4-19-09

Sunday, April 19. 2009

I don’t think any of us had trouble getting out of bed because we were all so excited about the delicious breakfast waiting for us downstairs. When we came back we had a new roomie – some guy from Brazil who was planning on visiting some of the same places we were for the day so he tagged along. We got on the tram to Belem, a barrio/pueblo near the edge of Lisboa and accidently didn’t pay. We really did try but it just didn’t work out. We asked some Portuguese lady about it and she said it was fine, but we’d just have to deal with the guilt that we were being dishonest. Thanks.
So our first stop was the Monasterio de Jeronimos or something like that. It was free since it was Sunday so that was nice! The inside was beautiful and on the way out we went in the cathedral that’s attached and saw Vasco de Gama’s tomb!
Our next stop was the Torre de Belem, a really pretty tower that overlooks the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.. ok, it just looks like it. It was also free – score! but going all the way to the top was pretty tricky in the tiny spiral staircase jam packed with people and no handrails. We noticed our new friend taking some creepy pictures of us so we started formulating a plan to ditch him..
Next stop: souvenir shopping. I grabbed a postcard (obviously) then Taylor and I got some birthday presents for Juli Juli. We made our way past the marina to the big Columbus tower/monument thing but decided not to go up since it was pretty much the same view as the Torre. We chilled on a little bench for a while and made plans to go to the flea market which is when our new friend decided to split. We found a map of the world painted on the ground so we had fun taking pictures and jumping around on that. (Yes, we took a TON of pictures on this trip) The flea market was awesome and I really wanted to buy some stuff but I was so proud of myself for resisting.
Our last stop in Belem was at this Pastelería (that’s definitely not what it’s called but it’s the best way I can describe it) that’s really famous. We each got the little mushy custard cinnamon powdered sugar tart and ate them in the little park that’s nearby. On the way back we took the free tram again then Taylor and Whitney had lunch before we went back to the hostel.
The plan after that was to go up to the castle but on our way up we ran into a little plaza overlooking the water where some guys were playing music who were surprisingly pretty good. There were tons of people around listening and even some dancing so we grabbed a spot and relaxed for a while. We eventually made it up there and explored the castle until sunset. It had a great view of Lisbon, the water, the bridge, everything! My favorite part is all the wild poppies (they’re in Spain too) because the red just “pops” if you will, against the brown of the buildings and the green of nature. Beautiful! We spent about a half hour running up and down this crooked tree taking funny pictures.. again, easily amused. On our way out we spotted some peacocks perched on the wall and we tried desperately forever to get them to spread their feathers. We did everything we could – made noises, danced around, threw rocks, etc. but they just wouldn’t do it. Whitney got an excellent video of Taylor and Steph making fools of themselves :) Oh, boy.
We came back to the hostel because Marco had promised to make us a delicious authentic Portuguese dinner. Apparently he used to do it for all the guests but it got too expensive and messy so he just does it on occasion. He had some friends in town and it was his goodbye dinner before he left for Brazil for two weeks. Anyway, we helped out preparing this amazing dinner for about 15 people then devoured it. None of us could finish our plates because of the appetizers (best cheese ever) and the heaviness of the pasta and we were glad he wasn’t offended like our señoras when we don’t clean our plates. I didn’t even stick around to hang out after I was done because I wasn’t feeling good at all – I just went straight up to bed. Steph and Taylor went out with a bunch of them to some Reggae bar but I definitely couldn’t go. They had a good time though!