Hotel S. Juliao Lisbon

... was a wonderful experience.

We took our time moving back to the Metro and headed back to the Old Town area in hopes of finding a restaurant where we could hear some spontaneous Fado (a sort-of Portuguese rendition of the Blues). We did find a couple of restaurants that featured such music but none of the musicians were starting until 9:00 which was a bit too late for us. We ended up taking a bus to the Cafe Suisse where we had ...

... the river Tajo, which is an important river in Portugal and Spain. That in and of itself made me happy--I love being near large bodies of water! Belen has three main tourist attractions: The Monument of Discovery (of America), the Tower of Belen, and St. Jeronimos Monastery. St. Jeronimos Monastery by far takes the cake out of those three. It was absolutely gorgeous as you'll see in the pictures. Also in this area is a famous pastry ...

... like the good students we are). We left Madrid early on Saturday and had all day to explore the city. After checking into our hostel, we tried having lunch at the Barrio Alto. Of course, the tram was broken so we had to hike up the largest hill of my life to get to this area of the city. Of course the view was gorgeous, so it was worth it. Nothing was open when we got there, so we ...

... then wandered back via a supermarket for provisions for the next days 22 hour coach journey. Back at the hostel, I had supper and rested my weary feet - turns out I'd walked for 6 hours, who knows where I'd been. Then as the female tendancy towards thrush whilst on holiday had asserted itself went out to find a pharmacy and Canesten cream - thanks be to all the gods I had the end of a tube of the stuff in my medical kit as my portuguese would have failed at that and that ...

... the development of the Age of Discovery.  After snapping a few photos, I headed down the boardwalk to the magnificent Tower of Belem, which was built to protect the Lisbon harbor from pirates and invaders.  After snapping some photos, it began to rain pretty hard, so I headed back to the hostel to wait the rain out and grab a bite to eat.   For dinner, I went out with two guys from my hostel to Alicorista where my favorite waiter recommended and excellent cod dish ...

... into a national art form. Inside the museum was a history of azulejos from Moorish times to the present. There were some amazing designs with one depicting Lisbon prior to the ...

... flight back to London. We said our good-byes and the rest of us continued on the the tower. Ally and I went in the tower and checked it out, climbing all the way to the top. It was pretty cool. After the tower we crossed the street and backtracked a bit to a church which was massive, the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. It was really cool but we only went in the free church part and didn't bother with the ...

ok, so now, the official update is thus....apparently a lady at the lisbon airport claims she has my bag and that it will be delivered to our hotel this evening. i am trusting that this is accuarate information. we are heading out to dinner now, and i am hoping that by midnight, that my stuff will be returned. no need to ...

... of a caravel!! It is an interesting place to visit but I think it could be a lot more interesting if the staircase between each level was wider. I didn't like it when I climbed up the tower, because it was too tired and difficult for me to reach to each level of the tower through the narrow spiral staircase. (but........maybe the problem it wasn't the staircase, it was me who was too weak!!) In Lisbon, you can get around easily by metro (which is ...

... banter. I haven't laughed so much in a long time. It was also nice just to be based in one location rather than move from place to place every few days (I must be getting old). Lisbon also proved to be one of the greatest cities I've ever visited and showed me that Europe has plenty to offer and that you don't have to fly off thousand of miles to see something cultural different. The Portuguese people were also very welcoming and I thought the tournament was extremely well ...