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Where to begin? After the 6 1/2hr flight with a connection in Madrid we arrived jet-lagged but ready to go at Lisbon Airport. We jump in our taxi to head to our hostel and just our luck- the driver speaks no English and doesn't seem to know where to take us after we hand him the paper with the directions. He speaks Portuguese to us the entire time...even while we were a little lost- but finally brought us to the right place- the HI Hostel located in Parque das Naceos (a very nice residential area outside of town but a short walk to the Reo Tejo). After settling in to our private room (I'll post pics of it later) we decided to head out for a bite to eat. Just our luck again as we are walking it starts to pour...so we stop in the closest cafe for a drink to sit and wait for the rain to stop...or at least slow down. We tried the Portugues beer Sagres which turned out to be pretty cheap at 1.80Euro for a small "imperial" size. The rain slowed down so we continued on our mission...
We headed to the riverbank and after walking in the opposite direction of the restaurants for 30min we turned around and found just what we were looking for- a strip of trendy restuarants. And where do we decide to go? An Irish pub ironically! (They had delicious Sangria though and burgers for 7Euro so we were happy) Unfortunately our slight turn of success did not last....
Our good night's sleep that we were so looking forward to got interrupted by a group of inconsiderate young Germans (no offense to our German friends!) We got to bed at 9pm-the roudy noise began at 12am....2am we complained to security (who didn't speak English either) and it went on till about 4am. We did manage to get some sleep though and we still woke up on schedule at 8am. After snoozing for a little and getting ready we started our day with the included hostel breakfast which turned out to be pretty good- way beyond our expectations! Juice, cafe con leite, cereal, yogurt, ham and cheese with fresh french bread rolls...sounds pretty good right? We even got to sneak some rolls and butter in our bags to eat for lunch. Score!
The weather started out cloudy and windy during our trip into the city centre- we got a little delayed buying the tranportation pass cards and making sure we were on the right bus- but as soon as we got into town the excitement really picked up and the weather brightened up. It was sunny and in the 70s (20s for the non Americans) You'll see from the pictures where the rest of the day went and I'll try to explain in a nutshell...
Took in all the sites the city had to offer- the gorgeous Reo Tejo, the San Fransico Golden Gates sister "25 de Abril Bridge", the Moorish Castlelo de São Jorge overlooking the historic centre of the city & the river and last but not least the Cristo Rei which we plan to visit tomorrow- yes it's similar to the famous Christ the Redeemer in Rio. In between we enjoyed walking around and taking in the Portuguese culture.
So as we all know how life is- we were faced with the expected "bumps in the road" but things all worked themselves out in the end and we consider our first full day an overall success :)
Next- off to the small ocean front town of Cascais to enjoy the weekend for Andrew's birthday!
As it's said in Portuguese- "OBRIGADO"- Thank you ;)
Hope you enjoyed the first trip entry & stay tuned for the next one.
Love Merissa & Andrew
- comments
angela Anxiously awaiiting your next entry! Mommy
Nancy Hey, what happen to the blogging and photos??? We are waiting :-)