Lisbon, Portugal (September 12- September 15)

On Thursday evening after classes, a huge group of us (about 20 people) met at the train station to take the over night train to Lisbon. It was about 11 hours and at some points through out the night it didn't seem like the train was even moving. But we made it. 9 am Friday morning we were off the train and trying to figure out where we could find the hostel. We ending up walking for a half hour to a metro station and then taking that one stop before getting off again. It was not the most efficient way of getting there and a few people from our group were grumpy because of the train ride. When we did get to the hostel we found out that we could not check into our rooms until noon, but they still let us have breakfast which was amazing. They did have a few keys to the lockers so we dropped off our things and started sight seeing. The picture below was on a statue in the center of the plaza by our hostel. I was just waiting for the statues to start waving their arms to get the birds off, especially the one on the left.

The next pictures are from our walk from the hostel to St. George's Castle:

The middle picture above shows half of the group of people in Portugal. It was nice making some new friends. We were all somehow connected whether she was roommates with her or what. It was a lot of fun. You can't really tell in the middle picture but it seemed like everywhere were walked there was a photo op place. Lisbon was beautiful.

This is pretty much where we got lost on the way to the castle. We didn't really have directions but there were a couple of signs and we could see the castle, but when we reached the top of the hill and looked out, the castle was on the left (you can see in the picture above on the right).

This is me...on top of the castle...pretty exciting!

These are more of my new friends. They were so much fun and everyone was so relaxed. We all went out for the night to end our first day in Lisbon. But it was definitely a long day. The streets of Lisboa are filled with people at night, Karelia described it as Mardi Gras times 10! Ashley was worried about getting lost, but we stayed together and made it back to the hostel safe.

The next morning Ashley and I woke up early to run. There are way too many hills in Lisbon for my liking but we went down to the boardwalk (i guess) and ran by the ocean which was nice. When we got back half of the people were up and ready to head out to the "free market" held on Saturdays...my advice: don't waste your time. It was similar to a garage sale. Everyone there was just selling their junk. You might be able to find one or two things there, but you would have to know what you are looking for. After that, since Ashley and I missed breakfast to go to the market, we broke off from the group to sit down and get lunch, but we met up with some people later. It was Pat, Pat, Andy, Kelly, then Ashley and I who decided to go out and find Belem tower, and the pictures below show where we ended up. We thought there was a sailboat race going on or something, but we ended up sitting there for a while just watching.

Belem tower was beautiful and again there were great views from the top. It was built for defense but now is an important symbol of the city. My pictures aren't loading, so you will have to see those when I come home. That night we all went out for an authentic Portuguese dinner, which was WAY too expensive (they charged us for the bread and butter that was already set out on the table). If you asked me I would say it wasn't worth it, but oh well. Some people refused to eat and later went to an Irish bar to get chicken wings (not exactly authentic, but they sure were happy). And finally we ended up at a Portuguese karaoke bar. half of the music was English and the other half was Portuguese. From what I noticed, the Portuguese really like Alanis Morissette. When a Portuguese song came on though, everyone in the bar started dancing and singing, it was really cool.

Sunday was the day we reserved for the beach. We didn't actually know where we were going, or how to get there, but the hostel people gave us some directions. It took us about an hour and a half to get the beach, but it was BEAUTIFUL. absolutely BEAUTIFUL...

You should probably click on this picture so you can see it closer. Down where the umbrellas are is where we camped. The waves were actually pretty big, but the water was so cold. and the beach actually sloped down into the water, so if you decided to go body surfing, the waves would come in, pick you up, and slam you onto the side of the beach. I did not do that. I did get wet up to my waist. But they other scary part was the huge rocks that were carried by the waves and undertow. My friend Karelia was hit by one when the wave came in and then the same rock came back and hit here on the other foot. She was pretty bloody. We had to leave the beach pretty early because we were scared about missing the train. The bus ride back to Lisbon was LONG and the bus stopped every 10 minutes to pick someone up. But we did make it back and to the train station in enough time.

The train ride home was pretty awful for me. But I would say I would do it again. I am young and I can handle uncomfortable I decided. All in all going to Portugal was one of my better decisions because I had so much fun and every moment I felt like I was really enjoying life, so now I am excited to see how my next trips will turn out.