portugal: lisbon

portugal is a new country for me...i don't know why i've never visited previously, but hey, i'm here now...
i flew here straight from kyiv, which was nice...before departing ukraine, i arranged a shuttle to my hotel in lisbon...my flight arrived long after dark, which is something i have always hated...it was 15C, which is apparently warmer than a typical winter in lisbon, but felt especially warm to me, since i was coming from negative temperatures...
i checked in and went to sleep almost straightaway...

the next morning i woke up and though it was cloudy, it was still over 10C...i wore a tshirt and pants, then tied a jacket around my waist...i was less than 100 meters from my hotel the first time someone on the street stopped me to ask if i wasn't cold...apparently i looked a bit crazy in not wearing enough for 'winter'...i tried to explain that i was coming from ukraine, which is heaps colder, especially at this time of year...
my planning for this trip consisted only of the basic logistics...flights to and from lisbon, the airport shuttle to my hotel, and the hotel itself...i didn't have a guidebook, or any specific plans in the country...

i didn't know where i should go in the country, and what i should see...needless to say, my first objective was to find a guidebook...it took me a while, as i found stores with maps and magazines, but not actual bookstores...not surprisingly, the bookstore where i found my guidebook was on a big platz, visited primarily by tourists...
after buying the guidebook i decided to wander around this platz and watch people...while wandering around, someone came up to me and tried to start up a conversation...within about 15 seconds, he offered me drugs...he said he could get anything i wanted...hash from pakistan, coke, etc...he even quoted prices!! needless to say, my answer was no...is this normal?

one of the things for which portugal in general is noted is tiles...they're EVERYWHERE...on the exteriors and interiors of houses and business buildings...not just the tiles you see on a bathroom floors, but handpainted tiles...stunning, absolutely stunning...
during the day, i visited at least 5 churches...portugal is heavily catholic, so all the churches were gussied up for the holidays...in front of three of them were beggars...i'm not sure what makes one church more attractive to beggars than another? all of these churches were listed in the guidebook...some were more interesting than others...

i made my way up to castello sao jorge...it's up on a hill, overlooking a big part of the city...since the skies were grey, the views weren't as stunning as they could've been, but it was neat to see how far i could see...it was fun to figure out where i had already walked through town...it's also a great place to watch tourists/people...there were a few cafes and a couple churches nearby as well...
castello sao jorge was originally built in the 5th century, as a fort for the visigoths...later on, the moors built the castle in the fort, though they were eventually expelled by dom henriques, in 1147...portuguese kings lived in the castle until the 16th century, the whole structure was mostly destoyed by an earthquake in the 18th century...none of it has been renovated or repaired, so you only get to see what remains of the walls, towers, and stairs...

wandering around the grounds of the castle were several peacocks...too bad they didn't stand still long enough for me to get a decent photo...
i managed to get somewhat lost on the way back down into the city centre...ooops...narrow alleys, often connected by stairways, never going in straight lines, always get me all kinds of confused...i figured if i kept heading down the hill, eventually i would get to somewhere i recognized...that sortof proved to be true:)
i next found my way to the ruins of carmen...it used to be a monastary, but all that are left now are the walls...it's a bit eerie to see the walls still standing, with no roof...the earthquake of 1755 was also the destructor here, just as with the castello...there is a small museum in a room off the end of the monastary, they did put a roof back on here...

the next morning i wandered around until i found a cafe with egg tarts and ham and cheese croissants...not difficult to find, but i think i was up earlier than most people?
i walked all the way to belem, an area of the city known for two reasons in particular...the tower of belem, and a pasteleria with the famous portuguese egg tarts...it was a nice walk, even though it was foggy most of the time...i was only able to see one side of the big bridge, which reminded me of the golden gate bridge in san francisco, though they are probably not at all similar...it was probably a longer walk than most people want to do...i think 10km each way?

i saw the discoveries monument, and amused other tourists by setting up the time delay function on my camera, then posing for photos:)
from there i crossed the street and made my way to the mosteiro dos jeronimos...i got there at the end of mass, so i had to wait a bit to enter...i wonder what it's like to attend a church that is also a tourist destination...what is it like to be a participant in a service knowing that people are going in and out of the back of your sanctuary? i wasn't aware of it when i showed up, but entrance to the mosteiro is free on sundays...woo hoo:)...

the cloister area of the mosteiro was awesome...two floors...
for lunch i stopped in a pasteleria listed in the guidebook...the book said this particular pasteleria was a must see place, the egg tarts were particularly awesome here...they were indeed quite tasty...it was a lot bigger than i expected, there were heaps of people eating there...
after i walked back to the centre of lisbon, i treated myself to a hot chocolate from starbucks...i earned the calories, right?
at one point during all my walking of the day, i saw a bike going by me...riding the bike were 6 (yes, 6!!!) guys dressed as santa...AWESOME!!! i also saw an entire (rowing) crew wearing santa hats...i love seeing people so into the holidays:)

the next day was my day trip to sintra...
i woke up christmas morning, the weather was lovely...yahoooo...this was the first beautiful weather day i had in portugal...i decided to walk in a completely different direction, so i walked up avenue liberdad, instead of down...it's a big street...a split avenue with green space in the middle...there is a park at the top of the avenue, with a GIANT portuguese flag...since it was quite windy, the flag was stretched out properly...awesome...

i walked toward the roman aquaduct, i find it amazing it was still there...built so long ago, yet the engineering is so good, it's still standing!! that doesn't happen anymore...
then i walked back to the waterfront just in time for sunset...beautiful...i wasn't the only one watching, but it was still a very peaceful experience...the only bad part was how cold i started to feel, as soon as the sun went down...it got cold, fast...

portugal: sintra

there is a town called sintra, close to lisbon, that has unesco designated sights (technically i think it's the city itself that is designated as a unesco sight)...since i like to check those sights off the list when possible, i decided to do a day trip...the train ride is only about an hour, so it was easy...
i got a bit confused as to where i should go when i got off the train, but that's normal...i'm jealous of, and i wish i was one of those people who has an ingrained sense of direction...i'm good with a map once i figure out which way it goes, but before that point i go every which way...i ended up following the other tourists :)

sintra has several palaces, those are the reasons people come to the town...they're all unique looking, each for their own reasons...
i tend to forget dates and days of the week when i'm traveling, and i tend to forget holidays...i didn't give much thought to the fact that i was doing this day trip 24 december...christmas eve...when i bought the ticket that gave me entrance to the palaces, the cashier told me the palaces would all be closing early, and i had to ask why...how dumb did i feel to forget such a huge holiday? anywho...

the first palace i visited was the national palace of sintra...it is located in the middle of town, it's the first palace i saw when i walked from the train station...the palace was originally built in the 8th century, and previously used as the moorish governors palace...since then, a number of portuguese kings have renovated the palace...
my favourite aspect of this palace were the ceilings...they were all different, and most of them were really really nifty...i figured out the ceilings were worth looking at very quickly, so i spent more time walking in wavy lines because i entered every room looking up toward the ceiling...(i do not have good balance on land, even when i'm watching where i'm going...when i'm not watching where i'm going, well, that's probably rather entertaining to watch)

there were nice signs in each room, describing the decor, as well as how each room was used...
my next palace is called pena palace...it is up on top of the hill, which would normally make for a great photo...howeva, there was heavy fog up there, so i couldn't see a thing...argh...
to get from the center of town to pena palace i took a shuttle bus (not cheap, but i didn't have time to walk, which is what i normally would've done) up the hill...the road is full of switchbacks, some of them very sharp...i didn't feel so great when i got off the bus...i hate being so susceptible to motion sickness...

the pictures i had seen of pena palace showed a palace of many colours and styles of architecture on the outside...various parts of the palace were built at different times, by different rulers...howeva, due to the fog, i wasn't able to really appreciate the colours, and i didn't even see the palace until i was only 20 meters away...it was pea soup fog...so much for good photos...there are ways to walk around the outside of the palace, which would probably allow for great views over the area, if it weren't for the fog...

the inside of the palace was pretty well interpreted, there were signs here just as with the other palace i visited...the ceilings weren't nearly as interesting, but the furniture and other decorations were far more interesting...
if i remember correctly, this palace was never actually lived in by a ruling king/queen, though it was used as a vacation place, and used by family members and friends...i think...
pena palace is surrounded by huge gardens and parks...i wish i had had more time (remember, the palaces were closing) and better weather for walking and exploring...

as it was, i hopped on the last bus back to the centre of town, it was CROWDED...i wasn't the only one who waited until the last minute to get back...
listed in the guidebook was a bakery that allegedly had great egg tarts, so i headed there...it took me a bit to find, though the number of people in there should've clued me in when i walked past...ooops...the egg tarts were quite tasty:)
it was easy to walk back to the train station and catch the next train back to lisbon...