Hilly Lisbon

After a relaxing train ride up from Lagos, we checked into our hostel, which was more like a hotel! We both agreed it was one of the best hostels we have stayed at so far. We stayed in one of their huge dorms, each of which was designed by a different artist and woke up to an awesome free breakfast complete with crepes and ham and cheese rolls. Beats the usual free breakfast of cornflakes bread and jam! With 4 days to enjoy Lisbon, we took our time to see the sights.

Resting at Sintra

Lisbon is quite a hilly city, which is why the government bought some trams from San Francisco many years ago. While they are very old, loud and rackety, the iconic ‘tram 28’ route is popular with tourists (and pickpockets) as a different way to see the city. So one afternoon, when the crowds died down, we rode the old tram 28 around the city to get our bearings (well, Arvi did at least. I have no idea) and hopped off at some great viewpoints.

one of the view points 

rattling down and up the hills

On the old trams

A Portuguese guy (Rafiki) we had worked with in Estonia had said that we must take the short train ride out to Belém. If for nothing else, to try the amazing, famous eggs tarts or Pastéis de Belém.  Before trying this well loved treat, we walked along the Rio Tejo canal in Belém and saw some famous sights such as the Belém tower and Monument to the Discoveries.

Monument to the discoveries 

Belem tower

Then on to the tarts! We joined the large queue out the front of the café but didn’t have to wait long to enjoy the delicious custard tarts, warm from the oven with cinnamon and icing sugar, yum!

Pasteis de Belem

Sooooooo delish!

 During our standard free walking tour of Lisbon we saw many beautiful views of the amazing old city. We were surprised to learn that most of the city was completely destroyed with an earthquake in the 1700’s and all the old buildings had been rebuilt. It happened on a Sunday while all the religious people were in church, many of them died. Meanwhile, up on the hill in the ‘red light district’ most of the people and buildings were spared. This caused lots of confusion in the city as to why the Christians died and the prostitutes lived, haha.

up high to the right is where the prostitutes used to live and everything else was distroyed  

trippy tiles.

sunset during our run

During a walk one afternoon, we discovered a little festival at Martim Moniz square. So we spent the afternoon having a beer and listening too the live DJ’s playing Portuguese Reggae and watching the hippies dance.

Beers in the square.

On our last full day we took the train to Sintra, a hilly town declared  a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 30 mins from Lisbon. Seeing you would have to take a loan to visit all the attractions, we chose to hike around Sintra and only go into the place we were most interested in, Quinta da Regaleira. This huge gothic/ renaissance style palace and beautiful Estate was just as one guy from the hostel explained it ‘Disneyland for adults’. The huge park and garden is filled many grottoes, wells, benches and fountains, all elaborately decorated in a romantic, fairytale style. You could even walk under the Estate through caves from well to well.

I'm being Rapunzel but my hair is too short :(

The fairy tale palace 

one of the wells

at the bottom of the well, 'the ring' style ahhh!

The stairwell out of the well.

Arvi being a boss during our lunch break. 

We also hiked up to the Moorish castle and managed to somehow get in for free, score! From the different towers we were treated with views over Sintra and the Pena Palace in the distance.

The Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle

no friends

Up the top of the Castle

King of the castle

Looking over at the other tower

That night, we decided to treat ourselves with a (cheap) meal out and some drinks. So I did some research (fuelling my addiction) and found a little Portuguese diner where we had 5 Euro meals and paid 3.5 Euro for 1L of wine! After dinner, we headed to Bairro Alto, a common night spot in Lisbon. Here people go into a bar, buy their drinks in plastic cups and take them into the street for the biggest street party I’ve ever seen! So we joined them!

Stay tuned for Porto!

- Leah