Lisbon

〰️

Costa da Caparica

〰️

Sintra

〰️

Cascais

〰️

Lisbon 〰️ Costa da Caparica 〰️ Sintra 〰️ Cascais 〰️

After an unexpected start to the trip, Blair and I made it to Lisbon! We took a taxi to “Destination Hostel” where we were reunited with our college roommates Dani and Cathryn, as well as Dani’s hometown best friend Delaney. It was pretty late so the three of them had already made dinner and saved a large portion for us. We sat in the hostel dining area and ate pasta, cheese, and fresh bread accompanied with quite a few glasses of wine and travel stories. Lucas, a hostel employee, sat and ate dinner with us and also threw in a few extra drinks. Another new friend named Jonas came and sat down to share a meal and travel stories. Right off the bat it felt like a big family dinner with our newest family from all over the world.

The following morning, Blair and I (still getting used to the time change) woke up at 6am and decided to explore the city center before the rest of our friends woke up. We strolled down the streets over to the Praca do Comercio which was completely empty and decided to walk along the water over to Pink Street. Seeing the post-night-out street was very interesting as tables were cleared out and trash took over - it was definitely a different vibe and more fit for a night time excursion. We made our way back to the hostel and stopped off at a little cafe for yogurt, porridge, and freshly squeezed orange juice. As we finished up, our friends started to wake up and it was time to make a plan to further explore the city.

The five of us made our way through the steep streets to Castel de Sao Jorge and took in all the beautiful views. The castles I drew as a child came to life in the stone arches and battlements with the ocean peaking through the little cut outs. We walked through the stone where I was soon to find out that my fear of heights had grown exponentially in the past year. I pushed through but welcomed a hand hold when the railings were not high enough for my comfort.

Next we made our way to the Monastery of Sao Vicente de Fora. We stopped at a few vendors at the Flea Market on the way and couldn't help but buy a few souvenirs. I saw many different art pieces incorporating spirals and discovered that they are variations of the spiral of life - a symbol I immediately fell in love with. I couldn't help but buy a silver spiral earring with a little green gem in the middle and I haven't taken it out since. We walked through the Monastery and over to the Panteao Nacional where I again had to tackle my fear of heights. The beautiful architecture was absolutely stunning - I could have been content staring at the ceiling for the rest of the day.

On our way home we stopped off at a hole in the wall restaurant where we had a 3 course meal and a drink included for only €7. We enjoyed every bite and made our way back to the hostel to change and cross the next thing off our bucket lists: surfing in Portugal.

We took a taxi into Costa de Caparica to rent boards and wetsuits from a little shop recommended to us by a hostel employee. We had 3 boards between the five of us so we traded between pushing each other into waves, bodysurfing, and taking pictures. Everyone felt accomplished with their waves and never stopped smiling ear to ear. Time flew by and it was time to return the boards - we grabbed some gelato, walked down the sand to some cliffs that felt oddly homey, and watched the sunset over the ocean.

We had a long day of sightseeing but had to see every aspect Portugal had to offer - the nightlife included. Our sister hostel hosted a bar crawl where we met our new best friend and bar crawl leader: Martini! We stopped at 3 bars along the way to the club where the entrance ticket was having tequila poured down your throat - no complaints. Cinnamon was one of the bars where we could play our own music so naturally, Blair and Martini became the designated DJ’s for the entire time. Our group ran that shit starting off strong with California Girls and Rumble. We headed to the club and had ourselves a night; many hours later we made our way home and ran into Martini as we were walking inside and found out he was from Riga, Latvia - a destination on my trip! We all exchanged information to keep in contact for recommendations for the near future.

For our last day in Portugal, we decided to explore more of Regiao Lisboa and take a train into Sintra. When we arrived, we had found out the entire city was on strike - and fairly so. Many of the city locals did not make a livable salary coming in around €700 a month even when the city was a very popular tourist destination. We were unsure where the day would take us when we ran into two local tour guides offering a different way to complete our sightseeing. Paulo and Cidalia introduced themselves and listed out 8 different destinations we could stop at throughout the day. We were convinced and loaded into the car to begin the unexpected journey we never would have experienced without a little bit of luck (and politics).

Our first stop was a church on top of a hill, one of the many sights we never would have been able to appreciate without Paulo and Cidalia. While a few were suspicious - and rightfully so - we did just break every mom's number one rule: "Don't get into a van with strangers." Our nerves quickly subsided as we learned the history of the town and were always near another group of people. After taking a few pictures by the church we headed up the winding road to Pena Palace. Entering the Palace was off limits due to the strike but we were able to stop along the way and view the beautiful red and yellow architecture from a different perspective. Soon after, it was time to head into the city center, see the Palacio Nacional, enjoy some live music, shop, and eat lunch. Paulo and Cidalia took us to their friend's restaurant where we enjoyed some authentic Portuguese dishes before heading back on the road.

We continued to the Castelo dos Mouros - a castle that was a mix of Hogwarts and a sand castle made from wet sand dripping into little peaks. While we didn't go inside to see the Regaleira, we did make another lucky pit stop at the Queens Palace - now a 5 star hotel and luxurious wedding venue. We walked around the gardens and saw more views of the Pena Palace on top of the hill peaking right under the beautiful archways.

It was soon time to load back in the car and make our way through the hills and towards the ocean to explore a little bit of Cascais. The first stop was Cabo da Roca, and it would be the closest I would be to home for the next month, as it is the westernmost point in Europe. After scaring Paulo and Cidalia by getting a little too close to the cliff's edge (somehow this did not activate my fear of heights?), we got back in the car and drove along the beautiful coast towards Boca do Inferno, our final sightseeing spot on the tour. We admired the caves while listening to someone play the saxophone in the background and a few of us enjoyed some gelato before heading into the city. We said a sad goodbye to Paulo and Cidalia who had felt like family at this point, and made sure to stay in contact on Whatsapp and Instagram just in case we ever happened to be in the same place again. Dani, Cat, Blair, Delaney, and I walked through the town to window shop and people watched before deciding to split a pina colada in a pineapple and take the train back to our hostel in Lisbon. We enjoyed a bottle of wine in our hostel, said goodbye to our new friends, and hoped the universe may bring us all together again soon.