Lisboa, Portugal

What an adventure! Friday morning Matt, Nikki, Ayra and I met at the San Mames bus station to hop on the bus to the airport. Matt and Ayra were definitely running for the bus and just made it... and this was the first morning it was really really cold in Bilbao. So we got on the flight and stopped over in Barcelona, where all the christmas decorations were up (unlike last time) and it was very pretty and cozy.
We ended up meeting this American our age named Steven who studies spanish near Bilbao in Santander, but he happened to be on our flight to Lisbon and we COULD NOT get rid of him! He talked non stop about anything random and his spanish accent...well that's another story.
So we got in to Lisbon and took the bus to the center of town, Baixo Chiado, where there is great shopping and an even better view of the ocean down the hill. A lot of people say it is like San Francisco because of the hills, wind, and big bridge connecting the two...wow I just lost my train of thought..I am watching Love Actually in spanish and it is the part where the portuguese cleaner woman has to jump in for the papers of a book that flew into the lake and then the man jumps in...I actually understood what she said it was awesome...I learned Obrigada- thank you and a lot of other vocab that is similar to spanish. It is amazing how much I understood and I would speak in spanish and someone could respond in portuguese..a great system!
So then from downtown we walked uphill with all our luggage through the busy streets with smell of cooked chesnuts on the street in little stands. We stayed at the Oasis Backpackers Manson Hostel, in this great old building down the hill from a beautiful lookout definitely equivalent to twin peaks in San Francisco or something similar. Oasis was like a San Franciscan apartment with many small floors and beautiful white walls and old windows, with a great new kitchen and a garden patio and window balconies in the rooms. I would love to live in a place like that! There was a great common room with comfy couches and free internet..the best hostel I have ever stayed in! There were also an uncommon amount of Australians staying there. They are everywhere! The staff at the front desk were amazing and all spoke english and spanish...very convenient. Rita was my favorite and she was telling me all about her best friend from San Francisco, CA, so I think she will have to come visit sometime!
So Friday we went out to walk around and ended up in this line for something that looked cool. Like an elevator that goes really high where you can see a great view of the city. So we went up an old elevator after giving our four euro to a grumpy old elevator operator. We went up in that stuffy box and what seemed like 40 minutes later with many bumps and jolts, we ended up at the top of this walkway/bridge with an amazing view of Lisboa. The sun was going down so we got to see all sorts of colors. At the top there was this little cafe with a man singing and playing the guitar in portuguese, so we jsut sat and took pictures and listened for a little while- it was so incredibly relaxing.
Then we walked around somemore and across different parts of town and came upon a residential section. All the streets were made of cobblestone and were so narrow. We were about to turn back when we came across a little hole in the wall restaurant. The mother hostess and cook and server loured us in by price and charm. It was around 8pm so we were the only ones in the 6 table place. It was very elegant and the cheese was maybe the best I have ever had. Cheese comes in small round form like you would imagine in the olden rural days.
Saturday we started early with toast and coffee in the kitchen and headed out to Sintra to see the palace and gardens. So we caught the metro to the train to the bus. All fun and easy with friends, especially Nikki who has studied portuguese.
We arrived and drove up this huge windy road to the top of the mountain where we then entered these gates and hiked up to the Palace. It was so beautiful and huge with a lot of moorish influence from the south. The colors on the outside of the building on the different levels were dark shades of yellos, red and orange like the surrounding trees. In the back of the building through a tunnel coridor place was a beautiful view of what seemed like all of Portugal. You could see all the red rooftops and the ocean.
After hiking around the grounds and seeing lakes, the Queen's stone chair with a view of her Palace and ston estructures and hours inside the palace, we walked back down to the little town to do some souvenier shopping. I guess Portugal is famous for their towels or something- like hand towels. So we saw a lot of those. Also, tiles are huge here on and in and around all the buildings. The Arab influence brought the tiles in the design and architecture.
After journeying back, we went to this little bar (seeking out a non toursity place) and had a refreshing drink, sat and talked and then headed to Bairro Alto, where a mass amount of bars are situated. With everyone in the street and everyone in the bars, so that was fun to experience.
The next day we ate amazing pastries called "Pasteles de Belem." They are like little pastries with flaky crusts and a sweet smooth inside like pumpkin pie but a hundred times better. I think it is the best pastry I have had yet! Belem, a little outside downtown, is a huge center for activities. It has a great monument of discoveries, museums and everything. Oh, I also stopped by a place called Jardin Zoologico, and me thinking it was a zoo or a park or something fun, it turned out to be a theme park for kids...hmm translating names can be decieving...but a nice trip overall!