This last weekend, I went with my study abroad group to Lisbon, Portugal. Lisboa (as it’s called in Spanish and Portuguese) is incredibly beautiful and I had a great weekend. Chelsea and I had kind of a rough start to the trip but were extremely grateful for the 6 hour bus ride there so we could catch up on sleep. Once we arrived, one of the first sites we saw out of the windows was a giant statue of Jesus called “Christ the King” or "Cristo-Rei" in Portuguese. It’s actually a replica of an even larger statue in Brazil and looked absolutely amazing. After we checked into our hotel, we got to do some site seeing. We walked around the city a little, which has been compared to San Francisco not only because of it’s bridge which was built by the same company that built the Golden Gate but also because of its hills. So it was quite the hike up to the castle, but my hike got 1000x better when I encountered my friend Holly from UMD who is studying with ISA Salamanco, which just happened to be staying at the same hotel as us this weekend. So we went up to the castle, took some amazing pictures and then walked all the way back down, encountering some peacocks along the way.
View of Lisbon from the castle. Notice the looming clouds :(
The next day, we started out with more site seeing. The day was absolutely beautiful and perfect for being outside. First we went to the Torre de Belem, a historic tower on the river that was used to protect the entrance of the city and later was used as a prison. Next, we went on our way to the Monasterio de Dos Jeronimos or the Monastery of St. Jerome. After that, they dropped us off in a central square and gave us free time. My friends and I had the most amazing Brazilian barbecue for lunch. It was a heaping plate of salad, rice and beans, pork, chicken, sausage, and a fried banana for only about 5 euro! Possibly one of the best meals I have had in Europe so far. Unfortunately, we did not do much sight seeing on our own. We did walk around the city quite a bit and I was able to observe Portuguese people and was very impressed with their good looks and cheeriness. Also, throughout the tours I also appreciated the Portuguese’s rich sense of pride in their former empire and how they love to integrate history into their culture, which is quite different than what I have seen here in Spain.
Chelsea and I by the Torre de Belem.
A man fishing off the rocks in the river.
The crew in the Monstario de Dos Jeronimos.
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