Portugal

After my trip to Italy I was a bit low on cash, and decided to spend the 4 day weekend in March in Madrid, laying low, and saving money. Then Greg and Laura mentioned they were driving to Lisbon and basically made it super hard to resist. It was a truly relaxing four days and it reminded me of the joys of road trips. No lines at the airport, no smashing everything into a 10 kilo suitcase, no putting all of your liquids into tiny bottles. Just pick up and go.

Portugal was exactly as I remembered it, like Spain, but greener, and the people are definitely more welcoming than in Madrid. You can ask for directions without getting glared at or waved away. The food left a bit to be desired though, as one meal I had consisted of a slab of lamb, white rice and french fries. No sauce. The Portuguese waiter spoke to us in English with a very proper British accent, and then looked at Laura with disgust when she asked for something on the menu "That is not Portuguese you are speaking, that is Spanish."

Driving Laura's car gave us the flexibility of going wherever we wanted without having to consult bus or train schedules. We were able to go see the Cabo da Roca (the Westernmost point of Continental Europe), Cabo da Inferno (a huge rock carved out by the sea), the colorful castle on the hill of Sintra, the Memorial del Descubrimiento in Belém (a huge white monument with all the discoverers, including Columbus), and Lisbon's trolley car and castle.

Although Portugal was lovely, one problem they have is their highway system. Whoever designed it must have attended the architectural design school from hell. At one point on the way to the airport to pick up Sandra, Laura's friend, we took a wrong turn (it was the GPS's fault) and ended up in the sketchiest neighborhood of Lisbon. We spent 45 minutes on a hill overlooking the freeway, but with no way to actually enter the freeway. Finally managing to find the freeway, we think we are home free. Nope. We accidentally get onto a 20 kilometer bridge with no way of turning around. The longest bridge I have ever seen. At the end of it, we think, ok, there must be a turn off ramp in order to turn around. Nope. We have to get onto another highway for a few kilometers before we could turn around to go BACK over the lovely bridge. Needless to say we were about an hour and a half late to pick up Sandra, a trip that was originally 30 minutes from our hostel.

But anyway, it was a great way to spend the weekend, watching Greg and Laura take an infinite amount of pictures on their fancy cameras, teaching Sandra about the joys of cooking with cilantro, and gorging myself on Portuguese pastries.


I have included some pictures of the trip.

1. Graffiti art in Lisbon (at the top)

2. View from the Castelo da Pena in Sintra (above right)

3. Memorial de Descubrimiento in Belém (with the 25 de abril bridge in the background) above far right

4. Waiting for the bus in Sintra (at right)