Hotel Vila Gale Opera Lisbon

... on North Brazil......in fact I think I am rapidly running out of time and will have to be dragged away and on to the plane soon!! <br><br>Thanks to airmiles/lots of travel we're flying Business, so not dreading the 12 hr (ish) flight ....can't wait to tuck in to the free champagne and relax in bed seats etc.....it really is the way to do longhaul travel.<br><br>See you in Brazil!<br>

... driver drove off... for the rest of the weekend I was terrified of black taxis. When we got to the hostel (which was REALLY cool) we met up with the others including a girl Christina I did not know who was from their program. In total, there were seven of us. We had a free "welcome drink" from the hostel on the terrace and ate home made chicken curry at the hostel. We were all really tired, and had to get up at 8 for a tour so we hung out and went to bed.<br><br>On ...

... was a huge tank filled with all sorts of fish, which you could see from almost every area. On the outer perimeter was all the other exhibits which included penguins, otters, and other assorted fish. We then ended the day having dinner at a pizza parlor right on the ocean. <br><br>It was an amazing trip and I really wish we could have stayed longer. <br><br>Until next time,<br>Amy<br>

... foreign attack. We got in to the Tower for free (again, our awesome "student" ID cards) and got to explore the entire thing- from the dungeon where prisoners were kept (it was too low to stand up straight) to the top of the crazy, small, winding stair case to look out over the water. It definitely felt like we were in the "olden days." <br>After we came out of the Tower, it was nearing the end of the day and we were both getting tired and hungry. We hadn't had a normal meal all ...

... piri-piri sauce, but who knows. Onwards around the coast to Sintra, the summer palace of the Royal family for 600 years. Another charming little village which is now pretty touristy, but it still has its original look and feel. We have a couple on the tour, who are generally recognised as "the deadbeats". In the toilets, they can't figure out which is the men's, and which is the women's. They could ...

... the menu. After that, we had some free time before the group was going to see the castle and other monuments, so Kubita, Queena and I ventured out to look for Campo Pequeño, whcih is atheatre + a shopping mall - you could already see the influence of Islamic architecture! on our way back, we walked in COMPLETELY the wrong direction, and although we ran back the right way, we missed the tour bus -_- so we took the metro into the city ...

... Figueira Square, which features a statue of King Joao I on horseback, surrounded by teenage skateboarders. We had good views of the Castle of St. George from there as well. This area was truly European and charming. It reminded me of the area of downtown Madrid with its wide expansive squares featuring statues, towers, and neoclassical buildings. We then walked to the Santa Justa Elevator, literally an elevator that you ride up in order to have magnificent views of the ...

The 2008 Lisbon Liver Destruction Tour The Portuguese invented Port. There's obviously an oversupply situation over there at the moment because the stuff is so cheap. &euro;2 (AUD $3.10) a bottle. I did my civic duty and attempted to correct this oversupply on a nightly basis, one bottle at a time. 'Nuff said. There's not much to see in Lisbon, but what's there is really cool, and it's all in a city the size of Melbourne (even got trams!). Oh, and to top it off ...

... not surprising that there is a lot of naval infrastructure. Our walk along the river westwards also brought us upon some interesting structures like the naval museum and numerous port areas. I guess we didn't stay long enough in Lisbon to really check the place out properly, but I figure it can't have much more cultural stuff than we've already seen and I think we prefer smaller towns in Portugal than large sprawls of infrastructure like Lisbon.

... reccommend it. One of the characters has a mix tape titled, One Winter, and because i'm a nerd... i made it for myself and listened to it while looking at the mountains we passed. [Asleep -The Smiths, Vapour Trail -Ride, Scarborough Fair -Simon & Garfunkel, Whiter Shade of Pale -Procol Harum, Time of No Reply -Nick Drake, Dear Prudence -The Beatles, Gypsy -Suzanne Vega, Nights in ...