Dia de Andalucia: Lisbon, Portugal

This weekend I had a four day weekend because Monday was Dia de Andalucia (Andalucia is the province/region of Sevilla). SO what did I do? I fled the country! I didn't come to Spain to travel (which seems to be why alot of students choose Europe) but Portugal is just so close. Lisbon is about 7 hours away because it's further north but my host family has a beach house about 1.5 hrs away in Portugal.

I had an amazing time. Lisbon is beautiful and the rest of the country is awesome too (from what I saw).  The most difficult thing about being away was that I missed Spanish. I know it sounds crazy but even though I don't speak spanish 24/7 here, it's quickly become my default language. In stores, on the streets, in restaurants, etc. We all felt completely helpless when we realized that we couldn't communicate. Of course it wasn't that bad but I kind of forget that people can speak english too. Alot of people spoke to us in english and that doesn't happen here in Seville because not many Sevillanas know english. I kept defaulting to spanish instead of english. It was quite the experience. Portuguese is written kind of similar, like we could figure thing out, but the pronunciations are completely and totally different. It sounds like french and spanish mixed. I don't think it would be difficult to learn though after learning spanish. But then again I don't really know pronunciations.

Check out these pictures from the first place we went to in Sintra, Portugal.

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Then we went to El Palacio de la Pena (palace of shame?) It was windy up there but really pretty. When I grow up, I want a castle.

 Then we stopped at the "beach" which is really just rocks. Still pretty though!

 Then we finally got to Lisbon!

 Pictures with friends and got to see the sunset.

 Dinner was trout or cod (don't remember). Yes, that's a whole fish laying on my plate. It was really good though!

 Are tour guide knew a club promoter so we went bar hopping. I really liked this jazz club. Small with good music!

 Sightseeing on Sunday!

 No European city tour is complete without a stop at the biggest and prettiest church in town. This didn't disappoint.

 This was part of the church. Maybe the monastery? Gorgeous right?!

 Then to get a better view of the city we went upward and onward!

 We went to another castle but this one only exists because it has an amzing view of all of Lisbon. Its more of a fortress.

Now here's a fun fact:  Lisbon is the "sister city" of San Francisco, CA because a) it's really hilly and needs trolleys to move the people, b) it has a similar bridge thing and c) they're both on the western coast of their respective continents. Interesting right?!

I really enjoyed Lisbon. It's one of those places that I didn't originally have any expectations for. I just wanted to go because it was so close and I've always been curious about Portugal. But it turned into one of those place I can't imagine not having gone. I wish I could've had more time. The hills were exhausting!

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