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A wonderful week in Lisboa!
It has been a fantastic week visiting Lisbon. It is a charming city with tight streets, classic trans, beautiful tilework, and all the bakeries and pub stops you could ask for. I spent a week here making friends and practicing my Portugese. It was full of awesome surprises.
On my Uber ride in, my driver suggested that I check out the Festa de Santo Antônio happening the next day. Turns out that by sheer luck we came at the perfect time. The Festival was a giant street party all over the City. We wandered around finding parks that were turned into beer gardens, Avenida da Liberdade fully prepped for a parade, and eventually we made our way to Alfama which is the hub of the festivities. There, we started with a pitcher of sangria on the most scenic of rooftop pátios before we took to the street to try all the festive food and drinks we could find. We had sardines and rustic bread, coxinhas, bacalhau (fish cakes), pasteis (tarts), and lots of beers and ginga shots in chocolate cups. All the streets were decorated with streamers and food carts and bumping with music. It was really a super special time to be around. At night the party continued. After a quick pit stop we hit Bica for the street party there and continued late into the night. It is amazing how many people were crowded out into the tiny, winding streets.
The next day we hit the beach at Costa Caparica. It was a great way to chill out and recover. Although it was a little windy. Great for watching thinking surfers though!
The next day was for touring the City. We walked to Praça do Commercio and toured the Beer Museum there. On the way, we saw these wicked scooters and booked a tour. It was a fantastic way to see a lot of things. We drove down to Belém to see the tower as well as the monastery and museums on the way. We got to eat more pasteis and drink all the coffee while touring the city. As a final hurray with Chis, we went for a real good and authentic Portugese dinner. That evening we hit the town again with some friends we had made the days before.
Saturday I did another great walking tour. I saw some large and impressive parks and learned lots of Portugese history based on the monuments and architecture. After dinner, I went out for one more night on the town before heading to the beach for a few days.
The city is unbelievably charming and it seems to suck you right in. I can definitely see myself coming back here again.
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