I Don't Speak Portuguese

This past weekend 2 friends and I went on a trip offered by Cursos Internacionales in the University to Lisbon, Portugal (Lisboa in Spanish). It was a lot cheaper than if we had gone on our own, and we had a guide so we figured it would be good. Unfortunately it was a group of 50 people, which doesn't make anything easy, but I'm still glad I went.

It took us around 6 hours to get to Lisbon, and once we got there we had some free time and then we went as a group to see El Castillo de San Jorge, the Cathedral, and the Plaza del Comercio. The Cathedral was really pretty, but I've come to the conclusion that once you've seen a Cathedral in Europe you've seen them all. The Castle was at the top of a mountain (that was a fun walk) and there were some gorgeous views from the top. There wasn't much of a castle left, just some ruins, but it was really cool to see. When we visted the Plaza del Comercio and the Cathedral we learned that most of Lisbon was destroyed by an earthquake in 1755 and therefore most of the architecture is from the 1800s. No wonder it doesn't look quite as old as everything in Spain...

Views from the Castle Ruins

That night we went on a crazy adventure to find a restaurant that our program director had suggested. But after searching for a while and asking a lot of people for directions (p.s. this is hard when you don't speak portuguese), we decided it didn't exist. Luckily a nice guy that worked in some store recommended a different restaurant for us and it was delicious. We had grilled shrimp and a kebab (sp?) of grilled peppers, onions, and pork wrapped in bacon...yeahhh. We also had bacalao (cod) with potatoes because that's what Lisbon is known for.

Yummm pork wrapped in bacon...

The next day we went to the Monasterio de Los Jeronimos, Torre de Belem (used to make sure that boats paid the entrance tax on the river), and the Monumento a los Navegantes (built to honor the explorers who "discovered" India- Vasco de Gama- and other places). After all of this we took a break for lunch and then saw La Boca do Inferno (where the waves crash onto a really rocky cliff) and then on to the beach at Cascais.

Monasterio de los Jeronimos

Monumento a los Navegantes

Torre de Belem

Boca de Inferno

The beach in Cascais

After we got back from all of this we successfully navegated the subway and the boat taxis to get to a restaurant across the river for dinner. We had to walk down a pitch black street with creepy buildings on one side and the river on the other to get to it, but it was really pretty once we got there! Except for the gross cats that wandered around all the tables waiting for good...yuck.

On Sunday on our way back to Salamanca we stopped in Obidos, a cute little medieval town closed in by a fortress wall, and then to the Monasterio de Batalha. The monastery was huge and really really pretty. We also got to see the Monument to Unknown Soldiers and watched the changing of the guards there. Part of the Monastery is the "unfinished chapels" which is where the building of the Monastery was stopped because the King changed and the new King wanted to build something that people would remember as his doing, not the other King's. Oh politics.

Obidos

Monasterio de Batalha

I wasn't super impressed with the city parts of Lisbon, but all of the areas on the outskirts were gorgeous and I really enjoyed all the monuments and things that we got to see. Maybe I would have liked the city more if we hadn't been with a huge group.

Yes, they sell beer in vending machines. Odd.

P.S. there are a lot more pictures on facebook!