someone once told me Portugal was amazing...

...and I would have to agree. When I studied abroad in Dublin last spring, one of my housemates went to Lisbon in Portugal for a weekend. He came back raving and ever since then Portugal has sparked my curiosity.

Since then a number of people have told me how amazing the country is and Jaime and I bought our tickets a couple weeks after we got here to Italy and we went last weekend!

So we left Thursday night (getting to the airport was ridiculous and we made some mistakes, but we got there safe and sound, somehow....) and got on a plane to Portugal. Now, a couple months ago, it seemed like a great idea to take the cheaper flights by spending the night in the airport. Well, it was cheaper, but...I don't know if it was worth it. Having done it, I can say that it is completely safe and totally doable, only staying up all night or trying to sleep is absolutely miserable. But Jaime and I kept ourselves company and we got through the night. The next morning we got on another plane (we flew from Rome to Barcelona on Thursday night and then Friday morning to Lisbon). Flying in was absolutely gorgeous. I woke up just in time to watch us soar down through the clouds, over the cliffs and white coastline and into the Atlantic a bit and then back around over Lisbon. We flew right over the 25 de Abril bridge, a sister bridge to the Golden Gate, and also over the Christ the King monument. Here are pictures I took later of both:





Anyway, so we got off the plane, took the bus into the city, and found our hostel easily, and, can I say, it is probably one of the best hostels I have ever been in! I loved it so much and we spent a lot of time there hanging out with Portuguese, Australians, Romanians and the like! So cool. But then we decided to explore down the streets of Lisbon and make our way to the castle which overlooks the whole city.

Main shopping district (notice the sun!):


And some rooftops:


It took us a long time to find the castle, but we finally did and upon entrance discovered that peacocks lived there!




We left the castle after exploring some and decided to walk down to the water, on which journey we found some trolleys!


By the end of our walk we were sooo tired cause we hadn't slept all night, so we went back to the hostel and napped forever, then we went out to a restaurant with traditional Fado music and it was soo beautiful. We got a great Portuguese dinner (beef with potatoes and the best carrots I've ever had!) and ended the night with that.

The next day (Saturday) we embarked for the beach, to a small town called Cascais (pronounced KusKaish) and when we got there we didn't find a beach but beautiful cliffs and such. We bought picnic food and explored...







They had some small beaches that we found:





(yeah, I need a haircut I know)


Then we went to a town called Belem where there are parks and museums and it's right on the water.



This is where we waited for the train:


Upon getting back to Lisbon we discovered this:



It was International Women's Day and, according to a guy at our hostel, they were celebrating women or something. However, I think it was something different because there was definitely a protest feel to it. Police were everywhere and lots of people seemed angry. Oh well...

The next and last day we spent in Lisbon was amazing! We went to the beautiful town of Sintra (which came highly recommended by 3 or 4 people spontaneously when I wrote that I was going to Lisbon on my facebook) and Jaime and were not let down.

We took a train about 40 minutes into the countryside and through the suburbs of Lisbon. When we got to Sintra we began to explore and, well, the pictures will tell it all....

Puppy by a church


Jaime and I in a WHITE telephone booth!


In a park there was a greenhouse and I got a little artsy...


Neat doorknockers!


In Sintra there are two main sights: a Moorish Castle and the Pena Palace. In order to get to them, Jaime and literally walked up a mountain road to the top. It took forever but, at the top, aside from the castle and palace, were a bunch of cats!



kitten that guarded the entrance to the castle


Pictures of the castle:


Jaime on a stone sofa:


It overlooked the surrounding towns and forests:




And then on to the palace, which was on another, higher peak of the mountain:


The palace was SO neat! It has the moorish architecture, but unlike any I have seen before. We felt like we were walking through a fairy tale or something:


Crazy gargoyles!


This stood over a doorway into the palace....i don't know how to explain it.






Sintra was so beautiful!! After this Jaime and I had to rush down the mountain, through Sintra, to Lisbon on the train, through Lisbon, to the bus stop, to the airport and then we got on our plane home. YAY PORTUGAL!!

On other notes, I am doing great. Spending this and next weekend in Rome and then, after that, I will probably be off to Sicily and then Switzerland! Should be neat!