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Hola! We are currently in Barcelona- we arrived Sunday night after taking a 10hr train from Madrid, where we spent 3 nights. We took the Renfe overnight train from Lisbon to Madrid and unfortunately Merissa's camera was left on the train (which is why there haven't been any picture updates since) It was very upsetting to realize this once we got to our hostel in Madrid since those great pictures from our weekend in Cascais and our last days in Lisbon are lost forever now. Plus I had some great shots of the places we've been staying in :( So I apologize for my carelessness since I know you've been anxious to see/ hear whats been going on.
So just to fill you in since Cascais- we returned to Lisbon to spend another 2days/1night. The first day our bad luck with the weather followed us. It poured the whole day while we were out exploring the city again. But on the bright side we got to ride the old fashioned yellow tram which was pretty fun- they go really fast through the steep narrow winding streets so its kindof like riding a rollercoaster ;) It also kept us out of the rain for a while. We were staying at a different hostel that night- which was honestly one of the best we've ever stayed in. Of course we were only there for one night though. That night we went for a drink- I tried Port wine (a little rich for my taste) while Andrew stuck to his favorite-beer and we got free tapas from the bartender. He even carved peices of Iberian Cured Ham which comes straight off the leg of the pig for us to try. It was really good but it's pricey to order on your own.
The next day we finally got to go to the Cristo Rei that I mentioned in my first post. We realized we needed a place to store our luggage which is why we didn't go earlier. We took the ferry across the Tejo River and our bad luck followed us yet again.... We were supposed to hop on this Bus 101 from the ferry station which takes you directly there. Sounds easy right? Well not so much for us. It took us about 2 hrs to finally catch it. The bus stops were not properly labled and hardly anyone spoke English in this small Portuguese neighborhood so it made it very difficult for us to get to. But once we did it was worth it. Stunning views of Lisbon & the 25th de Abril Bridge (the Golden Gates sister) and the Cristo Rei itself was pretty breathtaking. Inspired by the famous one in Rio de Janeiro- it was built in 1959 in thanks to God for sparing Portugal during WWII. The 90ft figure of Christ opens its arms to Lisbon and sits upon a 270ft high pedestal which is reached by an elevator- which we did. It was scary being so high up which this huge statue towering over us and the wind almost blowing us over. Luckily they had tall gates so you can't fly off ;) Again so sorry I lost my camera since some of the best pictures of us were taken here.
To kill the time we had left till our night train we decided to have a couple of drinks since the rain had picked up again. And what a coincidence- we end up in another Irish&English pub. At least the Irish one gave us free tapas with our drinks. As for the night train it was OK, certainly not as bad as we expected. We bought the cheapest "toursita" tickets which gets you a regluar seat. It was relatively quiet and they turned the lights off so it was easy to get some sleep. Unfortunately there was no wifi which is why my intended blog update didn't work out. I guess I was too exhausted to realize my camera has fallen beneath my seat during my sleep when it was time to get off. (I stil have to email the Renfe lost and found to see if they have it but I'm not to hopeful about that)
Anyway, once when we arrived in Madrid at 8am the following morning of course it took us a while to find our hostel even though we Google maped it the night before and thought we knew where we were going. This hostel was not my favorite...despite its good location to Puerta del Sol and Calle Mayor (which is considered the heart of the city) After taking a nap we decided to head over to Las Ventas de Toros to buy tickets to the bullfight, which was the main reason we decided to come to Madrid. Little did we know that they only sold tickets the "day of" at the actual stadium so we ended up getting to see it that night! It wasn't what we had planned but once we got inside the stadium and to our seats we were amazed. It was very cool to be watching something live that you can't see pretty much anywhere else in the world. But it did make us think about how screwed up human nature is to enjoy watching something so brutal, so we decided once was enough for us. I won't share details about it here since I know a lot of people are against it. Hopefully the pictures don't offend anyone!
The next two days we spent walking around the city, which was very crowded and reminded me a bit of NY. But it was very beautiful surrounded by old elegant buildings and the typical abundance of streetside terrace restuarants. (They charge extra to serve you outside though which we learned the hard way!) Our luck also took a turn and we finally got some full days of sun! We took advantage of the gorgeous weather by spending time outside. One day we spent at the huge Parque de Retiro, which is like Madrids Central Park. Here we enjoyed picnicing by their manmade lake which was filled with people in rowboats. It was lovely to sit there listening to the music of the saxophone being played by a streetperformer nearby while soaking up the sun. One night wewanted to indugle in the traditional Spanish cuisine that was at our fingertips so we went out for tapas, paella and sangria and had churros dipped in chocolate for dessert.
Next it came time to leave Madrid, so we boarded an 8am Renfe train heading towards our current destination which tooks about 10hrs- And guess what...both bathrooms were out of order so the train had to make longer stops to let people off to use the station bathrooms. Unbelievable I know..but the tickets were cheap at 40Euro. Oh and I forgot to mention that it took us 2 hrs to buy those tickets. We had walked to the Madrid train station thinking we would get them in person from the ticket office and that it wouldn't take long, since that's how its supposed to go right? Well...not at this station in Madrid. Have you ever gone into a deli and had to get a numbered ticket and wait to make your order- well thats what this was like.How bizarre! I don't understand how that's an efficient way of selling train tickets in the capital of Spain. Yes, they did have the do it yourself kiosks but we tried that and it wasn't offering the train we wanted. And they must not have been working for everyone else since we had to wait behind about 100 people. Ah what a nightmare! But good news is I didn't lose anything on this train ride ;) And we got to enjoy the view of the countryside.
Once we arrived in Barcelona we had to overcome yet another mission of finding our hostel- which is even better than the one I mentioned in Lisbon. It's pretty amazing so we are very happy to have a couple of nights here to enjoy- which is exactly what we are doing!
I will write about our Barcelona experience later- since this post is already pretty long. But I wanted to update you all since I know it's been a while- thanks for your patience :)
Thanks for all the comments- we love reading them so keep em coming!
Love Merissa& Andrew
- comments
angela Love the photos of you and Andrew- try to take more! I have thousands of photos of buildings/churches/monuments/fountains and wish I had taken more photos of myself and friends (even though I hate having my photo taken!) You both are photogenic so don't be shy! I am so excited that you start your cruise tomorrow-no trains for a while! and staying in the same room for 9 nights-wow!
Nancy OMG, Loosing your camera, what a horror!!! Can't you take photos with your IPad? I asked your mom if you wanted us to bring you anything when we see you in Edinburgh. Do you want a camera? Let me know what else you need. See you soon :-) Love you, N Oh, ps I had to get a new email adress.
Nancy Hey, Finally a photo of "Baby" :-D :-D