Our bus was at midnight and was going to take around 7 hours to get to Lisboa (Lisbon). I quickly learned that I am not a fan of night buses, which was apparent by the 2 hours of 'sleep' that I got. After we got to the bus station we headed to our hostel, which a stop by a cafe at the metro station. We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and headed out for the day. Our first stop was in the northeast part of the city and we spent a few hours exploring the parks and the aquarium. On our way there we saw a bridge that looks identical to the Golden Gate Bridge. After spending a few hours in the northeast part we headed to Sé Catedral, which is a gorgeous cathedral located towards the center part of the city. Then we headed to el Castillo de Sao Jorge and our timing was perfect because the sun was just about to set and the Castillo over looks the city.
Afterwards we headed back to our hostel to check-in (finally!) and figure out a place to eat for dinner. I loved our hostel, it was extremely clean and the workers were so nice and helped us out so much! Something really weird happened while we were looking at the menu at the restaurant. I thought that I had recognized some friends from IU but didn't want to be that weird person who asks a complete stranger if they were a friend of theirs. However, when I saw their faces I knew it was them and it was the craziest thing! One of them is studying abroad in Madrid, the other one in France and we just so happened to have traveled to Lisboa the same weekend and we at the same restaurant at the same time.
We decided to relax after dinner and take advantage of the free and unlimited coffee, tea, and hot chocolate at our hostel before we headed to bed after a very long day of traveling and sightseeing.
Saturday:
We decided to take the hop-on-and-hop-off bus for the last two days since it was a cheap way to see most of the city. We rode that for most of the morning and got off at a few stops to explore. As for lunch we stopped by a random restaurant that looked good yet inexpensive. At first we thought that we weren't going to be able to eat there because no one spoke English or Spanish and we could not figure out what the menu said. Luckily someone came in at the right time, who spoke English, and helped us order and gave us great recommendations for lunch and of course pastries for dessert.
We continued exploring the amazing sites of the city for the rest of the day, two of my favorite were a park that overlooked the center part of the city and the capital building.
Sunday:
Our morning started off kind of early. After a big and really good (and free) breakfast at our hostel we headed out to visit the neighborhood of Belem. It just happened that during 10am-2pm on Sundays most of the monuments are free, which we didn't know about but were extremely happy with. There is also a market every Sunday that has everything from tea and honey to purses and jewelry and clothing. After our spur-of-the-moment shopping discovery, we headed over to the monastery and spent sometime in there. Mass was happening when we were in there and it was a great experience to listen in and watch a mass in Portuguese, even though it was only for a part of it. The neighborhood also has a very famous bakery near the monastery and we of course went and tried the famous pastry Pastel de Nata and it is one of the greatest things that I have ever eaten!
Afterwards we headed back to our hostel and started the journey back to Sevilla, which involved a night bus and I again barely slept.
Conclusion:
I absolutely love Lisboa, Portugal and would recommend anyone to go there. The city is so unique and beautiful and the people are so amazing!
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