...is beautiful! It's definitely the California of Europe and Lisbon is it's San Francisco. My time here was way too short, but 100% worth it! I had zero expectations and this place blew me away...one of the coolest and most beautiful countries I have ever been to!
more 'from the airplane' shots
Wind...
That famous statue just under the wing...although I think the one in Brazil came first.
I am obsessed with the sidewalks of Portugal:
The day I arrived, it was so beautiful, I went straight to the beach (with my backpack and all!)
Yay for recycling/composting stations on the beach!
I swam in the Atlantic from both sides within a few days of eachother.
My feet in the Atlantic, again! (I had just been swimming in it in New Jersery the week before!)
The little town of Cascais (pronounced kash-kaish, go figure!)
Life's rough, ain't it? The view from my blog:
CS, sunset drinks overlooking Lisboa
It really is San Francisco, complete with its own Golden Gate Bridge replica (not to mention, lots of steep hills, trollies and just simple the shape of it!)
The night I arrived, we had dinner in this old glitsy casino thats been converted into a couple restaurants. it was over the top! and only 5 Euros a person!!!
The food was great. They eat A LOT of meat in portugal!
you can smoke if you go stand in the window
I never would have found this without Couchsurfing (thats why I love it sooo much!). You have to go in the back and tell this guy (in Portuguese) what you want (I don't think there's a menu, you just name off dishes you like.), then they ring a bell, you set your table and you bring out your food and wine. Odd, but extremely fun! It was so strange because you feel like you're walking into a private museum, or castle and you're not supposed to be there, cause no one's there, but then in the corner there are some dusty old tables with clean white linens...
My host for the first night: nicest guy ever!
This place really was over the top
If you ever go to Lisbon (and you can speak some Portuguese) go here:
Then began my own Auberge Espanol
I was soooooo tired, I spent most of the first day just sleeping on the beach...I just really could NOT keep my eyes open.
So in Cascais, being a lifeguard and rescuing people just means standing on the shore and holding out this long stick with a loop on the end...I just hope you're not too far out!
(his name is Bruno, get it! (but he didnt do that!)
Adventures in public transportation:
Each line on the metro system has a color, a picture, and a name
I LOVE it when public transit stations are used as a forum for public art. It gives local artists a platform, it differentiates the stations from one another making it easier for people to navigate/know where they are, it adds to the general beautification of a city, gives everyone access to art, etc ,etc, its just pure freakin genius.
Anyway, here's some of my favorites from the Lisbon Metro system:
again, the symbols for the metro lines...art in themselves:
The family I stayed with the second night was sooo sweet with a beautiful apartment overlooking the water. The dad made a delicious dinner and I had a great time just talking with them. Such nice people. But even sweeter...they had an adorable chocolate cockerspaniel puppy! (these are very rare.) I couldnt get a good picture to capture her cuteness because she wouldnt stop moving, but trust me, she was sooooo cute:
this was a leaf she found outside and wanted to chew up while sitting on my bed (and yes, puppies in portugal also slowly destroy their owners homes one shoe, sock and plant at a time.)
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