My trip to Lisbon started off on a very bad foot, but things improved once I was reunited with my traveling buddies, Julia and Megan. It was great to see them and we enjoyed catching up over breakfast. Unfortunately this time around our goal for the trip differed, they wanted to just eat and drink there way around Lisbon and just chill out. I wanted to explore the city a little more and take a trip to neighboring cities that people suggested I visit. Well being outnumbered and not wanting to create tension I just went along with what J&M wanted to do.
Our first day in Lisboa was quite productive. We hit up the area of Belem and saw all the different sights in that town and then made our way back to the city center and explored the different neighborhoods of Chiado, Barrio Alto, and another area I can’t recall. When we returned back to HOME Hostel we checked into our separate rooms and I met my roommates. They were all study abroad students from Granada so they were 2 years younger than me. One was from Kentucky (KU!), another from Minnesota, and the last one from Texas. They were all very nice and we got along well. We even found out we had mutual friends. They knew people from my high school that were in their program. Small world I tell you. I also met a girl from Bethesda who went to BCC so we got to talk about our rivalry in sports since she played field hockey. The first night out we found a little restaurant and then this awesome mellow bar and stayed there the whole night. The bar played this calm, Starbucks music and we enjoyed the ambiance, as it was definitely a local joint, which is what we were looking for. We ended up closing down the bar.
The next day we headed to another part of Lisbon to check out the Jewish area and the castle for the best views of the city. However once we got to the top of the mountain we found out the castle was closed, but we still enjoyed the windy streets and cute stores and boutiques. Since the weather wasn’t cooperating with us anymore we decided to do what women do best, shop. I normally don’t like to shop when I’m on vacation but it is a good way to waste a few hours during bad weather. We found this one designer store that had the coolest patterns and backs to dresses, but it was a little too expensive for my budget. Saturday night we had dinner at Portugal oldest brewery and restaurant. The tapas we got were so good and I finally tried Port Wine that Portugal is known for. Our waiter was very nice and helped us figure out what exactly we wanted to order so we left him a nice tip. After a great dinner we explored the infamous Barrio Alto for the happening nightclubs. They were fun but we all were in agreement that we enjoyed our cozy bar from the night before to the loud, crowded, and cold streets of Barrio Alto. So after a few hours in BA we headed back to Infusion bar and sat at the same table from the night before.
Sunday was a rainy cold day so after trying to walk to this one museum we took a detour and hit up the Museum of Natural History. It was nowhere near as good as the NH Museum in DC but it kept us occupied and dry. After the museum we had an incredibly filling and enjoyable lunch at this Indian/Italian restaurant. Yes, the restaurant was half Indian and half Italian. I never thought to put those two together but there’s a first for everything. After lunch we walked to a few more sights near by our hostel and then got ready for our last night in Lisbon. I was told that I had to attend a Fado show (a mix of Jazz, Tango, and Folk music) in Lisbon so that was our goal for the night. We ended up finding this awesome place that didn’t have a set dinner menu or full of tourists. We got an assortment of tapas while we sat in the front row to the show. Throughout the night they had a variety of singers perform. We had old and young men and women perform. They were all incredible and we really enjoyed each and every performance. My favorite was the last song that each singer performed one verse of. I later found out the song they sang last was the most famous Fado song in Portugal. We were the only group of people to stay for the entire show and close down the restaurant (once again). It was a great way to finish up our time in Lisbon.
I liked Lisbon a lot because of the calm nature of the city. For a capital city there wasn’t a lot of hustle and bustle or the feeling that people here were living a very fast paced life. I could see myself in Lisbon; the people were friendly, the food was enjoyable, and there’s effort going on to keep you entertained. The only part about Lisbon that I really didn’t enjoy was my bus ride to and from. It took 6+ hours to get to Huelva from Lisbon and my bus was a sauna. I was so eager to get the heck off the bus that I ended up leaving my raincoat on the bus which sucks because Spain is still experiencing heavy rain all over the country every day. I then had to wait two hours in Huelva for the last bus back to my town and ended up forgetting my ticket at the ticket office after I purchased it. Luckily the lady remembered me and had my ticket waiting in the window when I realized what I had done. It wasn’t until I was on the bus and heading home that I realized I had forgotten my raincoat. I have never been so absent-minded before in my life. I’m not sure why it bothered me so much, but the raincoat just set me over the edge and I just started bawling on the bus. I couldn’t help but think about all the negative things that had happened to me thus far in Spain and all the things that were eating at me just came out in the form of tears. I’m sure the people sitting near me on the bus thought I was crazy.
I returned to my flat at around 7:30pm on Monday even though I left the hostel at 8:10am that morning. I had no time to dilly-dally because I had to repack and attempt some laundry because I had to leave for Seville on Thursday. However it rained profusely the entire week so my towels never got the chance to dry due to my lack of dryer and all. My only option was to hand them up in my bathroom and pray they would be dry by the time I returned back home on Sunday. I had so many things to get done before I had to leave for Seville and I didn’t get half of them done so I wasn’t in the best of mood last week. On top of that the person I was suppose to stay with on Thursday night informed me on Tuesday that I wouldn’t stay with her so I was desperately trying to find someone else to stay with. Luckily my dependable friend Emily from CIEE bailed me out once again. She is my Saint.
