Friday morning we got up, had breakfast at the hostel and then headed to the neighborhood of Belem. There we saw the monastery, the tower of Belem, which is from the 16th century and was used both ceremonial and defensively, and the discoveries monument, which recognizes famous Portuguese explorers. The weather was perfect in the morning. Then we stopped at a famous pastry shop and had some pasteis and espresso. The pasteis were little pastry cups filled with a unique cream/custard and covered with powdered sugar and cinnamon. They were delicious! We tried to go to the old palace but the route was blocked by construction so we headed back to Baixa, the neighborhood our hostel is in.
I thought it would be cool to get off of the tram a stop early to walk along the street and see things up close. But we got a little lost in doing so. It was okay though because everyone kept telling us, if you don't get lost in the old windy streets of Alfama (another famous neighborhood we were planning to explore), you aren't doing it right. So, I guess we ended up doing it right. We saw the cathedral, the castle (from the outside because we didn't want to pay to go in), the national pantheon and some other stuff. By then, we had our bearings and navigated our way to a major street near our hostel that is know for the shops. Unfortunately, out of blue, it started raining so we headed back to the hostel.
Around 6, we didn't want to be sitting around the hostel until dinner at 9 so we went out to explore some more. We were looking for a café I had found in my Let's Go Europe book. With a few wrong turns, we eventually found it and loved it. There were books everywhere, a mix of comfy seating and table seating, and great [American] oldies playing in the background. As the book recommended we got their lemonade. Mine ended up being a clear drink with lemon and mint in it, not necessarily what I think of as lemonade but delicious none the less. Maddy's version was berry flavor with lemon and it was sparkling, also good. And although it was kind of a weird choice for a Portuguese café, we succumbed to my avocado craving and ordered the guacamole, which did not let us down either.
Friday night we had a fantastic time getting to know some fellow hostel-stayers over a dinner provided by the hostel. It included endless amounts of delicious classic Portugal tapas and unlimited wine. We met people from Colombia, Switzerland, Sweden, England, and Spain! We talked about all the places we wanted to travel or where we had been and the experiences everyone has had in Portugal so far. The tapas included endless amounts of bread, a few different types of cheese, sausage, spicy sausage, blood sausage, toasted bread with tomatoes, oil, and garlic, jamon, giant grapes, olives, etc. It was truly a feast (and only for 10 euro!).
Saturday morning we got up early to go to a big market in Graca. It was not what I expected but it was really cool and filled with natives. It also happened to be the area we had accidentally come across the day before but by Saturday all of the empty roads and parking lots from Friday were filled with things to buy. Afterwards, we headed to the Graca viewpoint that we had missed in our exploring on Friday. It was a great shot of the castle and the city. From there we haphazardly headed back to the area of our hostel to try to find the train station to head to Sintra. It was only about a 30 minute trip and we were there! We saw the most colorful, bizarre palace I have ever seen and went on a tour inside. It was beautiful and had many opportunities for cool pictures! Everyone had told us that Sintra was an all day thing so that was why we got up early on Saturday to also fit in the market. But as it turns out, Sintra is only an all day things if you walk all the way up the mountain and take the tours of Pena Palace, the National Palace, and the Moors Castle. We, however, took the bus up (because I had picked up a chest cough thing) and didn't want to pay for all of the offered tours. So we checked out the National Palace and the Moorish area but opted only to tour around Pena Palace. We ended up being in Sintra for about 4 hours.
After we returned to Baixa, we wanted to check out a gelato place we had walked by a few times already. It was called Gelato Therapy and had the most extravagant flavors. I had the best gelato I have ever had. It was vanilla basil and a little bit of chocolate in a waffle cone. We walked for a bit to help digest that and then relaxed before going back out to eat more. A woman at the hostel had recommended a restaurant that was perfect for fans of meat. We got there and there was a mass of people waiting outside the restaurant (there was no room to wait inside). We stuck it out and ended up waiting at least an hour and a half to ultimately have a slab of raw meat be served to us on a stone, on which we had to "cook" it ourselves. It seems ridiculous when I think about it, but it was so good and was such a fun experience. Due to the late European dinners and our long wait, we didn't get back home from dinner until midnight and then had an early flight Sunday morning so we called it a night.
I loved getting to explore Lisbon. For someone who likes to wander around exploring and then finding your way back, it is a great city with cool neighborhoods perfect for exploring. But based on my experience, I think a weekend was all the time I needed there. By Sunday, I was ready to return to Barcelona.
