portugal: lisbon, sintra, and porto

When I first started planning my summer, I wanted to come to Portugal to see a sight in a town called Sintra, not too far from Lisbon. I didn't want to go to Portugal for just one day, so I decided to stay three nights, two full days. I'd been to Lisbon that one time previously, but I was staying in a different area of the city, so I knew everything would seem new at first.

My flight landed on time, and it was easy to ride the metro into the city. It was easy to get to my accomodation, and check in went smoothly. I hung out for a little while, then went for a walk. I needed a proper meal, and the weather was nice.

I slept well that night, mostly because I was tired from traveling. (The day trip in Hungary, then the metro and bus to the airport in Budapest, then the flight to Lisbon, then the metro into the city.) The food was average, but adequate. I should mention that I ordered a Greek salad, but when it arrived there were no olives (I didn't miss those since I don't like them anywho,) no cucumber, no feta, and no tomatoes. I never figured out what was supposed to make it a Greek salad. 

The next morning I woke up super early, partly because of the time change. Kyiv is two hours ahead of Lisbon, Budapest is one hour ahead, and I've always been one for waking up early.

Although I didn't get out quite as fast as I'd have liked, I did get out faster than I normally do. At least, according to the local clock. 

I started my day with a couple tasty Portugese pastries, pastels de nata. They're soooooo good, its a good thing I don't have access to them all the time. The typical cost in Lisbon is right around 1 euro, so they're perfectly priced and perfectly sized.

My first thing to do for the day was find a place to print a photo a friend had sent me. Back in the day this sort of place would've been easy to find, but nowadays not so much. Back in the day people printed photos, but nowadays not so much. Eventually I succeeded.

I walked to an area along the water, passing through a giant platz first. The platz has a large arch on one side, I think it's the arch of justice or something along those lines. In the middle of the platz is a statue of a guy on a horse. Nothing exciting, but a good place to watch people.

One side of the platz is a street, the other side of the street is on the water. It's not a port, or a marina in that spot, but it is an area people hang out. There are often busking musicians, which can be good or bad.

I asked someone to take a photo of me, which went really well until waves splashed my feet. I didn't much care about this until I realized the water had washed over to where I'd put my purse and food bag. Whoops!!

The guy taking my photo laughed, as did I. I raced the few steps to the bags before they were too wet, and nothing was ruined.

At that point it was just short of noon, so I walked toward a restaurant I'd read about on a travel app. It promized authentic Indian food, something I love. There is no sign on the street, but a few of the reviews had mentioned this, so I knew where to go. The food was indeed authentic, or at least as much as I know about Indian food. Yum.

After eating I walked back toward the water, and from there I turned right. (I'm terrible with directions, and since it wasn't long after noon I don't know which direction I was walking.)

This walk was long, which is what I intended. Along the way I stopped in a church that caught my eye. The front gate wasn't open, but the side gate was, so that's how I got in. The side door of the church was closed, but unlocked, so I walked in.

The interior of the church wasn't super impressive, but I loved the ceiling, which was made of wood. I'm used to seeing paint and gold on ceilings, but the wood was much more impressive because I could see how it was handmade. I could see where it was slightly warped in a few areas, and I could see the grain of the wood. Beautiful. 

Eventually I got to where I wanted to be, technically a different town called Belem. (Though as far as I know, everyone pretty much still calls it Lisbon.) The walk was over an hour, I could feel the sun on my shoulders the entire way. I walked through the gardens on the outside of the monastery of the Jeronimos, and watched the big fountain for a while. Very pretty.

I crossed under the street, and walked to a museum on the water. It's not a normal looking museum, it looks more like a big Soviet war memorial. I didn't want to go in the museum, despite it being a history museum. The weather was so nice I didn't want to go inside anything. Instead I took photos, then continued walking.

I looped around, and made my way to the Tower of Belem, not too much further away. It looks like a castle, and I think you can go in from time to time, but that wasn't happening when I arrived; this was fine since I didn't want to go inside. I took my photos, even a couple with the time delay function on my camera with no one else in the frame. Yay!

At that point I started walking back to where I was staying in Lisbon. I followed along the water the entire way, because I love water. Also, the weather was still amazing. I think I could've taken a metro or commuter train back into the city center, but since I love walking, I did what I love.

The walk back was an hour and a half I think? Something like that, I'm not really sure. By the time I got back, my feet were pretty tired.

I found a small supermarket and bought some food for breakfast the next day, as well as more water. I found double stuffed Oreos, which ended up being my dinner. Don't hold that against me.

Not too much later I got back to my room, and basically settled in for the evening. My Fitbit told me I'd walked almost 33,000 steps, a whole bunch of kilometers, so it isn't surprising my feet were so tired.

The next morning I woke up early of course, and actually got moving not too much later. I walked to Rossio train station and caught the next train to a small town called Sintra. Sintra is known because there are a few castles to visit, as well as gardens. Each of the castles has a different appearance, very different. One is called the castle of the Moors, another is Pena Palace. I think there is another one as well.

I went to Sintra because I wanted to visit a specific set of gardens. After my train arrived this was my first sight. I walked there, arriving a little bit after 10 in the morning

Inside these gardens is the specific sight I wanted to see, a well. Its called the Initiation Well, and has spiral stairs around the edge, going all the way to the bottom. I'm not sure what used to happen in the well, but now its a tourist sight. To get to the well you get to go through a couple tunnels in the rock, which get pretty dark at times; there are lights in the tunnels, but they're not bright. The views from both top and bottom are worth seeing. 

I explored the rest of the area, which had fountains and small ponds, and a few more tunnels. There were a couple towers that looked like fairy princess towers, if that makes sense; think of Rapunzel and the singular tower she lived in for years.
There was also a home, where you can walk through what used to be a dining room, game room, etc... The building was pretty, and I liked the ceilings.

I walked back to the city center, and through the city center. The city center of Sintra is very quaint, but now that quaintness is totally geared toward tourists.

Cafes, restaurants, tourist/souvenir shops, and not much else. Small alleys make everything look cute, even if they're lined with souvenir shops.

Eventually I ended up where I wanted to be, at the start of a hiking trail. Sintra is a small town surrounded by green mountains and hills. I intended to climb/hike this one to get to where I wanted to go next.
The trail is cobblestone for most of the way, with a whole lot of switchbacks. It wasn't steep, but with the cobblestones and switchbacks I spent a lot of time watching my feet, making sure I didn't trip over nothing in particular.

The trail goes by some cliffs that are really popular with climbers. I'm not a huge fan of climbing, so I didn't much care. There are a few signs clearly stating that climbers need to have safety equipment, and to climb responsibly.

The trail took me to a lovely viewpoint of the Castle of the Moors, I stood there for a while. I would see the walls, which stretch along the top of the mountain. Inside the walls I knew there were castle ruins. When I contined and arrived at the ticket office for the castle, I found out that the price was 8 euros, which seemed crazy expensive to me. I thought about it for a while, but decided to skip it in the end.

I walked to Pena Palace, which is known because it is painted a bunch of different colours. When I got to the ticket office, I discovered the cost for that one was 14 euros! That was waaaaay too much, I didn't even have to think about skipping that one. 

Fortunately, I'd seen this palace the first time I came to Sintra. Unfortunately, the first time I'd been to Sintra the mountain had been covered in fog, so I'd really only seen the inside of the palace. Even with the bright colours of the outside I hadn't been able to see the palace until I was just three or four meters away, as the fog was sooooo thick. I was sad I wouldn't be able to see the exterior, (and take the photos I really wanted,) but the ticket price was just way too much.
If I'd entered all the palaces and gardens and such it could've been a really expensive day trip! I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people who do spend the money, but I was trying to stay on a budget. 

I followed another path down the mountain, and eventually ended up back in the middle of Sintra. After checking out a few souvenir shops, I bought a magnet. I found a sortof out of the way cafe for a sandwich with spicy sauce, cheese, fried egg, and other meat. Yum.

Then I walked back to the train station. The next train back to Lisbon left about 10 minutes later, I'd timed it perfectly.

When I got back to Lisbon I visited a couple more platzes, and saw a couple big statues and fountains. I'd seen both of these before, but I still went. It was nice to watch people and enjoy the fabulous weather. I also stopped at a supermarket to pick up breakfast food for the next morning.

I went back to my room at one point, and settled in. I needed to pack up my stuff before going to sleep, since I needed to get up early the next morning.

The next morning I woke up before my alarm (which was set for 0510!) and got moving. I got dressed and went to the airport. As much as people complain about Ryanair, if you follow their rules it's a great airline. Check in online, and print out your boarding pass. Keep your luggage to carryon only.

My first flight of the day was just to Porto, in northern Portugal. The flight was only 10 euros!

When I arrived in Porto I wandered around until I found a place to store my bag for the day. After getting that sorted I took the metro into the city center. The ride is only 35 minutes, and costs 4.5 euros roundtrip.

I stepped off the metro, and started walking. I was in the city center, of which much is UNESCO designated. Beautiful buildings, churches, etc...

Of course I stepped into most of the churches. I've seen a LOT of churches while traveling, and I feel comfortable making the generality that many of the churches in specific areas look similar. In other words, in one city, many churches will look similar. This annoys many people, but not me.

One of the churches in Porto is on the edge of a hill overlooking the river that runs through the city, and has a cloister area. I paid the fee for the cloister area, which includes a few altars, a chapel, and the treasury. Very pretty and very photogenic.
After the expense of the castles in Sintra the day before, I was more than happy to pay just 3 euro to enter this area. 

From that trip I followed a street until it came to a bridge, the bridge of Louis 1^st. There are two levels of the bridge, you can walk and drive along both levels; The street I was walking took me to the upper level of the bridge. Come to think of it, I've never walked the lower level, I don't know why not.

I walked across the bridge, and back. I stopped a couple times, just to enjoy the view of the buildings along the water. The lower levels of the buildings are filled with restaurants, cafes, and tourist shops, but they still look lovely.

After coming back across the bridge I found a small-ish cafe to have lunch. It was a sandwich of sorts, like the one I'd had in Sintra (Portugal) the day before. The meal was supposed to come with fries and a drink but I didn't want either of those.

After paying the bill I walked back to the metro station and took the train back to the airport. I collected my bag, went through security, and got to my gate just as people were lining up to board the plane. It worked out perfectly.

The flight was smooth, and landed about 20 minutes early, yay!

Though Portugal isn't high on my list of places to return to, it's on the list, and if someone planned a trip or I had the time, I wouldn't say no. It's small, but has heaps of history, culture, and beautiful landscapes. 

portugal: lisbon again

the next morning i took a bus back to lisbon for the last couple days of my trip...it was easy to get to and easy to find my hostel, and i was able to check in straightaway...i relaxed for a couple hours, to get over the travel and early morning i'd had...
i finally figured out how to get to a church i'd wanted to see, but ended up balking at the entrance fee, so i only looked at the outside...well, i visited the church itself, but didn't pay the entrance fee for the monastery/museum part of the sight...
lunch was the house special at a nearby cafe...codfish and rice...pretty good:) (but lacking in vegetables, as usual)

for the rest of the day i walked toward belem again just because i could, and the weather was nice...i love to walk...at some point i turned around, then shopped for a while, just to kill time...i remember trying on four dresses in one shop and hoping the mirror was a bad mirror, as i felt like my legs looked quite large...i'm not normally one for shopping anywho...
the next morning i woke up early, but was really really slow about getting out the door...i walked to the parque dos nacoes area of town, as the description in the guidebook sounded nice...i don't know if it was the weather or the season, but i was disappointed...the gardens were hardly worth mentioning...there was a big mall, which was great for people watching, but otherwise nothing worth mentioning...
as i got back to the city centre i visited several souvenir shops in search of the cheapest postcards...when you buy them in the quantity i do, a small difference in price can make a large difference! i bought so many at one shop that the owner gave me a free keychain...how awesome is that?

the next morning i was up early, waiting for the shuttle i thought i had arranged to take me to the airport...the scheduled time came and went, and no shuttle arrived...ugh...i walked a bit to a fancier hotel, and grabbed a cab to the airport...it cost me more than twice as much as the shuttle would've cost, but at least i made my flight...
that was only the first mishap of the day...i'm pretty sure my phone fell out of my pocket in the cab, as i later realized i had no idea where it was, and i knew it had been in my pocket that morning...i had two flights that day, both of which went smoothly; the connection was in rome...

my bag must've decided it wanted to visit rome, as it did not make the last leg of the trip back to kyiv...i was not the only person who started the day in lisbon, then connected in rome, and finished in kyiv, and i was not the only one who did not get their bag back...i'm glad their were others in my same predicament, it was easy for all of us to get mad at the airlines together...i'm also glad i lived at my final destination for the day, as i had other clothes and personal belongings to wear/use...a couple days later my bag was delivered to my flat:)...that was almost more convenient than me getting it home from the airport myself:)

the frustrating part of dealing with lost luggage at the kyiv airport is watching the way a queue does not work...there was a queue, but locals kept jumping queue and interrupting people being served...the people working in the office would talk to the interrupters and stop working on paperwork with whoeva was sitting in front of them...it took me over an hour to deal with just my claim, even though my actual time of talking/filling out the form was less than ten minutes...argh...i hate the way so many locals think they are more important than others and feel it's okay to interrupt...

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...