We left for Portugal on Thursday, March 23. This was also the day of my last final exam. The exam was for my course on “digital business and competitive strategy.” I thoroughly enjoyed this class. It was one of the most engaging and interesting classes I’ve ever taken. I felt very good after the exam and was excited to celebrate the end of my school semester with a trip to Lisbon! We had heard a lot of good things about Lisbon so I was really looking forward to this trip. I went with my friend Matteus – my friend from UMD who is not living with us – and Matteus’ roommate, Ethan Bitar (we just call him Bitar) who has become a friend of mine this semester. The flight was great! I talked to this mother and daughter who were both experienced travelers. The daughter was only 10 but had already been all over the world. They told me lots of interesting stories from their travels and I filled the young girl in on the world of American snacks (she was very curious about Ring Pops and Gushers). It was nice to have someone to talk with to occupy my time during the flight. When we arrived in Portugal, we took a short bus ride to our hostel. The bus let us off a block or so away from the place so we had to walk. Normally I wouldn’t mind the walk, but we were already pretty tired. Not to mention, the walk was one of the longest and steepest hills we have trekked in Europe. When we finally arrived at the hostel, we dropped off our stuff and got some local Mexican food. It was very tasty! After eating, we took a little walk around the streets of Lisbon but headed back to get some rest shortly after.
The next morning, Matteus and I explored some local pop-up markets around the corner from our house while Ethan caught up on sleep. Here are some pics from that morning. (I also got this cool sweatshirt with Portuguese Profanity! I got it from one of the markets selling motorcycle/skate clothing. The words translate to “F***, that’s a beautiful bike”).
After Ethan woke up, the three of us headed out to a local town that was recommended to us called Sintra. We took a train to get there and got to see some pretty parts of Portugal on our way. Sintra was a beautiful little town with a lot of things to see. As we got off the train, it was drizzling and many hustlers were on the streets trying to get us to pay to head up to the Sintra Palace. But, we were hungry so we stopped at a little burger place and grabbed some lunch before our adventure. After eating, we headed out toward the palace. We were a little unsure of what exactly the palace was but we headed toward the town center where most of the foot traffic was flowing. Here are some pictures of the cool stuff we saw on our way there.
We got to the town center and realized the palace was still up a ways. So, we decided to keep heading up and stumbled upon a hiking trail that took us up toward the palace. The hike was super cool. I had been hoping to hike around Europe and this was a great opportunity to do so. We even came across this cool, wild cat! There was a little waterfall and even some wild goats! Here are some pics from the hike.
We asked some nice people to take this picture of us in front of this cool view. We were all posing and I felt something weird sting my leg. I was a bit confused and worried because I thought it was going to be some deadly, rainforest bug. So, that is why my pose is a little strange and forced. I now believe it was a stinging nettle. Nothing to worry about 🙂
At the top, we realized to get any higher we would have to pay. So, we decided to take a long way down that would take us through some cool parts of Sintra. There was some really cool art, interesting street performers, and some beautiful views. We also came across this super cool little playground nestled into the narrow streets with an amazing view of the city and this super cool hexagonal chair. At the bottom, we grabbed some food. My friend Ethan got Octopus and I tried it. It was my first time eating octopus! XD
The next day, we went to the beachfront and visited the Praça do Comércio (commercial square). We went to the top of the Arco da Rua Augusta! (top of the second picture below) At the top, there were some super cool views of the city and the orange rooftops. We chilled up here for a while waving and enjoying the views.
We all loved the orange roofs. Probably our favorite aspect of the city. But, the whole city was amazing. I really liked how it felt like a vibrant city, full of life and it was a bit less dirty and clostrophobic than Barcelona. I hope to one day come back to Lisbon – and to see more of Portugal. I wanted to go visit the giant waves of Nazaré. However, we didn’t have the time nor the means to go visit. But hopefully, when I am older I can come back and see people surf these monster waves. Here are a few more pictures I took from different points throughout our trip! (p.s. there was this crazy big tree with this wild looking growth drooping off a branch & I thought it deserved to be included in this gallery)
