I'm moving to Lisbon

Not really, but I'd like to. Our trip was amazing! Lisbon, for me as an American, was a place that always intrigued me, but I thought that I'd never visit (just because there are so many other places on my list to go to, this one always took a back seat). But when we found inexpensive flights and cheap accommodations, it was too hard to say no.

The inexpensive flight at 6:45 on Friday morning meant that we had to get in a cab at 3:45 a.m. to catch a train to take us to Luton airport. But it also meant that our first day in Lisbon would be a full one. We checked into our hotel in the Baxia, in the city centre, and set off on one of our lengthy hikes (a.k.a death march). We first headed down to the water, then wandered east, through the Alfama, picking up a small bite to eat along the way at a cafe. After lunching outside in a park in front of the Se cathedral, we hiked our way up to the Castleo de Sao Jorge, mocking the tourists who opted to take the trolley rather than walking up the steep roads. From the castle, we could see out on the entire city. After a beer break at a cafe overlooking the river, we headed west to the hip area, the Barrio Alto. One thing we noticed about the city was the large amount of graffiti everywhere, especially in the Barrio Alto. It made it difficult to tell good neigbourhoods from bad ones. In some places the graffiti was almost artwork, whereas in other, it looked just like standard teenage tagging. The city is also known for the exquisite tiles on the buildings. I pointed out to Leo that even the stupid tagging teenagers respected the beauty of the historic tiles, since there was no graffiti on them, but Leo thought this was just because it was easy to wipe the paint off them. We wandered south hitting a street near the train station that I like to refer to as the land of bachalau (salted cod, which is a staple in Lisbon). Since, at this point, we had been up for about 16 hours, we decided to have an early dinner at one of the restaurants with outdoor seating in Rossio. We ended up having a great meal of very fresh bass and squid accompanied by a bottle of local Vinho Verde, and sharing a table with a group of German women who chatted with us throughout the meal (well, Leo did most of the talking). After dinner, we walked past one of the old bars that serves ginjinha (a cherry liquor) and couldn't refuse a shot.

Day 2 we decided to explore a bit outside of the city, taking the train to Cascais, the beach resort to the west of Lisbon. Both Leo and I had pictured spending the day on the beach in a sleepy fishing village. We apparently had both misread the guidebooks which said that Cascais used to be a fishing village. We also misread the weather, which was about 7 degrees colder that the previous day, a bit overcast and windy. We did still have a wonderful time, walking around the marina, then along the ocean and exploring the rocky outcroppings on the shore. We had some sandwiches for lunch at a cafe by the Boca del Infierno and then headed back to the train to our next destination of Belem. Belem is also on the coast and has some incredible monuments, churches, and pasteis (awesome custard tarts, which we partook of on several occasions). That evening, we came upon an MTV/Fiat extravaganza in the Barrio Alto - complete with DJs, silver people on stilts, a guy dressed as a ninja playing the dijeridou, cheesy dancers, and a fireworks display that burned members of the crowd (including myself). After witnessing this commercial spectacle, we had another wonderful meal at a restaurant called the 1º de Maio, then had a few more drinks as we wandered through street party in the Barrio Alto on our way back to the hotel.

Day 3 we took a train into the mountains to Sintra. There we played in the elaborate gardens of Quinta da Regaleira, a mansion built by a rich eccentric in the 19th century which seemed to be a precursor to the Playboy mansion (complete with grottos, secret passageways, and aquariums). After that we stormed the Moorish castle, high up in the mountain overlooking the town, where Leo overcame his fear of height to beat me to the highest point of the castle remains. When we got back to Lisbon, we stopped for a ginjinha refresher, followed by a beer in a very local bar, then decided to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the Alfama. This tradition started when Leo and I went to Rome, where we had the best, cheapest, most wonderful meal at a Chinese restaurant (so good, we went twice). On another occasion we were taken by my cousin to a fabulous Vietnamese restaurant in Paris, and thus a tradition was born. This restaurant in Lisbon was far superior to anything we can get in London (New York too)!

On our final day we woke up to rain, which made for a depressing start to our last day (which was bound to be depressing, since we'd be heading home). It was also a Monday, which meant most things were closed (Monday is the new Sunday in Europe). We entertained ourselves as usual, with a lot more wandering around, seeking out the sun wherever we could find it. The trip was wonderful; the food was fantastic; the language was not easily understood; and we loved it all.