Lisboa

We arrived in Lisboa's Estacao Santa Apolonia pretty early. This time the overnight train was not as enjoyable as the trip from Paris to Barcelona. The chairs that were supposed to recline did not, and the car going over the tracks was especially jarring in some sections (think riding the roller coaster in Space Mountain, but not as fun). We were staying in a private room in a renovated mansion overlooking the ocean in the trendy Barrio Alto District, called the Oasis Hostel. Even though we had arrived super early, they let us drop off our bags and wash up. We decided to walk to the Castelo de Sao Jorge, a medieval moorish castle overlooking Lisboa, although there have been settlements in the area since 6th century BC. The walk took us through the heart of the city and we stopped at a beautiful church called the Se de Lisboa (Lisboa Cathedral). It was built in the year 1147, and has a mix if many different architectural styles, including romanesque, gothic, baroque, neoclassical and rococo. One of the things we noticed during our walk was that many of the brightly colored buildings in the central city are covered in gorgeous intricate tiles and, for some reason, graffiti. Graffiti was everywhere. After we visited the castle, we went to a local cafe called Señora Mae and tried el prato do dia, (chef's suggested meal of the day), and it was fantastic! Maybe the best lunch I've had yet. Over the next few days, we enjoyed amazing food: seafood, pork, cheeses, great port wine, and pastries.
We went back to the hostel and checked in. The lookout point next to the hostel that I mentioned earlier is actually a little park. Now that it was later in the evening, a lot of young people were there to have a few drinks, and watch the sunset. It sort of reminded us of Dolores Park on a sunny day, and they do it everyday. Our room was in a separate building so we went to the main house and met some of the guys there. Everyone was really friendly. We asked around for dinner recommendations and the owner's son suggested a small Portuguese restaurant called Principe do Calhariz. I ordered the grilled shrimp and Jenny had a white fish, take a look at the pics, our dinner had faces! Although we didn't speak Portuguese we didn't have much trouble communicating, many of the locals we encountered either spoke English or Spanish. We thought about joining some of the guys at the hostel and go out, we were still pretty wiped out from the night before, so we called it a night. A couple of the people that we met mentioned they had heard that Lisboa is similar to San Francisco in many ways: the weather, the hills, being located next to the ocean, a long red suspension bridge, the train cars, and a thriving music scene. In some ways I would agree...take a look at the pictures and see what you think!
The next morning we decided to take the train to a coastal town called Cascais and spent most of the day at the beach. For some reason, we forgot the sunscreen for the first hour or so. By the time I went out for some, we were a little toasty, so we took a break from being out in the sun and walked around the town.
We randomly found a museum, El Museo de Los Condes de Castro Guimaraes. The museum is actually in a mock-gothic palace called the Tower of Sao, and was commissioned in 1900 by Jorge O'Neill. It was intended to be a summer residence. It's on a inlet next to the sea and is a beautiful mix of different architectural styles filled with gorgeous furniture. The museum was also the site of the first library of the town. After that we headed back to Lisboa and got ready for dinner. We met Tim, a philosophy graduate student from Germany who loves Lisboa so much he has decided to move there permanently. He invited us to join him at a culture club, which is a nonprofit organization that offers food, live music, and a place to get together for locals. It was a great experience! We tried the local drink, Vinho Verde (or at least that's what I think it's called) and watched a performance by a group called De Vent Fripon that included french singer, a guitarist, and accordion player. Afterwards we danced to music that could be described as a mix of surf rock, blues, seventies revival, and sixties (found out later it's a guy named DJ Orquestra Invisivle). So much fun! We had a very late dinner there and it was pretty tasty (especially at 2 am). The walk back home was funny, as you can see by the pics.
The next morning, was slow going and our last day in Portugal... we figured the only logical thing to do was go back to the beach and just relax (it had been raining for most of the time we were in Madrid, and it was hard to leave such great weather). We were sad to go, Lisboa was so much fun, and beautiful. Our next stop is Madrid, on our way to Granada.

Arriving at the train station by the ocean, very early in the morning....



























Lisboa is known for quality affordable wine, especially port wine.









Walking towards the castle you can see in the distance on the top right.



















Tiles everywhere! Entire sides of some buildings were covered.









Typical of the kind of graffiti in Lisbon.









Ornate cobblestone patterns covered the sidewalks and streets of the city.









Se de Lisboa




































View from a small plaza above the Cathedral.








Another!









More tiles, same plaza



























At Castelo de Sao Jorge



















This little guy appeared to be the only adult male of about a half a dozen peacocks who live on the castle grounds. Beautiful and pretty full of himself.









An uneasy truce ~ the grounds were also home to group of cats, but if one ever got too close, the peacocks would show them who was boss!









The castelo



























People coming together to watch the sunset









Dinner


















On our way to the train station the next day, heading to the beach...









Cascais is in the Estoril region of the country and only about 30 minutes from Lisboa and worth the trip...


















The weather was perfect!









Beginning to feel the sun....









Banksy inspired?


















El Museo de Los Condes de Castro Guimaraes
























































The culture club




































Time to go home









Angels watching over us













































Do you see the similarities yet?









Our last day at the beach









She thinks she's sneaky...




























Arco da Rua Agusta








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