We had to get up super early Wednesday (Sept. 5th) to catch our flight to London. But it was a nice smooth ride to London, and soon we were outside. It was definitely a nice change going from hot and humid to cold and overcast. We made our way to our hostel, which had a very homey and comfy feeling. Which had a very interesting way to reach our room. Kayla and I were in a 21 female dorm room upstairs, and Kitty was in a 4 female dorm room downstairs. It was an adventure trying to find our room. We were told that the we were in room 302, so we got on the elevator, but it only had to level 2. So we went back to the lobby to get directions. Our directions to our room was "go to the second floor, find the bathroom to the left of the stairs, go inside and there will be another set of stairs, this will take you to the third floor, and then your room will be there." Our room was huge and was actually split up a little bit. There were probably about nine beds in the first half and 12 bunk beds in the second half. Kayla and I were in the first half, so we didn't have to climb any ladders and the curtains around the bed created privacy. Even though it seemed a little weird at first, I got used to it and got really cosy in my little cocoon. We didn't have any concrete plans, so we decided to go to the British Museum. I have to admit that museum is huge with so many things to look at. We were there for a couple of hours, but we probably only saw about half of everything. Some of the highlights was seeing the Rosetta Stone, different mummies, Easter Island head, and sculptures from Greece and Rome. However, the part that made me laugh was when I saw a bunch of scarab beetles, I couldn't help but think of this scene from The Mummy. After we left the museum, we went out to get some fish and chips. They were pretty good and came with a pea puree and gravy. I didn't try any because I was using my trusty vinegar on my chips. Kayla and Kitty said it was pretty good though. But if I were being honest, I prefer Two Fools back in Albuquerque over this one. The food is tasty and I love the ambience at the "tavern" back home. After dinner, we got on the tube to head back to the hostel to relax and rest before the next day. Today was our last day in Lisbon, so we needed to hit any last minute stops and get our souvenirs. We first went to Park Eduardo VII which is a huge maze like park that was about ten minutes from our hostel. I didn't see people in the actual maze part but just on the edges. We then headed back down to Rossio square because there was an outdoor market close by it. There was a bunch of different vendors selling mostly food items such as meat sandwiches, nuts, and cheeses. We then stopped by at the oldest bakery to see what they were serving. But we ended up not getting anything because the with the reputation of being the oldest bakery meant that the prices were also very high. Our next stop was at the oldest bookshop, Beartrand. It looked small from the outside but it had w couple of different room on the inside. It was interesting seeing the Harry Potter Series written in Portuguese. If I had more time I might have looked for The Count of Monte Cristo or Pride and Prejudice, which are my number 1 and 2 favorite books. We then walked down toward the Alfama district because that's where we saw more souvenir shops. While we were on our way, we stopped in a little bakery. We shared a tube of six pasteis de nata, which is a famous dessert in Lisbon. Oh my goodness thy were so DELICIOUS! It had just the right amount of sweetness. The outside crust is very crunchy and very flakey. The custard inside was creamy with a hint of lemon. After we looked around in the Alfama district, we went to grab some lunch by the water. I tried a dish that was scrambled eggs and codfish, and I have to admit it was super tasty except for the olives. According to our walking guide from a couple of days earlier, eggs and codfish is used by mothers to help get their children accustomed to eating fish at a young age. I also tried something called vino verde (green wine), which uses really young grapes. It was definitely not a drink for me because after awhile my mouth started to get numb. However according to Kitty it was very good wine, so I don't think you can really trust my alcohol opinions. Our next stop was the Tile Museum. They had so many examples of different tiles and just rooms covered in tiles. It was very pretty to walk and see how much time and effort went into making different scenes. There was even a room that was supposed to be what Lisbon looked like before the earthquake. I took a video of it so you can see it in the video below. There were even figures made out of tile such as the soldier above. It made me think of Amazing Race when the teams are instructed to unscramble tiles to create a figure like the one above. Overall, it was a good last day in Lisbon. *Quick Note: I realized that some of the captions on Day 4 weren't showing up, so I re-uploaded the page. Hopefully they should be available now. Today we went to an area called Belém. There is museums and historical sights located somewhat close to each other. The first stop was at a place called Monsteiro dos Jerónimos, or Jerónimos Monastery. This used to be an old monastery where monks of the Order of Saint Jerome lived. Also attached to the monastery is a church. It was made a World Heritage Site in 1983. It was very nice to walk around, and it had a nice courtyard and walkways to take tons of pictures. We woke up really early in order to head to a town called Sintra. It was about a 45 minute drive from our hostel. Our first stop was a place called Pena Palace, which is located at the very top of a hill. It is a beautiful castle full of vibrant colors that can be seen from a distance. We were the second group there, and we got in line and waited for the ticket stand to open. When it was close to opening time, tons of huge tourist buses came and swarms of people came out. It was a really steep climb from the gates to the actual palace, but it was definitely worth it.
Today we woke up and went down to the kitchen area for breakfast. There was cereal, sweet breads, toast, and fruit. The hostel advertised a free walking tour that takes place every morning. We walked about 30 minutes from the hostel to the meet-up point at Rossio Square.
There was probably a group of 40 of us from all over the world. There was people from Australia, Germany, England, India, Belgium, and one other person from the US. Before we started the tour, the tour guide asked Kayla to tell him the first work she could think of. which was "ice cream". The tour guide explained that "ice cream" would be code to let us know that a certain area might be risky for getting robbed. So throughout the tour we would be walking along, and then the tour guide would say, "This area is a place for a lot of tasty ice creams." You could see everyone perk up for a half second, and then their faces would change when they realized that he wasn't talking about actual ice cream. The tour lasted about 3 hours long, and I learned a lot of interesting facts about Lisbon that I wouldn't have realized on my own. I tried to include these facts in the captions of some of the pictures. Another interesting part of the tour was that one of the people on the tour knew about Farmington, Shiprock, Window Rock, etc. He is originally from Armenia but has traveled all of the world. If I remember correctly, he actually spent a year living in the Four Corners area. He was also familiar with Navajo Nation, so he was surprised to find out that Kayla and I were Navajo. |
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