Tube back to Victoria station to get some food there.   We were walking to the food court when it caught my eye...there it was, a burrito restaurant (golden halo, angels singing!).  We have been missing Mexican food, despite our weekly fajita night, so a burrito was definitely on the menu.

After lunch we took the Tube out to Abbey Road to get the required picture of us crossing the street in the same place as the Beatle's cover.  It is actually hilarious and worth going to watch other people do it.  There isn't a stop light or anything, no sign for pedestrians to go, so the cars have to stop for you, but tourists are all standing there milling about for a chance to get their picture taken crossing the street.  Everyone wants their "own" picture, so it is all about timing and such.  Funny.  I got my picture, and we headed to King's Cross to see about train tickets for the following day.  We thought about crossing over and trying to go to Hogwarts at platform 9 and 3/4 but it looked broken, so we just got our tickets and headed back to the hotel.  With some research, I found a delicious fish and chips place, Seafresh.  We got take-away and ate it back at the hostel, complete with salt and vinegar.

Look I can cross the street!

Friday we only had the morning before we needed to pick up our luggage and head back to King's Cross, so we got up relatively early to grab breakfast and head out.  First on the agenda was the Tower of London. I would like to say that it is not a tower. We came up from the Underground, and I literally asked Marissa where it was because I couldn't see it.  It is a castle or maybe a palace, and it has towers, but it is not a tower.  Liars.  Next time I will have to go inside, because it actually looked pretty cool, but we were short on time and funds.  So instead we checked out the Tower Bridge.

Last thing on the list for London was the Natural History Museum.  Ok, I know, we could have chosen from all these great art galleries or museums about the history of London or England, but you know, I love the Natural History Museum.  And this was my (our) trip, so we went to the Natural History Museum. And let me tell you, the dinosaur exhibit was particularly awesome and brought back the strong desires I have had all year to watch Jurassic Park.  And if you are study geology, I highly suggest their rocks and mineral exhibit, because you could easily spend a day there alone, if you are super into that thing.  Then it was adios London, until next time!

Day 3--Lisboa

 Saturday was devoted to seeing the sites in Lisboa and so we bought a 24-hour transportation card that allowed us to use the Metro, buses, and trams for €5.  Best decision of our lives.  Even with access to all public transit, we still walked for what felt like miles on our already sore and tired legs. We had a difficult time deciding what to go see because, as is common in most big tourist-oriented cities, everything costs money.  In the end, we decided to go see everything and then decide at each site if we felt like paying to see the inside in addition to the outside. 

We started our morning in the neighborhood of Alfama.  It is one of the oldest areas of Lisboa and is known as the heart of soul of the city.  To say the least, it was gorgeous.  We stopped in at several Cathedrals in the area to take a look, and they were breath-taking.  The Catholic faith may not specifically speak to me, but you walk into those churches and it is like heaven itself is there.  We also walked through Feira de Ladras (which means Thieves’ Market).  It is totally legal today but very interesting to walk through.  After that, we headed over to el Castelo do Sao Jorge (Castle of St. George).  We had seen it in the distance from the train station the day before, but we wanted to see if we could take a closer look.  Ultimately we didn’t get to see the castle up close, but we got to see some great views from the castle gate which was open to the public and in the surrounding area that we walked trying to find the castle. 

Church Number 1

Monasterio do Jeronimo

 Next we headed clear across town on a bus to the neighborhood of Belem where several important sites are located.  First we saw el Monasterio de Jeronimo (Geronimo’s Monistary) which is absolutely ginormous.  It was definitely impressive.  Then we headed towards the shore of el Tejo (the river) to see la Torre de Belem (Tower).  Honestly, we were not that impressed.  It was beautiful, but it wasn’t that tall.  I was more excited about being so close to the water!  There was also a pretty impressive bridge, reminiscent of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a tower/statue with some pretty impressive sculptures. 

Marissa, Masha and I with la Torre de Belem behind us

Giant monument/sculpture by the river

By this point, we were fairly exhausted and had to pull ourselves by our bootstraps to continue, but there was one more place we wanted to visit.  We headed back to the northeast on a bus/tram to see la Basilica Estrela (a Church) that was absolutely positively wonderful, probably the most impressive of the three we saw.  It was difficult to get good outside pictures because there were trees in the way, but both the outside and the inside were imposing/inspiring. 

Finally, two trams and two metro lines later we made it back to our hostel, tired and satisfied.  Marissa and I wanted one more meal somewhere, so we went online and tried to find a local Portuguese restaurant, but the closest one we found ended up being closed.  In the end, we “settled” for a Turkish kebab place, which was not settling at all because it was fan-freaking-tastic.  It is amazing how good food tastes after a long day of walking around! 

All in all, Portugal, Lisbon, and Sintra were AH-mazing! It was great to get to see another culture so close to the one we have been experiencing.  It was an eye-opening experience at how accustomed I have become to addressing people in Spanish and how difficult it can be to travel when you don’t know any of the language.  I had the hardest time remembering to say Thank you or Obrigadad (Portuguese thank you) instead of Gracias.  I wonder what it will be like once I return to the states!

Day 2—Trip to Sintra

Arriving in Sintra

On our second day in Portugal we decided to take a day trip to the nearby town of Sintra.  Everyone who has been to the Lisbon area suggests it, and it was definitely worth a visit.  We walked from our hostel to city center (which was beautiful and open) in order to find the train station that would take us to Sintra.  We needed to eat something for breakfast so we stopped at a café that didn’t look too busy and ordered our Spanish usual, café con leche y tostada con mermelada (coffee with milk and toast with jam).  I learned something new because the food arrived, and the coffee tasted watery.  The reason is because it was more like American coffee with the coffee brewed with water instead of the Spanish version in which café con leche is brewed in an espresso-type machine and then combined with steamed milk.  The mermelada was all fancy and came in little glass jars and the bread was like American sandwich bread and not the baguette that we are used to.  We had a feeling we were in trouble money-wise, and we were, spending more than €5 a person for such a simple breakfast (compare it to our freaking awesome chicken).  Welcome to tourist restaurants!

Stone staircase

We made it to Sintra without too much trouble, though figuring out how to order tickets at self-serve ticket stations that really only know Portuguese proved disastrous.  Right off the train, Sintra seemed wonderful.  We followed the masses and quickly surmised that the main sites to see were the Castelo de Moros y Palacio de Pena.  The bus station was located in the valley, and the sites were at the top of what was basically a mountain, so we started walking up street after cobblestone street.  Eventually we came to a stone staircase/path that was supposed to lead to the Castle.  It had some gorgeous views, and you could see the towns nearby spread out before us, but it was definitely a hike and some layers of clothing were removed in the process. 

 

El Castelo de Moros like all the castles we have visited was really cool! I wouldn’t necessarily say that it was my favorite because of the fact that it wasn’t free and was really crowded with tourists (not that we are locals or anything), but it was beautiful.  We could see all the way to the Atlantic Ocean from the top!  I wanted to visit, but we didn’t have time since we were really only in Lisboa for two days. 

Palacio de Pena

Next we headed to el Palacio de Pena.  I am not sure if Pena means pain in Portuguese like it does in Spanish, but that is what we joked because a pretty significant amount of pain was going on by the time we made it there.  Unfortunately by this time the fog was rolling it, but it was still really neat to see. The colors would normally be really bright yellows and red.  The Palace is where the royal family resided during the 1800s and possibly other times, but I am not sure.  The outside was extremely impressive, and we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside. 

El Palacio looking creepy in the fog

Me, excited to be eating chicken again

Finally with the energy that we could still muster we walked carefully down the cobblestone streets and back down the mountain in the rain.  We could have taken a bus, but determination (stubbornness) and resistance to falling into the tourist traps forced us to persist.  We headed back to Lisboa and to a second night of that amazing chicken for dinner.  Honestly it was so good that I would go back to Lisboa just for the chicken.  We were so tired that we chilled in our room and went to bed by 10.