Buenos Dias,
What a week. After Natalie left I was here in Madrid pretty much by myself for a while. My friends were on other trips of their own and my host mother had gone to see her mom, so I had quiet a bit of time to myself while it was raining. I got to see the botanical gardens in Madrid, which were very very pretty. Lots of flowers everywhere. And then there was Portugal....most amazing city I have been to thus far. We stayed in a gostel up on the top of the city, the terrace had a BEAUTIFUL view that over looked the city and its red rooftops. The people were so nice there as well. The city reminded me a little of San Francisco, it had trollys and lots of hills and colors. Yet, the city had this serene aura. It was so quiet and calm. The city also has so many buildings made with tiles along the whole building! Gorgeous! We went to the Saint Jorge Castle, which was also on top of the city with a beautiful view of the city and the ocean. We were able to climb on all the ruins of the castle. There were a lot of peacocks that roamed around there, but it was cool to see them "in the wild." The whole first day we just spent exploring the city. There is an elevador in the middle of the city, which is the oldest in Lisbon and goes pretty high for another gorgeous view. We went looking for some of the cathedrals and came across an amazing Saint Anthony chapel. It was where his parents had lived and you could see where he was born! Then at night we went to explore the nightlife and it was so unique because all the bars were these little hole in the wall places, but everyone just stood in the streets and socialized there.
The second day we went to Cascais, a beach up on the train about 40 min. Lisbon is on the inset of Portugal so the water is just a river with boats. The beaches were really nice, but the water was a little cold! Of course, I got in and swam anyway. There weren't a lot of waves, and where there were it was kind of rocky. But it was still so beautiful. At night we had a Portugese dinner at the hostel, which was so tasty. Their food has a lot of flavor, the opposite of Madrid. It was a stew of like peas and carrots and a boiled egg on top. The night before they also had a dinner in the hostel and it was also delicious! They had a band come and play some Portugese music as well which was beautiful, but I couldn't understand any of it. Portugese and Spanish are very similar languages, yet they are pronounced completely differntly. People in Lisbon spoke more English than Spanish so we didn't have too much trouble getting around.
The final day Kristen and I went to Sintra. That is where they have all these big castels. It's also in a "fairy land" because there are so many trees and greenery everywhere. We went to one castle, Quinta, which was the closest. It was more like a park that took us about 3 hours to explore. There were a lot of ponds that were so beautiful. One was covered in algea, but you could walk on the stones. While we are walking, this little 5 year old behind us falls all the way in the water, covered in algea. Poor kid. There was a huge well that we walked down into. Amazing. And underground pathways that you could walk through. There were also all these castle towers you could walk up, like you were a princess. Anyway, I could talk forever about how beautiful this city was. In Madrid for a while now even though we have a 3 day weekend this week. They spoil us. Until next time <3
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