My first trip outside of Spain- Lisbon, Portugal

When planning our first trip outside of Spain many people asked me why Portugal? Well, why not? Have you ever seen pictures of Portugal? It is absolutely beautiful and the capitol, Lisbon, is the perfect city to do a weekend trip because it is only a 55 minute plane flight! Not having classes on Friday also makes it easy to leave Thursday night and have a great 3-4 day weekend trip somewhere. Flying into Lisbon you get a great view of the April 25 bridge connecting Lisbon to the municipality of Almada. The bridge is extremely identical to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and was actually built by the same company, the American Bridge Company. It is the 20th largest suspension bridge in the entire world! 

Upon arriving into the city of Lisbon it was already a dramatic difference in temperature compared to Madrid. No jacket needed in this sunny city. Not only was this going to be my first time in Portugal but it was my first time staying in a hostel and oh what an experience that was. Because my mom is very particular about the hotel rooms she has stayed in I have always been lucky to stay in very amazingly clean and beautiful hotel rooms. I understand that I paid 12 euro a night so clearly I was not expecting anything special, but I think the bruises on my body from the springs on what they called a mattress explain my satisfaction with my first hostel experience. However, I cannot complain too much because the picture to the right was our view from our hostel room. Not too shabby eh?








Lisbon is an extremely old city which can be shown by their cobblestone roads. Ladies leave the stiletto heels behind whenever making a trip here. There are NO paved roads in ALL of Lisbon and I learned this the hard way unfortunately.

Our first night out in Lisbon we went to a great Portuguese restaurant located only a few short blocks from our hostel. When ordering out in Lisbon make sure you try their cod fish because this is what they are known for. (which by the way I don't know how you can really make cod much better. It's cod for goodness sake! It can really only be as good as the sauce and spices it's cooked in.) The night life in Lisbon was surprisingly very different than the clubbing scene back in Madrid. Instead the portuguese LOVE to drink outside in the streets and not just with a few friends either. The streets of Barrio Alto beginning around midnight will become PACKED with people. It will take a taxi about 10 minutes just to go 3 blocks. 

The following day was an amazing sight seeing experience of the entire city of Lisbon. As a group we decided to take the "hop on hop off" bus tour of Lisbon. I highly recommend this for anyone but especially those who do not have a lot of time to see the city. It was only 15 euro and the bus took us to every tourist spot, monument and sight that needed to be seen! The picture to the left is one of me and my friend in front of the Estrela Basilica in Lisbon. This was my first open top bus tour and it was a great first experience. We were able to see everything and hop off the bus if we wanted to stay longer in one area and hop back on when we were done sight seeing! Definitely recommend this! 

Some of the sights we saw along our tour included the Belem tower, the Discoveries Monument, Estrela Basilica, Lisbon's bull fighting stadium and the national church of Santa Engracia. Our first stop was to the Belem Tower, one of Lisbon's oldest and most well known monuments. The tower was built in the early 16th century as a fortress in order to protect the entrance to Lisbon's harbor. It was commissioned by King John II as part of a defense system and and ceremonial gateway to Lisbon. It has some of the most amazing architecture I have ever seen. 

 

The next site we went to was the Discoveries Monument located across from the Belem Tower and also along the water. This monument shown to the right was inaugurated in 1960 during the celebration of the 500 year anniversary of Henry the Navigator. Not only does it include Henry the Navigator at the front tip of the monument but it includes various other Portuguese heroes.

Portugal's bull fighting stadium is seen to the left. Bull fighting season in Spain does not start until the end of March into early April and runs until about September. Although I'm a little hesitant on seeing a bull fight I will definitely be seeing one before I leave Spain. (And don't worry I will blog all about it!)

Lisbon's Royal Palace

Last but not least before leaving Portugal you must try un pastel de nata, Lisbon's most famous secret recipe! This small flaky custard dessert is a portuguese delicacy. The original recipe for pastel de natas was invented by two catholic sisters in a convent and has since then been heavily guarded. (Only one dessert shop in Portugal has the true recipe for this fine dessert) The original name for the dessert was "pastel de belem" but many pasterlerias have tried to copy the dessert and since then its popularity spread all through Portugal. They are sold in any pasteleria in Portugal however, the only place to carry the true guarded recipe is the Pasteis de Belem which are still said to be the best.