Portugal Take 2!

Mystical fog from the palace!

(It was my intention to post this entry prior to my Parisian adventure but somehow I didn’t get to it! There is so much more to come from the last two fabulous weeks I have had, and to start it off, my second trip to Portugal!)

Me at the top of the Palace

On Friday morning at 7 a.m, I headed on bus with about half of the people in my program (it was an optional additional excursion) for a visit to Lisbon and Sintra, Portugal. After a six hour bus ride from Sevilla, we finally arrived in beautiful sintra. We had guided walking tour of town, then a break for quick lunch. Then our bus drove us up winding hills to the top to the Sintra National Palace also called “Castle of the Moors" constructed in the 15th century by King Alfonso. It was later inhabited by many more generations of royalty and used as one of three of Ferdinand’s SUMMER homes.. (nothing like a 100 room mansion for a summer palace, right?). The palace was absolutely breathtaking from every view, and the extreme fog that was present only added to the mystery of the place. We had a guided tour through the palace equipped with all of its original furnishings and history of what each room was used for. (sorry no pictures were allowed inside!) After the palace tour, we headed to our hotel in Lisbon, (about a half an hour drive from Sintra) dropped off our belongings and headed out for a quick tour of where are hotel was and the plaza square. 

Then a group of friends and I headed out for an authentic Portuguese dinner. We had a fun waiter which certainly made the experience more interesting! Then we all walked around the city a little more and called it a night. 

Authentic Portuguese dinner

Saturday we woke up had breakfast in the hotel and took our bus to the center of town where our driver dropped us off. We then climbed a nearly treacherous hill up to the top to the 16th century old castle called Sao Jorge. With the most amazing views of the entire city, it was worth every step! Not only the unique housing districts of Lisbon but then also the giant jesus statue and the golden gates sister bridge could be seen from the top - not to mention the beautiful ruins of the castle!

After many pictures (literally too many to choose from!) we ventured into the remnants of the castle. The castle still has original walls, forts, and the most amazing views possible of Lisbon.

Castle walls

view from the top

Bianca, Amy & myself with Lisbon in our background

Our ferry

 After the castle we walked back down the hill , (much easier trek) towards a ferry that would take us across to a small little fisherman village to grab another authentic portuguese meal. Because the island has nothing to desire besides the gastronomical culture, right after eating we headed back on the ferry. We then walked around to various street vendors and eventually more mainstream shopping. After exiting a store with two of my friends we stopped to listen to a local boys singing group on the street . They were great and very entertaining! After listening to their first song we were walking away to head on our next adventure and we were approached by members of the group and were asked to join them for their next song. We were asked to wear their black robes and were beautifully serenaded in Portuguese (quite the experience that I will never forget! :))! 

After our once-in-a-lifetime serenade, we headed to a famous Portuguese pastry shop to see what they had to offer.. we obviously all left with delicious treats that we will also never forget! (; After an interesting encounter with a taxi driver (who only spoke Portuguese) who was not too pleased with our Spanglish attempt to communicate, we arrived at our hotel and relaxed for a few hours before heading to dinner. The next morning we packed up our things, checked out of the hotel, and headed with a guide to Lisbon’s most famous monastery. This was obviously not just any ordinary church, and it felt surreal to be able to enter inside just before a Sunday mass. From the monastery we traveled to Lisbon’s “coche museum”, complete with the most antique and expensive carriages that exist around the world... and let me just say, WOW did those people travel in style! Each carriage ‘blinged’ out with statues, gold, and beautiful paintings made this tour an artistic experience! 

Lisbon Monestary

Hanging with the famous "leon" (lion) inside the monastery

Second floor of the monastery courtyard

One of the oldest carriages

From the museum we traveled just across the street to the Belem tower and Discoveries monument, right along the Atlantic coast. Both beautiful monuments with beautiful views of the bridge and Atlantic. We then all grabbed a quick lunch and headed on our long 6 hour journey back home to Sevilla. 

Belem Tower

Discoveries monument

Although I enjoyed Lisbon very much, as always, it was nice to get back to Sevilla. It was this day, Sunday that marked the first time I could say I went to three countries in three days! (Portugal sunday, Spain monday, and France Tues... quite the phrase!) As you can imagine, I was also very excited to be meeting my parents in Paris two days later, so I had a lot to look forward to!