Portugal: Quite a Quiet Adventure

It’s been about two weeks since I got back from Lisbon, and I have put off writing about it long enough! Well, not put off so much as I’ve finally found time and energy to sit down and write about it.

I travelled by myself, and spent a lot of my time writing two essays, so it was a quiet adventure. I spent almost 4 days there, it was windy, a bit cold, and absolutely lovely. Of course I was there the last week of “full on winter” as it was described – now it’s a sunny and grand 70 degrees (19-20 degrees C), which would be more to my liking, but it was still quite nice.

The first day, I got rather lost. On the next, I explored castles and wished for ice cream. Then I explored faith and fish, and on the last day I ate delicious treats I am still thinking about and just wanted to be at home.

The end...

Haha. No, now I shall be a bit clearer.

I got in on Monday night – and was doing pretty great, found the metro, and made it to my stop. And then… picked the wrong way and started walking. I was so tired! Eu não falo Português, and it was late enough that the shops were mostly closed and there weren’t many people around. And in my foolishness, I thought I was going the right way. Alas, no. I was not. I have been incredibly spoiled here in London because there are so many maps on the streets, pointed in the right direction so I have the right orientation… But maybe you should just be impressed in my ability to get lost? Eventually I found a little grocery shop which had a few guys in there, and I walked in and just said “não falo…. English?” Haha – luckily they figured out that I was lost and I had the address I wanted to go to. Naturally I was quite a way from where I wanted to go. They didn’t know. So they found me a chair, offered me a coffee, and chatted about my predicament – or something. Eventually they decided just to put me in a cab. I figured this out along the way, and then the cabby took me to my hotel and gave me a reduced fare. Then the hotel receptionist was very excited to hear that I was originally from Utah and knew where Moab was. “Why is it that all the people I meet from Utah live near this… Moab…?” Apparently one of his favorite authors is living out there. Anyway, I got in, may have broken a window door thing and couldn’t figure out how to close it, and then went to sleep.

The next day I met up at the Hard Rock Cafe, and joined a day-trip tour from a company called Inside Lisbon. We went to a few places around Lisbon – first stop was Sintra, which because of its location and such has its own micro-climate, which made it a wonderful summer retreat for the royal family. It was cold. Haha :) It was also wonderful. The whole town was just great. I ate the traditional pastries that were made there – I don’t remember the names… but one was like a “pillow” and I loved it, almond something – but in Portuguese. I wandered the magical little town for a while, and just sat and enjoyed my life for about a half-hour. Then we continued our drive, learning about the cork trees that are prevalent in the area, and take 9 years to grow the bark enough to be safely harvested. Then we went to the most western point in all of continental Europe, I waved at my family and my friends’ family who live in DC which is apparently right across the ocean – “If only there wasn’t so much smog, you could just see it over there” haha. The wind picked me up a couple times, but I only fell once – off the cliff. Ha. No. Just close and then my dignity was gone… We also drove through a ‘forest’ – but it is so windy that all the trees grow sideways. So much wind! Well, until you get around the bend – it was really weird to see them as we drove along because they were flatter than flat, and slowly straightened out. Let’s see. We then drove to Cascais, a beautiful coastal town, where I wanted ice cream – but didn’t get it because I was too busy looking for sea shells and walking barefoot in the sand. I’ve missed that. Anyway – it was wonderful. We also drove by where they say Ian Flemming developed the character for James Bond, when he was staying at this hotel while working for MI6, he met a man who loved fancy cars and his women, anyway. Plus they filmed a few scenes close by, on the route we drove along, so that was fun. Then I came home, ate some yummy pastries, and worked on my papers until I went to sleep…

The next day I joined another day trip, to this beautiful cathedral where they say Mary appeared once a month for 6 months or so, in the early 1900’s. I love seeing people’s faith, it helps me continue to see good in the world. Then we went over to this monastery where there was a battle for the kingdom of Portugal in the 1300’s, where the English supported them with their archers, and this alliance is still held to this day making it one of the oldest in the world. The tour guide loved that I am living in London now because of that – yes he knows I’m an American but still, it was fun. Then we went to Nazaré, a resort town. And I would love to go back. It was cute and fun, and the rocks and water were beautiful. Then we continued our drive over to Óbidos, a walled city – and they let you explore and climb all over the rocks. It was a tad scary as it was really windy… but I walked around most of the city, along the castle walls. They also have this fun …usually alcoholic… treat called ginja (made from cherries I think), but the little cup is made out of dark chocolate. So I had the little cup. Haha. Also I thought of my red-headed friends (gingers) and if they became ninjas… could be ginjas. No one was around for that joke so I had to tell it here. Anyway. I loved this place. Then it was back home for more essays.

On my last day, I wandered around Lisboa. I climbed this really tall hill because I wanted to explore their castle fortress… but alas, you had to pay to go in. How rude. Well, mostly I didn’t have much time and so didn’t want to pay for it because I couldn’t stay for very long anyway. So I walked back down, discovered the old Roman amphitheater being excavated, saw Lisboa’s Arc de Triomphe – oh wait, it is called Arco da Rua Augusta. Anyway, I also saw the bridge that takes you from Lisbon across San Fransisco, over to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Quite handy. But to get there, you have to go about an hour out of the way because of how the roads are set up, so I did not get to do that. :( Probably good – that much jet lag in one day could have been a problem. Then I found… the original bakery of the traditional Portuguese tarts – or the Pastéis de Belém. I also asked for a meat pastry, not by name… the girl asked if I wanted the square one, I said yes without knowing… and it was amazing! I miss it so much. The Belém tarts were good but I was so happily surprised by this lunch treat. Ok. Well, after that, I meandered back to my hotel, and then started the long journey back to London. We were delayed several times, so I missed my bus back – after a very long time, and getting a little upset at another driver who wouldn’t let me on, I took an expensive train back. It was really late and I didn’t want to be there anymore. Poor driver – he couldn’t really speak clear English and probably has to deal with a lot of grumpy people. But he had room and I had paid for a ticket that said I could ride any bus within two hours of my bus I’d missed. But he was stopping at a different spot so he didn’t think he could take me – red tape almost got me stranded. Rude. Haha – then I got back to Victoria station, and since it was so late none of my usual methods of transportation would be running for a couple hours. Then there was so much construction, even my GPS and such on my phone and talking to people, I couldn’t find my bus stop. Eventually I did, and I finally got home at about 2:30/3 am. Yay!

I forgot to mention the brief adventure of trying to find the airport again. It was almost directly up the street from where I was staying, and yet I still struggled a bit to find it. Luckily by this point I had learned the art of simply saying the basic words and relying on pointing to find where I needed to go. It was a bit scary at times, and naturally I went to the wrong terminal and couldn't get where I needed to go. BUT I made it - found a sign in English and had to go back again, take a free bus, and ta-da. Airport conquered. Haha.

And that was my Portugal adventure. Lots of words. :)