Wow, what an awkward segue. That really is how I got to thinking about Lisbon, though.
Erin, Steph and I had been talking about going to Lisbon since the very beginning of our travels together. So after we'd all returned from our Semana Santa trips, we sat down and booked the damn thing. We probably paid around 2 euro for the flight and celebrated with a similarly-priced bottle of wine. Then, I made matzoh ball soup and we had an Easter Egg hunt.
A few weeks later, we found ourselves, as usual, in a new place for the weekend. The air was warmer, the colors more vivid than usual, and the people spoke in Russian. No, not really... But the Portuguese accent does have an Eastern-European flavor to it... and a bit of French. and Spanish. Some weird hybrid. I don't believe it's actually connected to the Latin family, at all. Someone has made a mistake. Fix it, linguists.
Our three-day weekend was jam-packed, so I will only relay the most entertaining bits. Our hostel offered a free walking tour (it was so great we went on it twice! [by mistake]) during which we got to walk through the oldest of Lisbon's neighbourhoods, the Alfama, and our tour guide recounted the following fascinating story:
The year was 1755. It was a Saturday morning on the first of a new month, November. All Saints' Day. People were in church, lighting candles.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake.
EARTHQUAAAAAAAKE!!!
Yes. It was an earthquake. A horrendous earthquake of an unprecedented 9.0 magnitude. And it lasted 9. whole. minutes. Needless to say, the damage was extensive. Somehow, a lot of people survived those 9 minutes and proceeded to run down the hills of Lisbon to an open space, where they would not get hit by the still-falling debris. Unfortunately, that open space was the main square, down by the water... so what happened next should not come as a surprise.
TSUNAAAAAAAMI!!!
So a huge ginormous wave swallowed up whatever the earthquake had failed to destroy.
But wait. The story's not over yet! Up on the hills which the tsunami had not reached, a flame started burning... it was All Saints' Day, and candles had been lit...
FIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!
A huge fire broke out. It lasted four whole days.
So, to recap:
1) Earthquake;
2) Tsunami;
3) Fire.
Bye, Lisbon.
On that note... let's leave the city for a minute and discuss the Sunday portion of our Portuguese adventure. We bought train tickets to Sintra, a town recommended to us by a staff member of our wonderful hostel. Sintra is the stuff fairy tales are made of. It is home to four huge, incredibly impressive castles. We went to two of them, but the most awesome one by far was Palacio de Pena. This striking structure rises from the top of a hill which we had to climb painstakingly in order to avoid the 5 euro tram fee (when you're paying an average of 15eur per flight, your perception of what transportation should cost becomes greatly distorted). Everything about the palace was magical. It looked like it was made out of Lego... Lego from the Middle Ages. We spent a magical afternoon on that hill, but time was passing quickly, and like all fairy tales, this one had to end... so that we could take the bus to our next destination: Cascais (pronounced Kash-kigh-sh), a fishermen's town with beautiful beaches, sailboats, and a light house we didn't get to see because we'd spent 30 minutes dipping our feet in the water before we all became ravenous (or, as Erin once called it when expressing her hunger: 'I'm ravishing!', haaa.) and made our way to a seaside restaurant where we had cod souffle, a mouthwatering and filling Portuguese dish.
Sintra and Cascais ended up being sensational additions to our trip, but Lisbon truly made an impression on me. I was mesmerized by the buildings... who knew tiling the outer walls of a house with ceramic/bathroom tiles could yield such a charming, colorful result? The city has a sense of grandeur and decay, illustrating the fact that Lisbon had to be rebuilt from its ashes (literally) and the current state of economic crisis Portugal faces... the narrow streets are beautiful, and the yellow, art deco trams add to Lisbon's eclectic vibe. And Portuguese food could not be any more exquisite or fresh.
A view of Lisbon and its orange rooftops, and a bit of that blue sea
Bathroom tiles! Why not?
The main square, where people ran to escape the earthquake, right into the mouth of the Tsunami
Torre de Belem, my favorite monument in Lisbon... conveniently situated near a bakery that sells Belem pastries, the most delectable little creations known to mouthkind
Total medieval Lego castle, amirite?
Cascais and its pretty sailboats and sparkling water
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