July 16-19, 2010
I took an overnight bus up to Barcelona on Thursday night (or Friday morning). We left a little after 1 a.m. and arrived in Barcelona around 10 a.m. I didn’t get much sleep the night before, and I thought that would help me sleep on the overnight ride there. Unfortunately, it didn’t help at all. I slept a little on the bus, but we made stops every couple hours and I was freezzziinngggg so it was a little difficult. The bus dropped us off at Nord Station—where allll of the pick-pocketers hang out. I was extra careful with my stuff, walked across the street to the metro, and took the metro to our hostel.
Our hostel was an interesting experience in itself. There was no sign for it at all, and it was an actual apartment building. We were lucky that someone was coming out when we were trying to get in. But even then, we had no idea where to go once we were inside. I asked someone on the elevator, and they told us where to go though. It was so strange. I rang the doorbell to the apartment on the second floor, and a little Spanish lady cracked the door to see who it was. She was expecting Dee and Sophie to be with us, so she was a little confused why we were there. I told her who we were, and she let us in. I guess she rents out an actual apartment to people traveling to Barcelona. It was a huge apartment though and pretty nice. She was just finishing cleaning the rooms, then she checked us in. The room was pretty big, had a twin and queen-sized bed inside, a shower that opened to the room (with pretty clear doors), and a bathroom. There was a little balcony that opened up to the street. Other than the shower and it being really noisy because of the street outside, it was perfect. Luckily, I had a couple hours to kill before Dee and Sophie got there. I fell down on the bed closest to the door and fell asleep.
Dee called when she thought she and Sophie were outside. They were! I was so excited to see Dee again and too meet Sophie! After putting our stuff away, we headed out for the day. We stopped to get some lunch first. We walked down the road and around the corner and found a cute restaurant that had a bunch of posters of famous American musicians/actors/actresses. They had a little bit of everything to choose from. I ended up getting noodles with veggies. It was kind of plain, but still okay.
After lunch, we walked to Placa de Catalunya—a circular plaza with fountains & sculptures that sits at the top end of Las Ramblas. Some of the most important streets and avenues meet at Placa de Catalunya: Passeig de Gracia, Rambla de Catalunya, Las Ramblas, in addition to Ronda de Sant Pere, Carrer de Vergara. It’s a really cute area—I liked it.
After Placa de Catalunya, we walked Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is a gorgeous tree-lined pedestrian walkway and also the busiest and most lively street of the city. It connects Placa de Catalunya with Port Vell. Along this street, you can find Barcelona’s renowned opera house—Gran Teatre del Liceu. It is among one of the world’s finest. Centre d’Art Santa Monica, a public museum of contemporary art, is also on this street, as well as Mercat de la Boqueria (de Sant Josep), which is the city’s most iconic street market. Las Ramblas are always so busy! They take you from rich at Placa Catalunya to rough at thep ort. You can find almost anything on this street—elegant cafes, retread prostitutes, con artists, street mimes, an outdoor bird market, & lots of great shopping. We saw a guy getting a tattoo on the street—it was nuts! It definitely had to be illegal. They were standing behind a tent, and the guy giving the tattoo had papers in his back pocket with designs to choose from. After he was done, we saw him shove the needle in his pants to hide it—crazyyy!
We stopped at Port Vell at the end of Las Ramblas. There’s a monument of Christopher Columbus right at the end of Las Ramblas. There are a lot cool sculptures and statues down at the Port & close by, like a Roy Lichtenstein sculpture. There were millions of boats there, and the water was beautiful.
After sitting at the port for awhile, we walked to the Picasso Museum. There are more than 3,800 works of Picasso in that museum. It was so cool to see how his style changed over the years—from classic to his famous style. We saw everything from his learning sketches to his masterpieces. Some of my favorites were his versions of Velazquez’s Las Meninas. His versions are so different than Velazquez’s, but the colors and the moods that Picasso uses are consistent with those of Velazquez. They had a Picasso vs. Rusinol exhibition going on when we were there. Rusinol taught Picasso for many years.
After we walked through all 6 or 7 buildings of the Picasso Museum, we walked through Barri Gotic (the Gothic neighborhood). We saw the beautiful bridge above Carrer del Bisbe (a street in the Gothic neighborhood). There are courtyards, grand squares, schoolyards, little flea markets, antique shops, street musicians, balconies—gorgeous. It was dinnertime by the time we finished in the Gothic neighborhood, so we stopped at a Wok to Walk on the way home. I got spicy noodles and chicken that were yummyyy. We went back to our hostel to get ready to go out and ended up passing out at like 8:00. We woke up around 2 and decided it was a little too late to get ready and go out, so we just went back to bed. We had to get up early anyway, so I’m kind of glad we went to bed.
We woke up early on Saturday morning. We got breakfast at a little place right down the road from our hostel and on the way to the metro. I got a huge pastry covereddd in chocolate :) After we got done eating and I finished cleaning all the chocolate off of me, we took the metro to Barceloneta beach! It was packed the whole time we were there, but the water was incredible—I could have stayed in it all day. The sand was dark brown and the water almost a navy blue with huge stones at the bottom. It wasn’t as relaxing as beaches usually are because there were so many vendors coming around bugging us, but I still loved it. There were either Asian women coming up to us saying “Masaje, massage, 5 euros, muy bien”, or other vendors coming up to us selling “Cerveza, coca-cola, agua”. There were people selling towels, scarves, everything. There were a few people topless or with speedos & thongs, but other than that, most people were pretty covered. I wish we would have time to stay there for awhile—they were setting up a skate ramp and a stage for some event.
We went back to the hostel to shower & get all of the sand off of us before we went out to dinner at a cute Italian restaurant down the road. I had some really good spaghetti. It was nice to sit in the restaurant for a little while to cool off. Afterward, we took the metro out toward Castell de Montjuic (Montjuic Castle). We took the lift (Funicular de Montjuic) up to the top of the mountain where the castle is. Of course, I loved seeing the whole city from up on the lift. The Sagrada Familia stood out in the skyline higher than anything else, and the water was beautiful. I think Dee and Sophie started feeling their sunburns by this point. I felt so bad for them. We loved when the lift took off because it went so fast and got a breeze going. We got to the castle and started exploring. The outside of it was sooo gorgeous. There wasn’t a whole lot to the inside of it, but it was fun to go on top of the castle to enjoy the view. Montjuic means hill of the Jews. The fortress served as a prison and was also the site of many executions. We had a photo shoot all around the castle then took the lift back down the mountain.
We walked to the Olympic Park after we got off the lift. It was really cool to see where the 1992 Olympics were held—the first Olympic Games I was alive for :) The stadium was enormous! We walked around for a little while, then decided to head down to Museu Nacinoal d'Art de Catalunya (National Art Museum of Catalunya), which is hugeee and looks like a palace. We rode our first outdoor escalator on the way! We could see Placa d’Espanya from the steps of the museum. There are fountains and waterfalls running from the very top of the steps all the way to the street (& even lining the street). It was a beautiful area. There was some kind of dance class going on in front of the museum. There were probably fifty or sixty people dancing around. We almost jumped in with them, but decided not to interrupt.
We walked around Placa d’Espanya for awhile and then decided to look for gelato. We saw it everywhereee the whole trip, and when we actually wanted some, we couldn’t find it anywhere. We decided to go back to the Magic Fountain of Montjuic to see the light show. We got there when it first started, which was too early because it wasn’t dark enough to see the lights. We went to get dinner down the road so that it would be dark by the time we finished eating. I got a couple croquettes and a huge sandwich. After dinner, it was pitch black so we headed back to the fountain. It was gorgeous! The lights and the water and the music…it was one of my favorite things about Barcelona. I took a bajillion pictures of it, we sat and watched it for awhile, then decided to go back to the hostel. We were going to go to Scobie’s Irish Pub down the road from our hostel, but we passed out early again.
We dedicated Sunday to Gaudi. We woke up early again and got breakfast at this little 24/7 place down the street. I got a cranberry muffin with some kind of berry yogurt on the inside—it was sooo good! The yogurt inside was delicious :) We walked to Gaudi’s Casa Batllo—my other favorite thing about Barcelona. I definitely felt like I was in a fairy tale when I was standing in front of the house. The house was amazing! I want to live there. We walked a little further to La Pedrera, another one of Gaudi’s works that he built for a married couple—Rosario Segimon and Pere Mila. Gaudi wanted the people living in the flats to all know each other so he only put lifts on every second floor so people had to communicate with one another on different floors. I love Gaudi!
We took the metro to La Sagrada Familia afterward—Gaudi’s masterpiece! It is a massive, Roman-Catholic church. It has been under construction since 1882 and is expected to be completed in around 2050. I loved everything about the church—especially the doors and the ceiling. It was breath-taking. We sat inside for awhile and looked at all of the details. We went downstairs and saw where the construction workers make plans and models. We saw the exhibit that showed how nature affected Gaudi’s work.
We took the metro to Park Guell after we explored La Sagrada Familia. We had no idea what a hike it was going to be to get there though. It is basically on top of a mountain. It got to the point that we were walking up such a steep hill that we were leaning forward so much that we could basically kiss the sidewalk. We luckily chose the right side of the mountain to go up though. They had a bunch of outside escalators to help us up. We walked up the back side of the park—to the highest peak, where a giant wooden cross stood tall. We had an amazing view of Barcelona from there. We started hiking down the mountain to see Gaudi’s buildings in the park. The park reminded me a little of the movie Tropical Thunder and a lot of Candyland. We saw a guy playing music on a metal plate thing, and it sounded amazing! The entrance to the park was so neat too, with the lizard statue and buildings that looked like they were topped with icing. We were kind of running out of time, so we headed back down the mountain to find the metro. That took forever. We took the metro back toward Las Ramblas to pick up a few souvenirs and to get lunch. We sat down at a nice restaurant and got some sangria, pizza, and paella. We headed back to the hostel, picked up our bags, and went to the bus station. I was so sad to say bye to Dee and Sophie! I felt like we had just gotten there and were already leaving. I had so much fun, and I really loved Barcelona :)
Friday, August 20, 2010
Lisbon!
July 2-5, 2010
I left for my flight reallyyyy early on Friday morning. The flight was only about an hour, so I got into Lisbon early enough to sleep for a couple hours. I was so excited to see my family! Almost started crying when I first saw Ren and dad waiting for me outside of the gate. We took a taxi back to the hotel, said hi to Mike W sitting in the lobby, said hi to mom and Mikey in the hotel room, and crawled into bed with mom to sleep for a couple hours. We woke up, got ready, and went to breakfast at a McDonald's down the road. Mom got her birthday beer and Big Mac, but Mikey and I ended up drinking her beer. It was Mikey's first legal beer! It was the first time I heard Portuguese too. Portuguese is a really interesting language. It looks like a Spanish/French mix, but sounds like an Italian/Russian mix. I was sooo excited to see my family, I wanted to take pictures of them right away, so I have pictures of everyone with their Mickey D's :) While we were eating, beggars came inside to ask for money and food. One girl poked mom’s sandwich and another time a guy touched my arm. This was the first time this had happened to me. They stood there for a long time, and it was hard because we couldn’t really understand them since none of us spoke Portuguese. They eventually left us and went to the guy sitting next to us. When they asked him for something, all he did was hold up his index finger and moved it back and forth as he turned up his nose and shook his head no. Dad said that must be the trick—all we have to do is hold up our finger and shake our head. His imitation was so funny!
After breakfast, we took the metro to a plaza called Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square). In the middle of the square is the statue of King José I (first monumental statue dedicated to a King in Lisbon). At one end stands the Arco Triunfal (Triumph Arch). The square is surrounded by beautiful, yellow buildings. It was gorgeous there. It smelled so much like the ocean there. We walked out onto some stones that went down into the Atlantic Ocean. We could see the Ponte 25 de Abril (25th of April Bridge) from there. The 25 de Abril Bridge is one of the sister bridges to the Golden Gate in San Francisco. It connects the city of Lisbon to the municipality of Almada. The 1.6 mile long suspension bridge across Tagus River has the longest central span in Europe and is longer than San Fransico's Golden Gate Bridge. It's also one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. We could also see the Monumento ao Cristo Rei (Catholic monument overlooking Lisbon), which is a picture of Jesus Christ standing with his arms up so that he looks like a cross.
We walked up and down tiny streets and hills to get to Igreja Conceicao (church). I loved the engravings around the door at this church. We walked to Casa dos Bicos – a 16th century "House of Spikes" faced with 1,125 diamond-shaped stones. The Palace belonged to Afonso de Albuquerque and is one of the few buildings that survived the 1755 earthquake (spikey house). Afterward we walked to Igreja de Madalena – a 1783 church that incorporates the Manueline portico of a previous church that was built on this site. Right next to Igreja de madalena was Sé de Lisboa - the cathedral of Lisbon and oldest church in the city. It was so easy to get lost in Lisbon because there were so many tiny roads and most of the names of the roads weren’t even on the map. We were lost for at least an hour, but we stumbled upon a beautiful belvedere (viewpoint) on our Alfama walking excursion with an amazing view of the antique houses and Tagus River. All of the antique houses were white with orange roofs. It was incredible.
We finally found our way to St. Vincent - a Renaissance church with royal tombs and an ivory statue of Jesus. When we were walking, we saw a crazy guy on crutches. He hit this girl walking by him with his crutch! Then he kind of followed us as we were walking and started talking to Dad. He was trying to figure out where he was from, and dad didn’t want to talk to him so as the guy was guessing where he from, dad just kept saying no, no, no. Eventually, he told him he was from Illinois, and the guy was trying to figure out what country that was. We ended up leaving, and he didn’t keep following us. I bought a painting there while dad was being questioned by the crazy guy. We saw another crazy lady too. We were walking down a street and this lady just came up and started yelling at everyone. We have no idea what it was about because she was yelling in Portuguese. There were three or four local teenagers sitting down smoking, and at first we thought she was yelling about them smoking, but the teens looked at her like she was crazy too. She flicked Michael in the ear, and started yelling at everyone she saw. She was freaking out! We saw her the next day in a different spot and she was still yelling and flailing her arms. It was so weird. I think she might have been schizophrenic. Anyway, it was sooo hot that day, and after walking in circles we all needed a little break. We stopped at a little place to sit down, get ice cream, and cool off. They had this cool Cornetto Soft machine. The ice cream was frozen in a little package. We put the package in the machine and hold the cone underneath and then just push out the ice cream. It was neat! We saw ice cream and fish everywhere in Lisbon. There were windows full of huge fish of all different kinds.
After we cooled off, we kept walking through the city. We saw a Statue of St. Vincent with St. Vincent's Church in the background. We went to Castelo de São Jorge (St. George’s Castle). This castle sits atop the highest hill in Lisbon to overlook the city and Tagus River. We walked to a plaza called Praça D. Pedro IV, the principal square of Baixa from the 1200s. It is more commonly known as the Rossio, and used to be the scene of bull fights and revolts. Today, the square is very popular as a meeting place. Here we saw Praça da Figueira – an equestrian statue of King John I and a beautiful Baroque fountain. I loved the sidewalks in this plaza. They were optical illusions—they looked like they were wavy but were actually flat. There was a statue at Praça D. Pedro IV - on top of the column is Pedro IV, King of Portugal and first Emperor of Brazil. At the base of the column are four feminine figures representing Justice, Wisdom, Power and Moderation. Across the street from the plaza was Estação do Rossio - Lisbon's main rail terminus. The unique architectural complex houses the rail terminal. The little, yellow funiculars were so cute. We saw Elevador de Lavra - the world's first funicular powered by water and opened in 1884. It is also one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. We rode the Elevador da Glória-which opened in 1885 and is the second funicular powered by water. It links Baixa and Bairro Alto. Lauren, Mom, Michael, and I rode it up the steep hill while Mike and Dad walked up. We thought the hill was going to be a lot longer, and Mike and Dad ended up beating us to the top. We stopped for drinks another time at this little place outside. The drinks there were soo good. We got floats, and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was awesome :)
Once we were at the top, we walked to Igreja de São Roque (Church of Saint Roch) – the earliest Jesuit church in the Portuguese world. It is also one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. It has a plain façade, but a very rich interior. Each of the chapels inside is a masterpiece of Baroque art, and the church houses the "world's most expensive chapel”. There was a ridiculous amount of gold in that church. All of the chapels were covered with it. We saw Our Lady of Piety Chapel in Igreja de São Roque. The central theme is "Calvary" and the 17th century chapel is surrounded by lace-like angels in upholstered wood. We also saw the Chapel of St. John the Baptist in in Igreja de São Roque – which is the "world's most expensive chapel." It was ordered by King John V of Portugal from Rome in 1740, the neo-classic rocaille work was executed in Italy by architects Luigi Vanvilelli and Nicola Salvia. It is constructed of precious metals such as gilt and bronze, marbles, amethyst, jade, etc. The Main Chapel at Igreja de São Roque consists of a retable that includes 17th century images of the four greatest saints of the Society of Jesus: Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, Luis de Gonzaga, and Francisco de Borja. In the crypt are the tombs of D. Joao de Borja and Francisco Tregian. We saw the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament in Igreja de São Roque, which was founded in 1636 with a central piece dedicated to Our Lady of Assumption. This chapel preserves the Holy Sacrament and is protected by a 16th century forged iron grill. We walked around some more, found a great view of St. George’s castle, and went to the Carmo Convent and Church. We saw the remains of the Gothic Convento do Carmo (Carmo Convent and Church) from the 1755 earthquake. After a long day of walking, we decided to go back to the hotel and rest for a little bit. We freshened up and went out to dinner afterward.
We went out to dinner at this restaurant (I think it was called Changa) down the road from our hotel. We went around 6 or 7, which was really early for dinner so the restaurant was empty besides two other Americans. The two guys working there were really nice. They brought us out some tapas first—some ham and really good cheese and olives and bread. We ended up getting 4 or 5 entrees and splitting everything so that we could all try different things. We had chicken, pork, ribs, fish, salad, and potatoes. It was delicious! We got a pitcher of their house wine, which I actually liked. I don’t like a lot of wine, but this was really good. Mom was feeling a little tipsy by the end of dinner & decided to give one of the waiters a hug as we were leaving. She about fell on the walk back to the hotel, then she ran into the side of the elevator and said “Ooooopss”. It was hilarious :) We all hung out in mom and dad’s room watching the world cup games, then went to bed.
The next day, we woke up, got breakfast, and went to the beach! We took the metro to the stop where they also have the train station. It took us foreverrrr to get train tickets to the beach. The line was so long for tickets, and the machines were all in Portuguese. This guy tried to help us, but he bought 6 trips on one ticket (for one person) instead of 6 trips for 6 people. We had to go upstairs to a person working and get everything switched around. We finally got on the train and headed to Praia da Rainha beach in Cascais. The beaches in Lisbon were really different from every other beach I’ve been to. It was like there were little patches of beach spread out along the water instead of one long beach all along the coast. We stared out the window admiring the scenery on the way there. The Atlantic Ocean was beautiful. We got lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach. I got some calamari that was sooo good. Mike Wallace got fish, and he decided to eat its eye just like he saw on tv! It was pretty gross. He had a “jaegerism” as he calls it just before we ordered. He thinks Jaeger is dumb so anytime someone does or says something dumb, he says they are having a jaegerism. He thought Bolognese Spaghetti had bologna in it, so after we told him that it was just a type of spaghetti, he said that he was having a jaegerism. After lunch, we explored the caves on the beach. It was unbelievably beautiful there. We took some pictures & accidentally got some topless girls in the background. We climbed up on a cliff to look out into the ocean. It was awesome. We laid out on the beach for awhile, then decided it was time for more ice cream!
There were a bunch of shops around the area we were at. So after looking around for awhile, we stopped at Santini Ice Cream – a family business since 1907 with ties to the royal family. It is the best ice cream in Portugal! I got a scoop of passionfruit and a scoop of nata (cream). The passionfruit tasted kind of funny—it was really tangy. But I loved the cream! We looked at some more shops & souvenirs. My mom and I went into this one shop that had some of Dahli’s works in it for sale. It’s insane how expensive they are. We walked down Rua da Raita – a pedestrian street in Cascais. Then we decided to go back to the hotel to rest and freshen up again before dinner.
For dinner, we went to a different restaurant a little farther away from the hotel. The restaurant was pretty empty again because we were eating early again. Everything we had was delicious. Mom got tortilla Espanola that was really good. At the end of dinner, the waiter gave us each a little glass of port, which is half wine and half brandy so it tastes like really strong wine. Mom said she felt it when she stood up. We went to the grocery store after dinner to get some Milka chocolates and Magnum After Dinner Frac ice cream. I feel like we ate sooo much chocolate and ice cream while we were in Lisbon. We bought some beer and wine too, and headed back to the hotel. We hung out in mom and dad’s room again until they went to bed, then we all moved to Mike and Ren’s room to watch the world cup and hang out for awhile, and called it a day.
The next morning, we woke up and went back to McDonald’s for our McCafe breakfast. Then we headed to Oriente Station – the most stunning modern sight in Lisbon. Oriente Station is a terminus for the metro, train, and bus. It's one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. Master architect Santiago Calatrava built it with a roof of glass and steel made to look like a row of trees. Right near Oriente Station is a shopping center. The ceiling of Centro Comercial Vasco da Gama (shopping center) was really cool—water is collected on the roof to help cool the building. We could see the water pouring over the glass ceiling. We went to the back of the shopping center which faced the water. We saw Honem Sol (Man Sun), an iron sculpture by Jorge Vieira, inspired by a fusion of Man and the Sun. We walked around Parque das Nações – a park developed in 1998 for the World Exhibition. There are flags and country descriptions of most of the world's countries there, with a cable car line traveling over the park. We saw Torre Vasco da Gama – a 476 ft. high tower built over Tagus River in 1998 for the Expo 98 World's Fair. It is named after Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who was the first European to arrive in India by sail, in 1498.
One thing that was really amazing was Ponte Vasco da Gama (Vasco da Gama Bridge) - Europe's longest bridge at 11 miles long. It opened in 1998 right before Expo 98, the World's Fair that celebrated the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Vasco da Gama. It spans the Tagus River and is one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. We found a park while we were walking along the water with a bunch of huge instruments made out of glass and wood. The park was called Garcia d'Orta. Mikey and I played the xylophone and the triangles. We stepped on squares to make the drum sound. It was really cool! Nearby, we saw Tágides Lake, an art exhibit by João Cutileiro - constructed of marble in 1998. It had a huge boat in the middle of a pool with naked women bathing.
We enjoyed the view for awhile, then headed back toward Oriente Station. We saw Portugal Pavilion - a gravity-defying structure designed by Alvaro Siza Vieira. The sagging concrete roof weighs 1,400 tons and measures 167 ft. by 223 ft. It resembles a sailcloth and is one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. In the picture I took, it looks like the poles are holding it up, but the poles are actually in front of it. We took the metro back to the station we came from, then took a hot & crowded, awful bus to another area we wanted to explore.
We got off the hot bus and got some cold drinks at Starbucks to cool off with. When we finished, we walked past Monument to Afonso de Albuquerque in front of Belém Palace. We headed toward the Monument to the Discoveries - one of the symbols of Lisbon that was originally built in 1940 for display during the Portuguese World Exhibition. This was awesome. We could see sooo much from the top of it. I loved the world map outside of it too. It had the trippy sidewalk around it. From the top of the Monument to the Discoveries, we could see Doca de Belem (the marine dock of Belem), Monumento ao Cristo Rei, Pont 25 de Abril, Jeronimos Monastery, Estadio de Restelo (multi-purpose stadium built in 1956), Belem Cultural Center, Berardo Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and the Tower of Belem. Tower of Belém - a monument to Portugal's Age of Discovery built between 1515 and 1520. The Manueline-style tower is Portugal's classic landmark and often serves as a symbol of the country. A monument to Portugal's great military and naval past, the tower stands on or near the spot where the caravels once set out across the sea. We stayed at the top of the monument for a long time because the view was so breathtaking.
Afterward, we headed to Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery) - Manuel I, the Fortunate, ordered this monastery to be built to commemorate Vasco da Gama's voyage to India and give thanks to the Virgin Mary for its success. The Manueline style architect is combined with Gothic, Moorish, and Renaissance influences. Many of the greatest figures in Portuguese history are said to be entombed at the monastery. Inside the monastery is the tomb of Luis Vaz de Camões, one of the greatest Portuguese poets, author of the maritime epic "Os Lusíadas," which is an account of the exploits of the Portuguese navigators, particularly of Vasco da Gama, and the history of the Portuguese people. Vasco da Gama's tomb in also inside Jerónimos Monastery - he was a Portuguese navigator who established the sea link between Portugal and India (1497-1498), thus setting a new trade route which, for over a century, would grant the Portuguese supremacy in the Indian Ocean.
We went to a market that was near the monastery afterward. I got a really cool ring from this guy who makes jewelry and other stuff. We walked around for awhile and headed back to the hotel. Instead of taking the hot bus, we decided to take the tram. Unfortunately, it was just as hot and crowded. It was pretty miserable. We took the metro back to the stop near the hotel, and as we were leaving, Mike got caught in metro door. We had been making fun of mom all day because she swiped her metro ticket and just stood there and watched the doors open. If we wouldn’t have yelled at her to go through, she would have to go buy another ticket. It was hilarious because Mike was making fun of mom for it too, then he got attacked by the doors! I felt bad for him though because it looked pretty painful. We did what we normally do—went back to the hotel, rested for a little bit, freshened up, and went to our last dinner in Lisbon.
We went back to the restaurant that we all first ate at—the one where mom gave the waiter a hug. As soon as we walked in, they started laughing and smiling at us. We had another awesome dinner, said bye to our friends at the restaurant, and headed back to the hotel. We went to bed early because we had to be up early for our flights. It was soooo sad to say bye to my family. Lauren, Mike, and I went to the airport realllyyyy early together to catch our flights. We had breakfast in the airport, then parted ways.
I had such a good time with them & they couldn’t have come see me at a better time. I was getting pretty homesick by that point, so they really boosted my spirits. I love my family soo much!
I left for my flight reallyyyy early on Friday morning. The flight was only about an hour, so I got into Lisbon early enough to sleep for a couple hours. I was so excited to see my family! Almost started crying when I first saw Ren and dad waiting for me outside of the gate. We took a taxi back to the hotel, said hi to Mike W sitting in the lobby, said hi to mom and Mikey in the hotel room, and crawled into bed with mom to sleep for a couple hours. We woke up, got ready, and went to breakfast at a McDonald's down the road. Mom got her birthday beer and Big Mac, but Mikey and I ended up drinking her beer. It was Mikey's first legal beer! It was the first time I heard Portuguese too. Portuguese is a really interesting language. It looks like a Spanish/French mix, but sounds like an Italian/Russian mix. I was sooo excited to see my family, I wanted to take pictures of them right away, so I have pictures of everyone with their Mickey D's :) While we were eating, beggars came inside to ask for money and food. One girl poked mom’s sandwich and another time a guy touched my arm. This was the first time this had happened to me. They stood there for a long time, and it was hard because we couldn’t really understand them since none of us spoke Portuguese. They eventually left us and went to the guy sitting next to us. When they asked him for something, all he did was hold up his index finger and moved it back and forth as he turned up his nose and shook his head no. Dad said that must be the trick—all we have to do is hold up our finger and shake our head. His imitation was so funny!
After breakfast, we took the metro to a plaza called Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square). In the middle of the square is the statue of King José I (first monumental statue dedicated to a King in Lisbon). At one end stands the Arco Triunfal (Triumph Arch). The square is surrounded by beautiful, yellow buildings. It was gorgeous there. It smelled so much like the ocean there. We walked out onto some stones that went down into the Atlantic Ocean. We could see the Ponte 25 de Abril (25th of April Bridge) from there. The 25 de Abril Bridge is one of the sister bridges to the Golden Gate in San Francisco. It connects the city of Lisbon to the municipality of Almada. The 1.6 mile long suspension bridge across Tagus River has the longest central span in Europe and is longer than San Fransico's Golden Gate Bridge. It's also one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. We could also see the Monumento ao Cristo Rei (Catholic monument overlooking Lisbon), which is a picture of Jesus Christ standing with his arms up so that he looks like a cross.
We walked up and down tiny streets and hills to get to Igreja Conceicao (church). I loved the engravings around the door at this church. We walked to Casa dos Bicos – a 16th century "House of Spikes" faced with 1,125 diamond-shaped stones. The Palace belonged to Afonso de Albuquerque and is one of the few buildings that survived the 1755 earthquake (spikey house). Afterward we walked to Igreja de Madalena – a 1783 church that incorporates the Manueline portico of a previous church that was built on this site. Right next to Igreja de madalena was Sé de Lisboa - the cathedral of Lisbon and oldest church in the city. It was so easy to get lost in Lisbon because there were so many tiny roads and most of the names of the roads weren’t even on the map. We were lost for at least an hour, but we stumbled upon a beautiful belvedere (viewpoint) on our Alfama walking excursion with an amazing view of the antique houses and Tagus River. All of the antique houses were white with orange roofs. It was incredible.
We finally found our way to St. Vincent - a Renaissance church with royal tombs and an ivory statue of Jesus. When we were walking, we saw a crazy guy on crutches. He hit this girl walking by him with his crutch! Then he kind of followed us as we were walking and started talking to Dad. He was trying to figure out where he was from, and dad didn’t want to talk to him so as the guy was guessing where he from, dad just kept saying no, no, no. Eventually, he told him he was from Illinois, and the guy was trying to figure out what country that was. We ended up leaving, and he didn’t keep following us. I bought a painting there while dad was being questioned by the crazy guy. We saw another crazy lady too. We were walking down a street and this lady just came up and started yelling at everyone. We have no idea what it was about because she was yelling in Portuguese. There were three or four local teenagers sitting down smoking, and at first we thought she was yelling about them smoking, but the teens looked at her like she was crazy too. She flicked Michael in the ear, and started yelling at everyone she saw. She was freaking out! We saw her the next day in a different spot and she was still yelling and flailing her arms. It was so weird. I think she might have been schizophrenic. Anyway, it was sooo hot that day, and after walking in circles we all needed a little break. We stopped at a little place to sit down, get ice cream, and cool off. They had this cool Cornetto Soft machine. The ice cream was frozen in a little package. We put the package in the machine and hold the cone underneath and then just push out the ice cream. It was neat! We saw ice cream and fish everywhere in Lisbon. There were windows full of huge fish of all different kinds.
After we cooled off, we kept walking through the city. We saw a Statue of St. Vincent with St. Vincent's Church in the background. We went to Castelo de São Jorge (St. George’s Castle). This castle sits atop the highest hill in Lisbon to overlook the city and Tagus River. We walked to a plaza called Praça D. Pedro IV, the principal square of Baixa from the 1200s. It is more commonly known as the Rossio, and used to be the scene of bull fights and revolts. Today, the square is very popular as a meeting place. Here we saw Praça da Figueira – an equestrian statue of King John I and a beautiful Baroque fountain. I loved the sidewalks in this plaza. They were optical illusions—they looked like they were wavy but were actually flat. There was a statue at Praça D. Pedro IV - on top of the column is Pedro IV, King of Portugal and first Emperor of Brazil. At the base of the column are four feminine figures representing Justice, Wisdom, Power and Moderation. Across the street from the plaza was Estação do Rossio - Lisbon's main rail terminus. The unique architectural complex houses the rail terminal. The little, yellow funiculars were so cute. We saw Elevador de Lavra - the world's first funicular powered by water and opened in 1884. It is also one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. We rode the Elevador da Glória-which opened in 1885 and is the second funicular powered by water. It links Baixa and Bairro Alto. Lauren, Mom, Michael, and I rode it up the steep hill while Mike and Dad walked up. We thought the hill was going to be a lot longer, and Mike and Dad ended up beating us to the top. We stopped for drinks another time at this little place outside. The drinks there were soo good. We got floats, and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was awesome :)
Once we were at the top, we walked to Igreja de São Roque (Church of Saint Roch) – the earliest Jesuit church in the Portuguese world. It is also one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. It has a plain façade, but a very rich interior. Each of the chapels inside is a masterpiece of Baroque art, and the church houses the "world's most expensive chapel”. There was a ridiculous amount of gold in that church. All of the chapels were covered with it. We saw Our Lady of Piety Chapel in Igreja de São Roque. The central theme is "Calvary" and the 17th century chapel is surrounded by lace-like angels in upholstered wood. We also saw the Chapel of St. John the Baptist in in Igreja de São Roque – which is the "world's most expensive chapel." It was ordered by King John V of Portugal from Rome in 1740, the neo-classic rocaille work was executed in Italy by architects Luigi Vanvilelli and Nicola Salvia. It is constructed of precious metals such as gilt and bronze, marbles, amethyst, jade, etc. The Main Chapel at Igreja de São Roque consists of a retable that includes 17th century images of the four greatest saints of the Society of Jesus: Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, Luis de Gonzaga, and Francisco de Borja. In the crypt are the tombs of D. Joao de Borja and Francisco Tregian. We saw the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament in Igreja de São Roque, which was founded in 1636 with a central piece dedicated to Our Lady of Assumption. This chapel preserves the Holy Sacrament and is protected by a 16th century forged iron grill. We walked around some more, found a great view of St. George’s castle, and went to the Carmo Convent and Church. We saw the remains of the Gothic Convento do Carmo (Carmo Convent and Church) from the 1755 earthquake. After a long day of walking, we decided to go back to the hotel and rest for a little bit. We freshened up and went out to dinner afterward.
We went out to dinner at this restaurant (I think it was called Changa) down the road from our hotel. We went around 6 or 7, which was really early for dinner so the restaurant was empty besides two other Americans. The two guys working there were really nice. They brought us out some tapas first—some ham and really good cheese and olives and bread. We ended up getting 4 or 5 entrees and splitting everything so that we could all try different things. We had chicken, pork, ribs, fish, salad, and potatoes. It was delicious! We got a pitcher of their house wine, which I actually liked. I don’t like a lot of wine, but this was really good. Mom was feeling a little tipsy by the end of dinner & decided to give one of the waiters a hug as we were leaving. She about fell on the walk back to the hotel, then she ran into the side of the elevator and said “Ooooopss”. It was hilarious :) We all hung out in mom and dad’s room watching the world cup games, then went to bed.
The next day, we woke up, got breakfast, and went to the beach! We took the metro to the stop where they also have the train station. It took us foreverrrr to get train tickets to the beach. The line was so long for tickets, and the machines were all in Portuguese. This guy tried to help us, but he bought 6 trips on one ticket (for one person) instead of 6 trips for 6 people. We had to go upstairs to a person working and get everything switched around. We finally got on the train and headed to Praia da Rainha beach in Cascais. The beaches in Lisbon were really different from every other beach I’ve been to. It was like there were little patches of beach spread out along the water instead of one long beach all along the coast. We stared out the window admiring the scenery on the way there. The Atlantic Ocean was beautiful. We got lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach. I got some calamari that was sooo good. Mike Wallace got fish, and he decided to eat its eye just like he saw on tv! It was pretty gross. He had a “jaegerism” as he calls it just before we ordered. He thinks Jaeger is dumb so anytime someone does or says something dumb, he says they are having a jaegerism. He thought Bolognese Spaghetti had bologna in it, so after we told him that it was just a type of spaghetti, he said that he was having a jaegerism. After lunch, we explored the caves on the beach. It was unbelievably beautiful there. We took some pictures & accidentally got some topless girls in the background. We climbed up on a cliff to look out into the ocean. It was awesome. We laid out on the beach for awhile, then decided it was time for more ice cream!
There were a bunch of shops around the area we were at. So after looking around for awhile, we stopped at Santini Ice Cream – a family business since 1907 with ties to the royal family. It is the best ice cream in Portugal! I got a scoop of passionfruit and a scoop of nata (cream). The passionfruit tasted kind of funny—it was really tangy. But I loved the cream! We looked at some more shops & souvenirs. My mom and I went into this one shop that had some of Dahli’s works in it for sale. It’s insane how expensive they are. We walked down Rua da Raita – a pedestrian street in Cascais. Then we decided to go back to the hotel to rest and freshen up again before dinner.
For dinner, we went to a different restaurant a little farther away from the hotel. The restaurant was pretty empty again because we were eating early again. Everything we had was delicious. Mom got tortilla Espanola that was really good. At the end of dinner, the waiter gave us each a little glass of port, which is half wine and half brandy so it tastes like really strong wine. Mom said she felt it when she stood up. We went to the grocery store after dinner to get some Milka chocolates and Magnum After Dinner Frac ice cream. I feel like we ate sooo much chocolate and ice cream while we were in Lisbon. We bought some beer and wine too, and headed back to the hotel. We hung out in mom and dad’s room again until they went to bed, then we all moved to Mike and Ren’s room to watch the world cup and hang out for awhile, and called it a day.
The next morning, we woke up and went back to McDonald’s for our McCafe breakfast. Then we headed to Oriente Station – the most stunning modern sight in Lisbon. Oriente Station is a terminus for the metro, train, and bus. It's one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. Master architect Santiago Calatrava built it with a roof of glass and steel made to look like a row of trees. Right near Oriente Station is a shopping center. The ceiling of Centro Comercial Vasco da Gama (shopping center) was really cool—water is collected on the roof to help cool the building. We could see the water pouring over the glass ceiling. We went to the back of the shopping center which faced the water. We saw Honem Sol (Man Sun), an iron sculpture by Jorge Vieira, inspired by a fusion of Man and the Sun. We walked around Parque das Nações – a park developed in 1998 for the World Exhibition. There are flags and country descriptions of most of the world's countries there, with a cable car line traveling over the park. We saw Torre Vasco da Gama – a 476 ft. high tower built over Tagus River in 1998 for the Expo 98 World's Fair. It is named after Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who was the first European to arrive in India by sail, in 1498.
One thing that was really amazing was Ponte Vasco da Gama (Vasco da Gama Bridge) - Europe's longest bridge at 11 miles long. It opened in 1998 right before Expo 98, the World's Fair that celebrated the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Vasco da Gama. It spans the Tagus River and is one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. We found a park while we were walking along the water with a bunch of huge instruments made out of glass and wood. The park was called Garcia d'Orta. Mikey and I played the xylophone and the triangles. We stepped on squares to make the drum sound. It was really cool! Nearby, we saw Tágides Lake, an art exhibit by João Cutileiro - constructed of marble in 1998. It had a huge boat in the middle of a pool with naked women bathing.
We enjoyed the view for awhile, then headed back toward Oriente Station. We saw Portugal Pavilion - a gravity-defying structure designed by Alvaro Siza Vieira. The sagging concrete roof weighs 1,400 tons and measures 167 ft. by 223 ft. It resembles a sailcloth and is one of Lisbon's top 10 architectural sites. In the picture I took, it looks like the poles are holding it up, but the poles are actually in front of it. We took the metro back to the station we came from, then took a hot & crowded, awful bus to another area we wanted to explore.
We got off the hot bus and got some cold drinks at Starbucks to cool off with. When we finished, we walked past Monument to Afonso de Albuquerque in front of Belém Palace. We headed toward the Monument to the Discoveries - one of the symbols of Lisbon that was originally built in 1940 for display during the Portuguese World Exhibition. This was awesome. We could see sooo much from the top of it. I loved the world map outside of it too. It had the trippy sidewalk around it. From the top of the Monument to the Discoveries, we could see Doca de Belem (the marine dock of Belem), Monumento ao Cristo Rei, Pont 25 de Abril, Jeronimos Monastery, Estadio de Restelo (multi-purpose stadium built in 1956), Belem Cultural Center, Berardo Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and the Tower of Belem. Tower of Belém - a monument to Portugal's Age of Discovery built between 1515 and 1520. The Manueline-style tower is Portugal's classic landmark and often serves as a symbol of the country. A monument to Portugal's great military and naval past, the tower stands on or near the spot where the caravels once set out across the sea. We stayed at the top of the monument for a long time because the view was so breathtaking.
Afterward, we headed to Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery) - Manuel I, the Fortunate, ordered this monastery to be built to commemorate Vasco da Gama's voyage to India and give thanks to the Virgin Mary for its success. The Manueline style architect is combined with Gothic, Moorish, and Renaissance influences. Many of the greatest figures in Portuguese history are said to be entombed at the monastery. Inside the monastery is the tomb of Luis Vaz de Camões, one of the greatest Portuguese poets, author of the maritime epic "Os Lusíadas," which is an account of the exploits of the Portuguese navigators, particularly of Vasco da Gama, and the history of the Portuguese people. Vasco da Gama's tomb in also inside Jerónimos Monastery - he was a Portuguese navigator who established the sea link between Portugal and India (1497-1498), thus setting a new trade route which, for over a century, would grant the Portuguese supremacy in the Indian Ocean.
We went to a market that was near the monastery afterward. I got a really cool ring from this guy who makes jewelry and other stuff. We walked around for awhile and headed back to the hotel. Instead of taking the hot bus, we decided to take the tram. Unfortunately, it was just as hot and crowded. It was pretty miserable. We took the metro back to the stop near the hotel, and as we were leaving, Mike got caught in metro door. We had been making fun of mom all day because she swiped her metro ticket and just stood there and watched the doors open. If we wouldn’t have yelled at her to go through, she would have to go buy another ticket. It was hilarious because Mike was making fun of mom for it too, then he got attacked by the doors! I felt bad for him though because it looked pretty painful. We did what we normally do—went back to the hotel, rested for a little bit, freshened up, and went to our last dinner in Lisbon.
We went back to the restaurant that we all first ate at—the one where mom gave the waiter a hug. As soon as we walked in, they started laughing and smiling at us. We had another awesome dinner, said bye to our friends at the restaurant, and headed back to the hotel. We went to bed early because we had to be up early for our flights. It was soooo sad to say bye to my family. Lauren, Mike, and I went to the airport realllyyyy early together to catch our flights. We had breakfast in the airport, then parted ways.
I had such a good time with them & they couldn’t have come see me at a better time. I was getting pretty homesick by that point, so they really boosted my spirits. I love my family soo much!
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