Día Dos en Lisboa

(The Castelo dos Mouros in Sintra, Portugal)

Because I slept in the top bunk, the morning was a bit difficult. I am not at all coordinated when I first wake up and the last thing I want to do is attempt to crawl down a ladder. So while holding on the the ladder posts, I half-jumped, half-fell to the floor, and although I nearly knocked the fan over, no one seemed to wake up. I showered and got dressed and headed downstairs to check my e-mail. None of the BC kids were up yet, and I found out why when I turned on the computer. Lisboa is an hour behind Madrid, so while I set my phone alarm for 7:45, in Liboa, I woke up at 6:45. Wahoo. So I had more time on the computer than I thought, but I also had extra time for my eggs and toast. During breakfast, I sat with a girl named Lidia (a recent law school grad who is working as a lawyer in the Hague) who was in the room where I was originally booked. She said she didn't sleep at all because the rest of the room was occupied by rowdy Australians, so I was glad I ended up moving. We chatted for a while and she was really nice. She was traveling alone, so I invited her to join the BC group for our Fado dinner that night and she agreed.

Although the BC kids had planned on going to the flea market that morning, they didn't get downstairs until 11 am, at which point, we planned on taking a train to the highly-recommended town of Sintra. So the flea market got nixed and we all headed for the train station. Kevin and I ended up sitting next to a couple from Florida on the train who were traveling for 2 months around Spain and Portugal. The woman knew a lot about wine and art, saying her favorite wine was from Duro, a region in Portugal. I learned quite a bit about wine from just talking to her during the 45 minute trip. I'm not sure if I will ever need this knowledge, but it's good to have, just in case. She also recommended that we see the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisboa and the Museo Guggenheim in Bilbao.

We got off the train at Sintra and all the BC kids took the bus up a scarily-curvy-with-no-guard-rails type mountain road to the Castelo dos Mouros (or Moorish Castle). The castle ruins are perched on top of a mountain and from the turrets you can see all the way back to Lisboa. It was built in the 9th or 10th centuries by the Moors and has a lot of winding staircases and passageways. You climb about a billion stairs to go all the way around the perimeter, but the views are worth it. The mountain and short hike to the castle reminded me of upstate NY (minus the castle itself) and it was pleasant to take a stroll through the Nature of Portugal.

We then hiked back to the road where we waited for the bus that would take us to the Palácio Nacional de Pena, a 19th century palace on top of the next mountain over. After we waited for about half an hour, Pat went and asked how much longer the bus would take. The woman told him that there had been an accident on the scarily-treacherous road and that no traffic was coming through. So we walked, (it wasn't too far - although a lot of it was uphill) to the Palácio entrance, and then Kevin, Dan, and I walked up the path to the Palácio itself, while everyone else paid for the trolley ride.

The Palace was really nifty. It was built pretty recently, as far as Palaces go: 1842-1854, and in the Romantic style, which made it really surreal. The outside was yellow, purple, and red and the structure wasn't really classic architecture. It was a modern, yet still old-world palace that had great views from all directions. It was fun to explore and all the rooms were filled with fancy architecture and furniture. You could also walk through the kitchens and look at all the French chocolate pots - that's always fun, too. We ate lunch on the Palace balcony, (just sandwiches and ice cream from the cafe) where there were more cats. I do love cats.

We had planned to go look at the nearby caves, but the wait for the bus was too long, and we had to go right back to Sintra. We did have time to explore the city before heading to the train, so we split into groups to walk around. I went with Michi, Sean, Jack, Pat, and Jamie and we did some souvenir shopping and then stopped for chocolate crepes. As we were looking for a restaurant, Pat saw a little 3 year-old run out of a restaurant and into the busy road. He valiantly ran after the kid and saved him from what was about to be a very dangerous situation. He stormed into the restaurant and demanded to know who the parents were (this was his lifeguard training coming out in him). No one answered and Pat asked three times before a dad reading a newspaper looked up and said, "Oh, he's mine." All the little old ladies in the restaurant were shaking their heads. As the dad was fastening the little kid back into the stroller, the mom returned from the bathroom. Someone slept on the coach that night.

We got back back to Lisboa and found the Fado restaurant, A Baiúca, where we had reservations (albeit, somewhat slowly, as I was in charge of the map). The place was tiny, and there were 12 of us including Lidia. We crammed in around a table and looked at the menus. There were two set menus for about 30 euros each and an a-la-cart menu with entrees for about 20 euro. The minimum per person was 25 euros, (remember, 30 euros is $45). We knew this going in, and we had convinced ourselves to fork over the money, as it was dinner, a show, and an authentic cultural experience. I ordered a set menu which included: bread, cheese, olives, a liter of water, potato and cabbage soup, cod bacalhau, and dessert. Everything was great. The appetizers were good - who doesn't like bread and cheese? The soup was tasty and the cod bacalhau is a classic Portuguese dish. It is ground up salted cod mixed together with vegetables and breaded goodness to make a kind of stuffing. I would highly recommend it. For dessert I had chocolate mousse, which was also quite delectable. The Fado itself is a kind of Portuguese folk music that involves voice and guitar. It is very animated and passionate and there were a variety of different singers, some who just popped in off the street. One of the main singers was the owner of the restaurant and even the cooks would burst out in song every once in a while. The restaurant was so small that they just stood in the middle of the restaurant and turned in circles. It was very cool and very authentic and people were outside in the streets just listening. The cooks made the food while we were there and served the different courses to all the customers at the same time. The kitchen was so close, that you could smell everything being made. We were there for about 4.5 hours, so I think it was definitely worth the money.

Unfortunately, while I opted for the liter of water, the other menu option was a liter of wine, and all of my friends understandably chose that. The problem was that a liter of wine each really increased their volumes rather dramatically. Jamie was also receiving on-play texts from his parents about the BC vs. ND football game back home, so that didn't help the situation at all. They got shushed quite a bit.

After the bill of 340 euros was paid by all of us poor college students, we wandered back to our hostel and crashed. I remembered to set my alarm correctly this time, which was even more complicated, as I needed to account for Daylight Savings. But as soon as I hit "set," I was out.