LISBOA

Friday evening Linda and I headed off to Lisbon (the capital of Portugal) to enjoy the long weekend thanks to the Immaculate Conception (thank you Maria). Of course because we were dying to get out of Barcelona our flight was delayed for over 2 hours (note to self...Vueling airlines...not the greatest). We eventually arrived at our incredibly dope hostel after getting ripped off by our extremely informative cab driver that is. That's neither here nor there...I was in heaven...well I was in Lisbon but it was a little slice of heaven.

Okay so YES...our hostel...it was amazing! I know, I know, you're thinking hostel...shabby, rundown and shady. None of those words apply to this place. It was really modern, comfortable and really artsy...I dig it. We checked in and put our stuff down and practically ran out to check out the night life. Luckily for us, it was pretty much around the corner in a neighborhood known as Bairro Alto which literally means the High neighborhood. It could mean "high" because it's wealthy or something along those lines but it literally is high up because Lisbon is known as the city of seven hills. It's a really hilly place and we had to walk up steps to get to the Bairro Alto. The neighborhood is one of the oldest in Lisboa and when we got there, there were just streets and streets full of young people, music blasting from cafes and people socializing in the streets. The vibe is SO different from Barcelona. There is a great deal of diversity. People were happy and the mood was perfect.

We went to one bar that played lots of 80s and early 90s music; there can never be too much of that in my opinion. In this lovely 'throwback aka oldies but goodies bar' is bumped into students from my org. but at the Alicante Spain location. Not two seconds later, we had our ears talked off by the Luandan Welcoming Committee (I'll refrain from using a name since he seems to know someone everywhere) but THIS GUY was excited to meet Americans and he couldn't hide his excitement. We were practically bathed in this guys saliva as he talked to us all night long and told us he wants to marry an American, preferably a Californian. I practiced some Portuguese with another of his fellow Luandans and was thrilled to discuss Barack Obama (MY President to-be in Portanyol--Portuguses and Spanish) Until he tried to hit on me it was really amazing to be able to speak to someone in two languages at the same time and of course talk about something so marvelous as our new president and see how his election has impacted the entire world.

Here I am taking a photo op as we headed home from this exciting but relaxing first night out...

Me hanging out with a bronze statue of poet Fernando Pessoa in the Cafe A Brasileira.
This is in the neighborhood we stayed in which is called Chiado.

We finished up the night trying to not have our ears bleed from the sound of our snoring Spanish bunkmate in the 8-person dorm we stayed in. I LOVED our hostel and you know love and hostel usually don't go hand in hand but this dude snored like he was sawing through boards. My one and only suggestion/recommendation to management would be...

Dear hostel owners,
Please put all the people who snore above a 7 on a richter scale in the same room and leave the rest of our poor souls to our slumber.

Thank you for your consideration,
The rest of the hostel who had to suffer because of his nasal passages and alcohol intake..

Dia 2...

We're on our way to the trolly to go to the Feira da Ladra (Flea Market or Market of Thieves) for the day when we run into a Christmas parade...and you know me so, of course we followed it...

These guys were my favorite act by far -- they gave me some camera love

This guy LOVED jumping around almost as much as we enjoyed watching him...actually more I think

He rocked out for me ... freaked me out a little bit, but it works I think no?

We followed the parade all the way to the river, and right before you get to the river is the Placa de Comercio where the trollies stop.

The red trollies are the sightseeing trollys and the yellow are the local city trollies. We decided to pretend to be locals and got on the yellow trollies...as you'll see from the photos, I really enjoyed this form of transportation minus the fact that everyone else apparently loves them as well and we were packed like 3 packs of sardines. They allow over 50 people to get on these little trollies at a time...

This is the Feliz Natal Trolly aka Merry Christmas Trolly. When it rolled by us it was playing Temptations Christmas caroles... you know I was impressed. Who doesn't love a Temptations Christmas in Lisbon?!


Now just because I said I had a great time doesn't mean there wasn't crappy weather because OF COURSE there was. It's winter, even here where it doesn't snow, there has to be something to mess up my hair and make me suffer through winter. (I'm exaggerating, it wasn't too bad)

Here I am trying to stay dry at the river. The type of rain that was coming down is known in Portuguese as 'fools rain' ( a Cape Verdean guy taught me this phrase but I'll tell you in English because I can't remember the word for fool) but basically the gist of it is that you look out of your window and you don't think it's raining anymore so you don't take an umbrella. You go outside and it's barely raining so you don't think it will be too bad...and then before you know it...you're soaked. And YES, even though I had a guarda chuva (umbrella) of course by the end of the day I was soaking wet. FOOL!

Next up was the flea market that is held on Saturdays...I know you all don't care about what purchases I made so just know that I made some...

This is inside the panteao nacional (I'm advertising Super Bock -- which I just learned is beer) but I was actually trying to show off the pretty flowers that were hanging above.

After the flea market we decided to grab some lunch and wander around...here's what we found (after we got ripped off for our lunch)

Right above this was a Santa Claus trying to climb into someone's window...I thought the mix of Peace on Earth and good will to men went ironically well with Immigration issues...think about that

I really liked this graffiti tree...seemed very appropriate there

I have a special place in my heart for old cars...I loved this one + took lots of pics of it

In the evening we ended up going to dinner with Mr. Socialite Angolan from the evening before. He told us that he would take us to get traditional Portuguese food and since we didn't really want to go out with him at night we figured we'd grab some food and make a new friend. Problem is...I was super annoyed by him. He made it seem like he knew lots of places; had a place in mind for dinner but that was not the case. He was just annoying to me and it was uncomfortable. Linda being the lovely person she is made a great deal of small talk and entertained him while I continued to give him "the Allison eye" which if I've ever given it to you...know what I'm talking about.

He asked us to meet him at Mc Donalds in Rossio Square. We got lost, but once we made it there we found our winter wonderland.

Later that night we went out dancing Kizomba and some kind of Portuguese music. We met some random people, two of which happened to be from Cape Verde. There's a huge Cape Verdean community in Portugal which makes a lot of sense since they were a colony of Portugual until the last 30 or so years. We were invited to a Cape Verdean club but it was on the outskirts of town so we turned it down. It was nice though to talk to Cape Verdean people and learn about the culture that my paternal grandfather came from and hear from a Cape Verdean what it's like to grow up in Lisbon as a Cape Verdean.

Here is what the streets look like in Lisboa. They ALL look like this. Some have bigger stones than others but they are all stoned. We saw workers the first night we were there fixing the stones that had become loose. They were really beautiful but I would never want to wear heals there for fear of losing my balance and honestly losing my life falling up or down one of the many hills of Lisboa.

Dia 3

Day three was our day to make up for having a leisurly day of flea markets and shopping. We were determined to do all the things Lisboa had to offer in one day and I think we were quite successful. Here's how it went:

Walked backto Placa do Comercio to go to the ferry that we didn't end up taking to get to the other side of the Tagus River to go to Torre de Belem(the Belem Tour)

Interesting art on the way to the ferry ...

So we ended up taking the train to the port area where all the amazing boats are docked and walked from there to the Torre de Belem.

Not certain what this is but it's right next to the tower and it looked cool...

Monument of the Discoverers

So of couse we go to see the sites and realize to enjoy the sites we must be running on a full tank and needed food to fuel us up for our treking and church visiting ...

Here is where we had lunch.
My blog would not be my blog if I didn't have a picture of me eating on it. This was similar to what I'd say we call shrimp and grits. It might have actually been a potato puree but it tasted similar to shrimp n' grits.

After we ate and could actually move again we headed off to one of the most historic and most traditionally visited places in Lisboa...

Torre de Belem

This is the view of the 25 of Abril bridge Torre de Belem

Inside view from one of the many floors

Out front -- taking in the view


Me + Linda being crazy and enjoying the day...

Walking away from the Belem Tower TO Jeronimo's Monastery

"fools rain" got us again as we walked over the overpass to get to the Monestary of Jeronimo

Because of the "fools rain" in three days, I managed to see two arcoiris (rainbows)
I ate it up!

I really liked the colors of the buildings and thought it all looked really cool with the crazy sky in the back...

Here are my feet again...I feel like Tarantino or something obsessing with feet but I liked the color of the ground and I felt like it showed the new and the old, the past and the present and I think my foot is pointing in the right direction...(cheesy I know but I'M CHEESY so deal with it!)

Approaching the monestary, and the church

The outside of the monestary and the igreja (church)


Inside the monestary

Next up was the escape where we tried to find the Castelo de São Jorge in the Alfama district of Lisboa. We climbed and climbed stairs and finally made it to the castle only to find that of course it was closing.

I went all the way to the top of the Lisboa and all I got was a lousy picture of this plaque.

This is in honor of my brother Vicente São Vicente also near the castle with the Lisbon castle in the background

This is to pay homage to São Antonio. He is of course nowhere near as cool as Vicente but I guess I'll give him something...

Saturday night we actually stumbled across a street art lounge but didn't have our cameras with us so after our amazing, first not Portuguese meal on Sunday night we went back to the art lounge and took some photos. Check out some of the work:

This was just carved into the wall...you might even miss it if you're just walking by



Lisboa was amazing for me. I needed a break from Barcelona. I really enjoyed how small it was because in a day I knew my way around. It was so nice to be around happy and pleasant people; it's something I miss a great deal here. Maybe it was just Christmas spirit but the energy there was strong and it was powerful. It was a bittersweet feeling to feel connected to a place, and to a people that I will never know but it was nice to know I was walking the same cobblestoned streets my grandfather walked at my age and learn a little bit more about myself through my travels...