Last Thursday, February 2nd, I stuffed my backpack full with clothes and others things I needed for the weekend. There were 15 of us and we met up at the cross and decided to go out for some drinks before our train left at 2am. Unfortunately, there weren't any bars open because the students had exams that week. We ended up getting some drinks at the bar in the train station and waited for a good three hours. We quickly learned that we don't need to be to the station early. The train drove up and we all got on and into two separate coches (cars) and were off! There luckily weren't alot of people on the train so we were able to get our own seats and get some rest before arriving in Lisbon at 8am.
As we were pulling up to the station I opened up my curtain and saw the most gorgeous sight ever. The ocean view was phenomenal! We then got off the train and found a little cafe near the station to try and figure out what to do for the next 4 hours before check in at the hostel. We decided to walk to the hostel and check it out.
We walked down calles (streets) of beautiful buildings and the along the shoreline. At this point, I knew this trip was definitely worth it and was going to be amazing. When we arrived at the hostel at about 9:30am our rooms were already ready and they said we could check in early. I was so relieved! We took a quick rest and unpacked a few things before heading out on a free two hour tour given by a staff member from the hostel. It was a great way to learn about the city and it's history. We learned that in the 1980's a church caught on fire because an earthquake hit and all the candles in the church fell down and set the whole town on fire. It took days to put it out and many many years to rebuild the city. They still have some remains left standing that were really interesting to see.
We then found a super cheap supermarket and got some lunch for under 4 euros and then went for a walk around town. We did some shopping, where I bought one shiny gold shirt that I love, and then went and sat on the shore for a few hours taking it all in. We met some Italian guys who actually learned English in high school and they taught us a few words in Italian.
A few of us went back to the hostel to get cleaned up for dinner and the pubcrawl that night. We had spinach soup (surprisingly good), a spicy chicken platter (absolutely delicious), and apple pie (it was more like a brownie?) for dinner. We then just hung out in the hostel until it was time for free shots at 11:30pm! Then at about 12:30pm we left for the bars and clubs. The first few we went to weren't my favorite. They were really smokey and no one was dancing. We then proceeded to the next bar and it was crazy fun! It was a bar connected to a discoteca (disco) and it was jam packed with people. We danced the night away! They actually played a lot of american music which surprised me. They do the same in Spain as well. We left around 3am and called it a night.
We enjoyed a free breakfast at the hostel before going to the flea market at around 10pm. The flea market was huge! There was a variety of things to choose from. There were shoes, scarves, pans, jewelry, tiles and pretty much anything you can think of. I got my friend the most perfect gift while I was there!
After we got back to the hostel we all had some lunch from the supermarket again and half of the group left to go to the castle while my half of the group left for the metro station to go farther down the coast of Portugal. The metro station was really difficult to find. About an hour later, we were on the metro headed to Santa Apolonia. When we got there we immediately saw the sandy beach and took off running to the edge of the water. Many of us got our pants wet but we didn't care. It was so so beautiful. Luckily, it was a beautiful day so we had nothing to worry about. We walked down the shore and climbed some rocks out into the ocean and just sat and pondered and took some candid photos. After this, we found a McDonald's and got our ice cream fix. One worker spoke english so she took our orders separately and brought them out to our table. We then headed back to the metro station and just barely made it in time for the next one.
When we got back to our hostel we all got ready to go out for Christina's Birthday. We got a suggestion for one place but after walking all the way there we learned it was closed...a recruiter found us and we ended up eating there. It was a small but cute little restaurant. They had live music (singing and guitars) and a lot of us had to share food because it was a little expensive (at this point, I only had about 10 euros left...) A lot of people got seafood which didn't look to appetizing to me with the eyes still being on the plate.
When we arrived back at the hostel at 11pm, Alice and I decided to go out again while everyone else decided to call it a night. We ended up going to the same places as the night before, but then our guide called cabs for us and we went into the central part of Lisbon and went to a three story dance club. It was ginormous! You even get a card at the door so when you buy drinks you get the card swept and before you leave you pay at the registers on the first floor. Alice and I went with a group of guys from our hostel that were from England and a group that was from New York that were studying in Barcelona. It was a great night! We were out until about 6am. I don't know how I survived on only a few hours of sleep the next day, but I did!
On Sunday, we packed up our things and had another free breakfast. The staff at the hostel were awesome and let us store our belongings in the basement for the day since we weren't leaving until 10pm and needed to check out by 11am. We got back on the metro to go to Belem for the day. During our short ride there our metro was stopped and a three policemen go onto the metro. They were talking in Portuguese so I had no idea what they were saying. I was a little concerned at this point...An undercover cop eventually said "Everyone check your purse for your belongings." Apparently, someone had their wallet stolen and they were either looking for that person or trying to find out more information. I'm not quite sure. It sure was scary though! When we first got there we went into the Jeronimos Monestary. The structures were so detailed and super pretty. It was another warm, sunny day! We walked along the coast and it was an amazing sight. We say a beautiful fountain, Padrao Dos Descobrimentos (a huge cross with historic figures on either side), a bridge that looked like the one in San Francsico, and the lookout castle. To climb to the top of the lookout castle you had to go up this spiral staircase, but of course people were coming down as you were going up and vise versa so it took us a good 10 minutes to get to the top. A little claustrophobic I must say! The sight from the top was absolutely amazing though. After this, we went to a famous pastry shop near the metro and got Natas (they are the famous pastry of Portugal and the best ones come from Belem.)
We took the metro back to the hostel and then grabbed some dinner from the supermarket and hungout until it was time to head for the train station. We boarded the train at about 10:30pm and woke up in Caceres at about 5am. We all had class at 9am the next and I could barely stay awake! The 5 hour siesta after lunch was plenty to catch up on some sleep :)
It was an amazing experience and I would definitely love to go back some day!
Here are some pictures! :)
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