The next morning we went on a free walking tour of the city. Although our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable, we didn't get the in depth tour that we were hoping for having experienced two great ones in Berlin and Budapest. However, that's not to say that we didn't absolutely love what we saw, because we did. Gorgeous brightly colored buildings of blues, oranges, yellows, reds, beautiful tiling on the walls of buildings in blues and yellows, flowers everywhere, and cobblestone streets. After the tour we went to a flea market that was taking place next to the nearby St. Vincent's church (heyyyy high school) and each bought ourselves some jewelry. Then, we found a cute restaurant nearby where we got lunch. In addition to our lunch we each ordered some wine. We found on the menu what we thought to be a glass of wine for 2Euro80 and each ordered one. As it turns out, Melanie and I aren't the brightest when it comes to liquid volume and, lo and behold, our 2Euro80 glasses of wine were actually BOTTLES of wine. Being drunk at 2:30 pm on a Tuesday in public definitely added to our classy points. Obregado, Portugal.
After napping off our buzz we walked around our area a bit and eventually tried to find a place for dinner. As we walked around the surrounding streets we weren't in the mood for most of the restaurants as they were either too pricey for our budget or none of the food struck our fancy. Just as we were beginning to give up looking at a final menu and beginning to walk away, one of the workers says "We have Indian food, too!" Fun fact about Melanie and I: we never say no to Indian food. SOLD! That evening Melanie began to feel a little under the weather so we just hung out in our hostel with some of the other guests and went to sleep early.
The following morning we woke up early to take the train to Sintra, a town about 30 minutes away by train. Many people recommended Sintra to me before I went to Portugal so we decided to check it out. Upon arriving in Sintra you notice lots of adorable streets with restaurants and shops everywhere. However, if you look up the mountain you'll notice castles, and those are the real reasons that people recommended Sintra. People also recommended taking the bus up the mountains, but Melanie and I are two fit ladies so we ended up walking up the mountains. After 45 minutes or so of an upward climb we reached the top (Harry, I've reached the top!) of the mountain where the Castelo dos Mouros, the Mourish Castle, is located. Unfortunately, I was laboring under the impression that entrance to the castle was free. It wasn't. After weighing our options, we decided not to pay the money to go inside the castle and instead bought some ice cream and headed back down the mountain. Although we didn't go inside the castle, we did get some nice ice cream out of our trek, so the arduous climb was still totally worth it.
That evening we had dinner at our doner place, walked to the nearby Praca de Comercio located on the waterfront as the sun was setting and began to get sad. It was Melanie's last night in Europe. The following morning she flew back to California and I took the train to Porto where I stayed for the evening in a lovely hostel then flew to Rome bright and early the next morning.
I have been in Rome for 3 days and am leaving for Florence in a few hours. Next post will be about my wonderful Roman holiday.
Praca de Rossio
These types of tiles are everywhere
Standing on the ruins of a huge earthquake that occurred in 1755
Typical Lisbon houses/buildings
Bright colors
Bridge constructed by the same architect as the GG Bridge
Delicious lunch (and THE bottle of wine)
(above) Statue on the way up the mountains in Sintra
(above) View of the valley from the mountains in Sintra
(above) More brightly colored houses in Sintra
(above) Praca de Comercio in Lisbon
(above) Arco de Triompho in Lisbon
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