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: evora, beja, elvas

my transit between towns/areas of portugal took the better part of the morning this time...a train from porto to lisbon, a metro ride from the train station to the bus station, then a bus to evora...
after arriving in evora, i discovered a mixup between the listed address of my hostel, and the address of where i was actually going to stay...i basically checked in at the first location, then the manager walked with me to where i was going to sleep...it meant a lot of walking with my pack, which wasn't so much fun since i wasn't mentally prepared to do so...(not that i carry so much stuff, it was just awkward, and i was tired)...

walking from the bus station into the town center involved walking through the old town walls...evora is an old walled city, another UNESCO town...i think it was originally founded by the celts, (who called it ebora,) and was later ruled by the romans and moors...it is now home to more than 50,000 people...the portuguese and spanish fought here as well...
i dropped my stuff, then started exploring...evora is a small town in eastern portugal, not far from the spanish border...i walked past the ruins of a roman temple, which is now just a bunch of columns in the middle of a square...
i was able to climb up the tower of one church, giving me a lovely view over the area...the church itself is baroque, meaning (to me at least) a very 'busy' interior...
at this point i realized i was starving, and found a cafe at which i had a local specialty...i've forgotten the name of my food, but i remember thinking it was a portuguese version of what americans would call stuffing...and meat...(of course...most meals in portugal seem to involve meat)...I WANT VEGETABLES! how does anyone in this country stay healthy with such a regularly unhealthy diet? how do vegetarians stay healthy here?

my next sight was called the bones chapel...it's small, connected to a full church...there is an entry fee, it's basically a room whose walls are entirely covered in bones...skulls and arm/leg bones...there is 'art' in the arrangement, but it's also creepy in a fascinating way...
i was able to find a supermarket to pick up vegetables and other snacks...
i spent time that night chatting with a kiwi and a scot who were also staying in my hostel...i love the variety of accents:)...my main complaint about the hostel was that it did not have enough plugs...only one plug in my room with four beds!

the next morning i went with the kiwi to the bus station, we had decided to do a day trip...we had perfect timing, and hopped straight onto a bus bound for beja...(alliteration anyone?)...beja is another old town with a history of varied rulers...celts, christians, moors, visigoths, etc...
upon arrival we immediately found a cafe for lunch...another typical portuguese meal: meat and carbs...we had meat, rice, and fries...not bad, not at all noteworthy either...
it took us a while to find the main sight in beja, as we had to wind through the town centre...it's made up of small streets, you never know where you'll go around a corner and end up facing a completely different direction from what you intended...

the castle/tower we wanted to visit seemed open for visits, and we couldn't find a ticket office of any kind...oh well...we enjoyed climbing up what we could, trying to find interesting angles for photos...it's really small, we only spent 30 minutes visiting...
we also visited a church with manueline decoration...the ceiling was incredible...it was small, but we both loved it...i felt as though we stumbled in at the right time, it didn't seem as though it is always open...its technically a museum, not a church, but doesn't feel that way...
on the way back to the bus station we kept searching for ice cream...all sorts of cafes had signs indicating they had it, but we couldn't find it...argh...we arrived back in evora at dusk, and ended up getting lost on the way back to the hostel...ooops...

the next morning we were up early, and again walked to the bus station...this time we took a bus to elvas, another small town in the area...another old, walled city, another UNESCO town...elvas almost allows one to see into spain, which is only 15km away...it's a frontier town...
arrival in elvas meant staring out the window as the bus passed by a large, three level, ancient roman aqueduct...elvas itself is surrounded by not one but two walls with a moat (well, it used to be a moat, there is no longer any water) in between the two walls...you can get up onto the top of the wall in various places, the views over the area are great...especially since the town is built on a hill...

we walked around in circles for a while, enjoying the views, and peaceful atmosphere...
unlike the day before, our lunch in elvas was AMAZING...we stopped into a random local cafe, and ordered the daily special...not only was it only 6euro, it seemed to be unlimited servings of meat, veggies, and rice...YUM!!! i'm not likely to go back to elvas (i've now seen the whole town, there is no reason to go back) but if i do, i will find that cafe again...
there are a number of churches in the town, though most of them seemed closed...we ended up going to the information office to get help to see the churches...

a lady from the information office walked with us to two churches which were locked, she opened them for us, which we loved...one was a mosque that had previously been a church...or was it the other way around? i don't remember now...after seeing those churches she also told us where to find other open churches in the town...
on the way back to the bus station, we visited the military museum, which i really enjoyed...more views over the area, walking on the city walls, a couple memorials, etc...my travel buddy talked to a local guard for a while as i wandered...i think we were the only visitors at the time, and the guard wanted to practice his english...

at the bus station my travel buddy and i parted ways...he went on to cross the border into spain, i went back to evora for one last night...that night i had three other ladies in my room...a french girl, an italian girl, and a polish girl...

portugal: porto

another early morning bus took me from coimbra to porto...though portugal is small, the differences between lisbon and porto (portugal's two main cities) were apparent immediately...
unfortunately the weather was crap that whole day...yuck yuck yuck...as i've said before (many times) and will probably say again (many times) i hate rain...and it rained most of this day...
i wasn't able to check into my hostel, but they let me drop my bags for a few hours, and use wifi...
upon starting my explorations, i tried to find the main post office...it didn't happen...i'm guessing lonely planet labeled it wrong on the map, or perhaps it has moved since this edition of lonely planet was published...or maybe i'm just blind and missed something very obvious...

i did find a yummy pasteleria (surprise!) with a few items i hadn't seen before...of course i had to try them...i'm not a foodie, i don't go into food descriptions of pictures much, but they were yummy...and totally unnecessary, as i wasn't hungry...across the street from that pasteleria was a market, at which i found strawberries...i doubt they were in season, but it was well worth the splurge...i also found cheese, and was sorely tempted to buy several varieties...porto is known as a town in which to buy cheese and port...(hence the name: porto)...howeva the lack of refrigeration facilities on a regular basis reminded me this wouldn't be a good idea for a budget traveler...

i walked back down the hill, toward the river that flows through town, and bought a ticket for the palacio de bolsa...it was originally built by businessmen, and still functions as the chamber of commerce for porto...you can only see the building on a tour...there are paintings everywhere, the steps are built of granite, many rooms have specific themes for decoration...one room has paintings of many members of portugal's royals over the years...in my opinion, they were not attractive...the middle of the building is an area called the hall of nations, there are many flags to see...(it's always fun to play guess the flag)

the president and directors of the chamber of commerce still meet in the gold room of this building every month, and the full chamber meets once a year...the arabian room of the palace took 18 years to complete (and looks like the alhambra palace in spain) and the whole palace took 68 years to finish...unfortunately, visitors are not allowed to take photos...
from the palace i walked around the corner to the ingreja (church) de sao francisco...i started with a small museum, which led me down to the crypt...lots of tombs and bones everywhere...inside the church itself was a LOT of carved wood and gold leaf...
each time i went outside i had to deal with rain, and wind...it is difficult to take photos when rain continually lands on your camera lens, no matter which direction you face...ugh...my feet were cold and wet, and i was generally pissed off at the world...

if it hadn't been for the rain, i would've really enjoyed my walk along the riverfront...i should mention that this area of porto is a UNESCO sight...i walked for a while, then went back up the hill to see the se...a cathedral/fortressy looking building...it wasn't open, as there were no services at that hour...but it provided a nice view in several directions, and there was a break in the rain, yippee!!!
not long after i left the se, it started raining again, so i took refuge in a cafe and ate way more than i should've, even though the food wasn't wonderful...(adequate, but not great or bad...i should've picked somewhere else)

one of the sights mentioned in the guidebook is a particular bookstore...of course i visited...it's mentioned because the staircase in the middle of the store makes it quite picturesque...i wonder how many of their sales are due to tourists who just want to see what the fuss is all about? now called livraria lello, it was originally founded (under a different name, by different owners) in the late 1800s...
there was still a bit of daylight as i left the bookstore, but i was not in the mood to continue wandering, as the weather had finally gotten to me...in for the night at my hostel...thankfully there was a space heater in my room...portuguese buildings don't often have heating systems, i spent a LOT of time during this trip huddling under blankets...this space heater felt like a true luxury!!

the next morning i woke up to fog...really? argh...my thoughts were something along these lines: first i get screwed by rain and now i won't be able to see far due to fog? not fair!! fortunately, the fog quickly...i walked to the bus station (i wanted to go to a UNESCO listed town nearby,) but it seemed to be closed...probably because it was 1 january...happy new year and all that...i'd forgotten, not that i've ever been big on celebrating this holiday...trains weren't running either, argh...
howeva, since the weather was far better today, i walked, a lot...i ended up retaking many of the photos i'd taken the day before...(blue skies always beat grey skies in a photo)

as i walked by the se, i realized it was open, as there was a service going on...the inside wasn't stunning, but i did appreciate the atmosphere in general...the organ was powerful, and there is always something that gets me when i hear so many people singing in unison...i could see at least 3 priests participating in the service...
i walked across one of several bridges, it's a nifty bridge...the upper level is for pedestrian use on the sides, public transport goes down the middle...private cars and taxis use a lower level...lovely views of the river from both sides of the bridge...

i walked to vila nova de gaia, which was once a separate village on the other side of the river from porto...now it's just part of the big city, though i think the actual boundaries make it technically separate...it is known as the home of several lodges that make and store port...it was originally founded by the celts, and was once a town in the roman empire...
i didn't think much of the area, but i loved being able to look back at porto over the river...for people who have cameras with wide view lenses or the ability to stitch pictures together, it's a great place for photos...this is also where you can catch any number of boat tours along the river...(which are probably quite popular in warmer months)...

i went back to the hostel to relax for a while, then headed out again after dark, i wanted a few photos at night...a beautiful town...
i should mention that porto is known for it's restaurants, and for that reason alone i'd like to go back, as i didn't make those part of my visit at all...
not only did i not visit the restaurants, i didn't get to any of the towns around porto...my next visit to portugal will definitely include a return to porto!

portugal: coimbra and conimbriga

since portugal is relatively small, and my stops were never that far from each other, i took early morning buses during most of this trip...a bus from leiria to coimbra started the next leg of this trip...
it was raining a bit as i arrived, which i hated...i hate rain...i think it's the worst weather for a traveler, though i'm sure there are others who would disagree...despite having been a swimmer for years, i hate being wet...anywho...i was able to check into my hostel super early, and the owner gave me a good map of coimbra, as well as a lot of information on where to go and how to get there...the view from my hostel was nifty too...

coimbra is built on 2 hills, and there is a river running through the middle...when i first ventured out i crossed a bridge to go to the old santa clara convent/monastery...it sits on really low land, next to the river, so it flooded a lot, and over time was under water so it has since moved...before it was moved, the solution was to build more floors to the church, but that sort of thing never lasts long...howeva, i love ruins, so i wanted to see what i could...the part that was underwater was only revealed and open for visits in 2000...
queen elizabeth didn't found this monastery, but it was essentially dying before she supported it way back in the 14th century...she was buried here after she died...

every visitor starts their tour by watching a video in the information building/visitor center, which is followed by the chance to wander through a small archeological exhibition...(i watched the video, but sped through the exhibit)...i loved being able to wander through the ruins, though they aren't extensive...
i also visited the 'new' monastery, not much of which is open to the public...you can see the church, which is fancy, but not much else...there are signs stating that one part of the cloister is in such poor shape that there is a good chance of collapse soon, they ask for donations...

on my way back to 'my' hill, i walked across a different bridge, this one was entirely pedestrian...i got to watch kayak polo while i crossed...i've now seen camel polo, elephant polo, and kayak polo...i've never watched 'regular' polo...what other kinds of polo am i missing?
on top of 'my' hill stands the university of coimbra...since the town is old, it wasn't built with wide modern roads...going up the hill means winding along small streets and alleys...i kept going the wrong way, ending up on streets that didn't connect where i thought they should...ooops...the university is old, and well respected...it's also beautiful...

i've spent a lot of time in libraries over my lifetime...the geek in me really wanted to see the library in this university, and i'm glad i made the visit...STUNNING...there is an entry fee, and a part of me wondered at this...an entry fee to see a library??? well worth it...not only is there an entry fee, but there is a specific entry time printed on your ticket...visits aren't long, and they are well regulated...no photography is allowed...and you are not allowed to touch the books, it isn't a working library unless you get special permission to do specific research...the building was built of stone, with very thick walls, no extra climate control is needed to preserve the books and paintings...the painting on the ceilings were amazing, my neck was sore from staring straight up trying to take it all in...without pictures to show, it's hard to describe how amazing this library is, but i'm trying...

after walking though the library, you walk down stairs to what used to be a prison...based on how it is now displayed, life wasn't so bad for people who were incarcerated there...(i'm sure those folks would beg to differ)...
after exiting the library/prison, i visited another building in the university, i don't know what to call it...(i'm sure it has a name, and anyone who takes the time to visit the library is also going to see this building)...it's a big, main building, you can't miss it...many of the rooms in this building were richly decorated, including the one where PhDs are still awarded today...the views over the city from this building were fantastic...

walking down the other side of this hill led me to an old aquaduct that still stands...pretty...
on my way back to my hostel i stepped into almost every pasteleria i passed...by now i had figured out most pasterlerias have variations on the same general items, but that doesn't stop me from looking:)
i don't know how it came about in conversation, but i mentioned to my hostel owner that i love chai (as it is done in india,) and he said there was a cafe around the corner run by an indian family that does chai right...we went for chai, and he was right...it was sooooo good....why can't i make chai like that? what a fabulous way to end a really good day...

the next morning i was up in time to catch a bus to the ancient ruins of conimbriga...there is a town there, but i was heaps more interested in the old roman ruins...what i didn't know (or didn't remember from reading the guidebook) was that entry is free on sunday mornings...yahoooooo!!! not only did i have free entry, there were hardly any other people around for most of my visit...
the ruins of conimbriga aren't in great shape...without information signs, it wouldn't be possible for the average visitor to figure out what is there...some of the ruins are being rebuilt, which i don't love...i don't think it 'matches' but i understand the reasons for doing so...(educational value and all that)...i enjoyed the mosaic decorations on various floors...

the postcards available for conimbriga did not impress me...
i took the bus back to coimbra, and headed up the hill again to see a church...(i'm a jaded traveler who isn't easily impressed by churches, but i still love visiting them...something about the peaceful atmosphere i guess)...the church was pretty, as was the attached cemetary...though you cant go in the cemetary, the area just around the church provides a nice overlook...the views over the city were quiet and lovely...i loved the park i passed on the way there and back...
i visited more pastelerias, and went back to the same cafe for more chai:)

portugal: leiria, batalha, alcobaca, tomar

from peniche i took another early morning bus to the city of leiria...(i've never quite figured out the correct pronunciation of the name..where is the accent supposed to be?)...i wasn't able to check into my hotel, but i was able to leave my bags while i went out for the day...
i had decided ahead of time to use the town as a base to see three UNESCO sights in the area...my first stop was a town called batalha...as lonely planet puts it, there is only one thing to see in this town, an OLD monastery...you can see it from where the bus drops you off, which is basically a streetside bus stop...

the outside is stunning, and totally worth the trip...the inside is rather boring, nothing i haven't seen in any of the gbillions of churches i've seen over the years...(do i sound really jaded?)...there is a small tomb of the unknown inside the church, which is guarded...i got to see the changing of the guards, which was nifty...it isn't a huge ceremony, but it was nice to see...
i tested lonely planet's assertion that there was nothing else to see in town by wandering around a bit...the book was right, there really wasn't anything else to see...

i had salad for lunch, yippee!! i realize this isn't something that needs to go in a blog, but i've already realized that there aren't a lot of vegetable options in portugal...there are vegetables, but not so much for budget travelers, if that makes any sense...
i took another bus to alcobaca, another town with a UNESCO monastery...the bus station isn't in sight distance of the monastery, i had to guess a couple times as to where i should walk...eventually, i found where i should go...(it helped that i had seen a couple postcards with pictures of the monastery, so at least i knew what i was looking for)...the best part of this monastery wasn't the outside, nor the inside, but rather being able to climb stairs in a few areas, which gave me different views of the inside and outside...i love stairs...(yes, i know that sounds wierd)...

i loved the refectory (where everyone ate) because of all the arches in the ceiling...this church was far plainer than batalha...i'm not sure how the UNESCO designation came, i suppose i could read the website to see where the value of this monastery comes from...it's not ugly, i just didn't think it was totally awesome...the monastery in alcobaca was far larger than the one in batalha...i don't know how many monks/nuns/whoeva lived in either during their heydays...nor do i know when those heydays were...(yes, i know i should look it up, i'm sure the two of you that are reading this really want to know)

the bus back to leiria was easy, just time consuming...
the next morning i wandered around leiria a bit while waiting to catch another bus...(portugal is a small country, bus rides aren't that long, though they don't always depart regularly)...to get to tomar, i had to take a bus to batalha, then connect to somewhere else, then catch one last bus...yes, i was confused...this last bus dropped me off in a different place from where i expected, thank goodness for maps:)...
the outside of this monastery is full of gardens, which are beautiful, and looked as though they were productive in addition to being beautiful...

i walked uphill to the monastery in tomar, which sits at the top of the hill overlooking the town...after the two monasteries i'd seen the previous day, i didn't have high hopes...but this monastery was awesome...i ended up wandering for hours...it's huge, even though it doesn't appear that way...every time i thought i'd seen everything, i found a new hallway, or walked around a new corner to see something new...WOW...at least four different cloisters, each very different...
tomar didn't have many places to buy postcards, it wasn't easy to find them...
there is a small platz in the middle of town, i loved it...fun to watch locals hang out...there are gardens near the monastery, i wandered through those while waiting for my bus to depart...the gardens are situated in such a way that they were cold...sitting in a little valley of sorts, so the cold sinks and stays there...i got too cold to hang out for long, so i found a bakery in which to warm up and kill more time...somehow or another i ended up talking to a woman from arizona who owns a house in town...how cool is that?

thankfully, the bus back to leiria was simple, and i only needed one bus...

portugal: peniche

i took a bus from lisbon to a town called peniche...high season in peniche is summer, as it is very close to a few good surf spots...the town was very quiet when my bus arrived, but the weather was lovely, so i didn't mind...the ride from lisbon wasn't long, so i arrived mid morning...straightaway i bought a ticket to my next destination, then found my way to a hostel...
i think i was the only guest in the hostel, i had two beds in a room all to myself...woo hoo...with wifi and heat, i was happy as a clam...after getting myself settled, i headed out to wander around...

i started with what remains of the fortress walls that used to circle the town...parts of the walls are still in great condition...you can walk along the tops of parts of the walls, i loved it...
after the walls, i walked along the water...i loved it...for a while i just laid on the big rocks, soaking up the sun and listening to the waves...soooo peaceful:)
there was nothing else of note in peniche...i saw a beautiful sunset, my dinner was mediocre...
i only found one place in town that sold peniche postcards...