Lisbon, FINAL DESTINATION, AWWWWWWWW
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2008
1
64
65
Trip End
Dec 08, 2008
Lisbon,
Estremadura,
Portugal
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Lisbon is one of those capitals that is worth the visit. A lot of Countries has so many great places to see but the Capitals tend to be a little disappointing. Even though most capitals have the history, they tend to be too busy and just a little metropolitan for my liking. Lisbon is such a charming city. A massive earthquake hit it in 1755 and wiped out most of the city. After the Earthquake, a tsunami came in and took out the rest of what was left still standing. The city was rebuilt in old Portuguese style, the old charm was kept when rebuilt. It is really interesting to walk the streets and see the difference between the old and the new architecture in the city.
I knew very little about Lisbon before I came so it was like a clean slate walking into a city and not having any expectation. Cities like Rome, Barcelona and Amsterdam all have this reputation of being great cities but sometimes when you get there you are a little let down. So walking into Lisbon was really nice not knowing anything about the city. On the second day that I was staying there the hostel was offering a walking tour so I decided to keep the big sites to the following day.
The first day that I walked the 5kms along the river edge to the Jeronimo Monument and the Jeronimo Monastery. A sculpture of the Discoveries, honoring the great explorers of Portugal. A really impressive statue over looking the water. The Jeronimo Monastery was built as a gift to Lisbon. A huge church taking up an entire city block, the Gothic style gives this building its real charm. That was the first day, the walk took about 4 hours so it killed a day pretty quickly.
The second day was really interesting. We took a walking tour throughout the entire city. The old part, the new part and everything in between. Our tour guide Antonio, (Also the chef at the sister hostel of the place I was staying at.) was really informative. I have now taken a few walking tours, mainly just in the big cities. Too much info for one to try and figure out for themselves. This was one of the best tours I have taken, it was about 6 hours long and we covered everything from the castle, the churches, the squares and even the local hang outs. He gave us some really good feed back on the city and then took us out for a traditional lunch. Overall a really cool afternoon. That evening, we had dinner, hit the pub for a few drinks and then chilled out at the hostel for the rest of the evening.
The next day was one of my last in Europe. Seeing that I was homeless the following day, and planning on sleeping in the airport I took Saturday as my last day. I was rooming with 6 Spanish girls, over in Lisbon for the weekend. I hung out with them for the afternoon. We went to the Flea Market, a couple look outs and then out for a great lunch. The Spanish tend to understand and are able to communicate with the Portuguese so it was nice to have a translator there to order a meal. We went to this little hole in the wall restaurant, all locals, the best place to go and ate for a good hour and a bit. I headed back to the hostel and packed my bag for the last time. Oh no. The last time. That is one scary thought. The number of times that I have unpacked and packed is unbelievable. I will definally not miss it, that is for sure. There are a heck of a lot of other things that I WILL miss though..................................
