Perusing Portugal: Lisbon, Sintra, and Cascais
"Let's take an overnight bus to Portugal," I said.
"We're young, and 10 hours isn't that long," I said.
Well, after this trip I realized that I'm not as young as I thought, and that 10 hours is a looooooooong time to spend on a bus.
Despite the soul-sucking journey which left me ill for the whole weekend, my time in Lisbon, Portugal was extremely... pleasant.
I had received some insight from my internship supervisor, Luis, about Portugal before I left. In addition to recommending we visit Sintra and Cascais (which we did), he explained that everyone in Portugal is very kind and pleasant, and that the town of Lisbon itself is a bit run-down (due to its position along the Atlantic and exposure to the elements), but nevertheless full of old-world charm.
Seeing as we arrived at 5:30am, an hour before the metro opened and could take us to our hostel, the charm wasn't made apparent right away. However, once we made it to our hostel, Luis' affinity for Lisbon began to come to light.
The street leading to our door was paved with white stone that reflected the streetlights in the early morning darkness. The hostel itself was clearly an old space, that most likely served as apartments long ago, and was thoughtfully decorated, with kitschy decorations covering the walls of the high-ceiling-ed building.
Day one in Portugal was designated as a beach day. After 10 hours on a bus and not even half as much sleep, we figured bumming around on the beach would be a way to do something while not actually having to do anything. So, we boarded a train to Cascais, a town smack on the Atlantic Coast about 20 miles west of Lisbon along the River Tagus. The train ride there was beautiful (at least what I saw when I wasn't nodding off into those incessant micro-sleeps that you get when you're very very tired) and traveled directly along the coast the entire way, passing ships, palm trees, and... the Golden Gate Bridge? Apparently Portugal has it's own Golden Gate Bridge, which is red and everything. Guess I don't need to visit San Francisco any time soon.
The actual town of Cascais is very quaint. It has become somewhat of a resort town, and tends to cater towards visitors, but is not nearly as crowded as other similar destinations. The streets are paved with swirling stone and lined with buildings of every color. One thing Portugal, and the Lisbon area especially, is known for is its use of ceramic for both interior and exterior construction. So many buildings are actual pieces of art, plastered with intricate tile mosaics.
The beaches themselves made up in quantity and quality what they lacked in size. I was surprised to find that the coast of Cascais is not entirely sand, but rather there are little 300 meter alcoves every so often that have been designated as public beaches. I guess I always kind of new that the Atlantic Coast was quite rocky, but it was an interesting contrast from what I had recently experienced in Malaga.
After hours of twilighting on the beach, suntanningburning, and constantly convincing the various tchotchke peddlers that we really weren't interested in their wares, Jessica and I meandered through the streets of the fishing town. The smell of fish along the shore were INTENSE in some areas, wafting up from the piles of crabbing cages and discarded bait. Even still, this only seemed to add to the charm of the city, providing a reminder of the terrain's utility beyond simply being an amazing backdrop for a picture.
Saturday morning arrived and I felt like a new person. Thanks to an early night, I was no longer deliriously tired and was ready to see what Lisbon had to offer. We grabbed breakfast at the hostel, which was amazing (crepes, nutella, scrambled eggs, fruit, nutella, apple juice, nutella....) and full of chatty travelers. We met a mother and daughter from Canada who are taking a month to travel the Iberian Peninsula and exchanged knowledge on all the cool spots in Spain.
Intent on scoping out all the cool spots in Lisbon, Jessica and I attended a free tour of Historic Lisbon. Just like in Zurich, we took the Spanish tour, only this time it was a bit tougher to understand because the guide spoke quite fast. Even so, we learned a lot and saw incredible spots we wouldn't have found on our own.
After the tour, we made our way through the various neighborhoods of Lisbon, such as Bairro Alto and Afama, and came across a huge indoor market that had foods of all sorts,-from pate to pastries to produce- as well as locally made products. It was fun to walk around and get a glimpse of Portugal's culinary culture. (Which includes blue lobsters??)
That wasn't the end of the day's aquatic oddities. Later that night (after receiving news that the strongest hurricane to hit Lisbon since 1842 was fast approaching, proceeding to contemplate our disaster plan, and later being told "loljk its just gonna be kind of windy") we trekked out into the "torrential" weather to experience Lisbon after dark. During our exploration, we happened upon what we thought was some sort of candy shop, but turned out to basically be the polar opposite.
The store was actually "The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines," and was packed as tight as a can of sardines with... cans of sardines. From every year in over the past hundred years. I sincerely hope that the date is just decorative and doesn't indicate the actual canning date.
I was getting some serious "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" vibe, and had such an eclectic array of feelings as I perused the shelves. It was adorable to find out that each can featured a year and some of the most noteworthy events that correspond, and not so adorable to pick up a can only to have my hand become covered in sardine oil. But hey, at least I was reminded that Harry Potter was born the same year I was!!
The palace estate is really expansive. It had so many nooks and crannies to explore, from an underground tower, to an extensive network of caves, to winding trails that lead to random chapels and greenhouses (which looked exactly like where the Mandrake Herbology lesson took place).
"We're young, and 10 hours isn't that long," I said.
Well, after this trip I realized that I'm not as young as I thought, and that 10 hours is a looooooooong time to spend on a bus.
Despite the soul-sucking journey which left me ill for the whole weekend, my time in Lisbon, Portugal was extremely... pleasant.
I had received some insight from my internship supervisor, Luis, about Portugal before I left. In addition to recommending we visit Sintra and Cascais (which we did), he explained that everyone in Portugal is very kind and pleasant, and that the town of Lisbon itself is a bit run-down (due to its position along the Atlantic and exposure to the elements), but nevertheless full of old-world charm.
Seeing as we arrived at 5:30am, an hour before the metro opened and could take us to our hostel, the charm wasn't made apparent right away. However, once we made it to our hostel, Luis' affinity for Lisbon began to come to light.
The street leading to our door was paved with white stone that reflected the streetlights in the early morning darkness. The hostel itself was clearly an old space, that most likely served as apartments long ago, and was thoughtfully decorated, with kitschy decorations covering the walls of the high-ceiling-ed building.
Day one in Portugal was designated as a beach day. After 10 hours on a bus and not even half as much sleep, we figured bumming around on the beach would be a way to do something while not actually having to do anything. So, we boarded a train to Cascais, a town smack on the Atlantic Coast about 20 miles west of Lisbon along the River Tagus. The train ride there was beautiful (at least what I saw when I wasn't nodding off into those incessant micro-sleeps that you get when you're very very tired) and traveled directly along the coast the entire way, passing ships, palm trees, and... the Golden Gate Bridge? Apparently Portugal has it's own Golden Gate Bridge, which is red and everything. Guess I don't need to visit San Francisco any time soon.
The actual town of Cascais is very quaint. It has become somewhat of a resort town, and tends to cater towards visitors, but is not nearly as crowded as other similar destinations. The streets are paved with swirling stone and lined with buildings of every color. One thing Portugal, and the Lisbon area especially, is known for is its use of ceramic for both interior and exterior construction. So many buildings are actual pieces of art, plastered with intricate tile mosaics.
The beaches themselves made up in quantity and quality what they lacked in size. I was surprised to find that the coast of Cascais is not entirely sand, but rather there are little 300 meter alcoves every so often that have been designated as public beaches. I guess I always kind of new that the Atlantic Coast was quite rocky, but it was an interesting contrast from what I had recently experienced in Malaga.
After hours of twilighting on the beach, sun
Saturday morning arrived and I felt like a new person. Thanks to an early night, I was no longer deliriously tired and was ready to see what Lisbon had to offer. We grabbed breakfast at the hostel, which was amazing (crepes, nutella, scrambled eggs, fruit, nutella, apple juice, nutella....) and full of chatty travelers. We met a mother and daughter from Canada who are taking a month to travel the Iberian Peninsula and exchanged knowledge on all the cool spots in Spain.
Intent on scoping out all the cool spots in Lisbon, Jessica and I attended a free tour of Historic Lisbon. Just like in Zurich, we took the Spanish tour, only this time it was a bit tougher to understand because the guide spoke quite fast. Even so, we learned a lot and saw incredible spots we wouldn't have found on our own.
After the tour, we made our way through the various neighborhoods of Lisbon, such as Bairro Alto and Afama, and came across a huge indoor market that had foods of all sorts,-from pate to pastries to produce- as well as locally made products. It was fun to walk around and get a glimpse of Portugal's culinary culture. (Which includes blue lobsters??)
That wasn't the end of the day's aquatic oddities. Later that night (after receiving news that the strongest hurricane to hit Lisbon since 1842 was fast approaching, proceeding to contemplate our disaster plan, and later being told "loljk its just gonna be kind of windy") we trekked out into the "torrential" weather to experience Lisbon after dark. During our exploration, we happened upon what we thought was some sort of candy shop, but turned out to basically be the polar opposite.
The store was actually "The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines," and was packed as tight as a can of sardines with... cans of sardines. From every year in over the past hundred years. I sincerely hope that the date is just decorative and doesn't indicate the actual canning date.
I was getting some serious "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" vibe, and had such an eclectic array of feelings as I perused the shelves. It was adorable to find out that each can featured a year and some of the most noteworthy events that correspond, and not so adorable to pick up a can only to have my hand become covered in sardine oil. But hey, at least I was reminded that Harry Potter was born the same year I was!!
Our final day in Portugal was spent in Sintra, a town about forty minutes northwest of Lisbon. A girl from Brazil named Camila that we met at our hostel was going to join us but ended up not being able to (We might meet up with her again when we are both in Vienna in November).
Sintra was recommended to me by Luis because of its location in a national park as well as the fantastic castles and palaces that reside there. The one we decided to visit was called Quinta da Regaleira. I immediately knew this was somewhere I wanted to visit because the Google image results looked straight out of a fairy tale. The real thing did not disappoint.
The whole town of Sintra was my favorite of the weekend by far. It so green and filled with all sorts of trees, from pine to palm. It is much smaller than Lisbon and just has a completely different vibe. The more time I have spent in Madrid, a MASSIVE metropolitan area, the more I have realized that I really appreciate having access to nature.
The palace estate is really expansive. It had so many nooks and crannies to explore, from an underground tower, to an extensive network of caves, to winding trails that lead to random chapels and greenhouses (which looked exactly like where the Mandrake Herbology lesson took place).
The history of this place was palpable. While the palace was only built in the early 1900's as a summer home for Portuguese royalty, the land itself has been in use for much longer. The tall, narrow spiraling staircases of the towers made me imagine armor-clad knights rushing around to defend the property, the caves prodded images of royal children playing games of hide and seek, and the tall walls surrounding the property led to thoughts of secret assassins trying to sneak their way in. Maybe I've read a few too many fantasy books...
While Portugal shares a border with Spain, there are many differences both culturally and geographically between the two. Even so, spotting traits that the countries shared was just as fun as taking note of the differences. As incredible as it is to be able to hop over to a completely new country for the weekend, I am very much so looking forward to spending this coming weekend in Madrid.
Tapas, anyone?
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