Days 1 & 2 - Lisbon, Portugal

We made our 7AM flight to Lisbon, and started off our first day in Portugal by wandering around. The city had a unique retro feel to it - not the old beauty of Paris or Rome and no where near the chicness of New York or LA, but just a few elements of both. It was simple, almost shabby, as though the city and it’s people hadn’t quite gotten into this whole “modern” thing yet. But there definitely were areas where you could feel the long and winding history of the place. Some of the highlights included great views (and a nap) in a beautiful park, exploring the castle, tasting Sangria, and surviving our first camping experience.

Probably one of the best places we saw was a little village in the south-western part of Lisbon called Belem. We only spent a few hours there, but in that time we saw a really cool monestary/cathedral. The outside was adorned in thousands of little white ornate spires and the inside (free to students - holla) was simple yet elegant. Also in that time I had one of the best pastries I’ve ever had - one of the famed Pasties of Belem - which fortunately we got before the line went out the door! They’re like custardy, sweet mini-pies of deliciousness. It also didn’t hurt that it was crystal clear, warm, and with a gorgeous view of the water.

Observations:

1. The Portuguese rock at making bread. They don’t call ‘em Portuguese rolls for nothing. They’re dirt cheap, soft and delicious on the inside, and crusty and delicious on the outside.

2. Portuguese can do cheese, too. Geez, everyone has figured out how to make milk into hard, salty, deliciousness - why can’t we do it in the US?! Gosh darn regulations…

3. Unfortunately, the Portuguese language is ugly. It sounds sort of like a slurring cat trying to speak German. Good thing Diana figured out how to do the communicating. Between our French, Spanish and English, we did alright.

4. Camping is hard, but cheap. Hard because it’s usually out of the way of things, difficult to find, and literally - the ground is hard. Cheap because it probably saved us 200 euros a piece on our trip. Rock on.

5. There are a lot of French people everywhere. We practically got to speak more French in Portugal than we did in France! That’s what you get when the entire country of France goes on vacation for the month of August…

6. Campgrounds don’t have good supermarkets. Seriously, we felt like it was wartime or something. Our options were refried beans, potatoes, or firewood. But sure enough, the bread and cheese rocked the house (and we had some beans too).