Churches, Palaces and Castles (aka Lisbon)

(post written by Charlie)

It seems that my ability to keep people up to date on the photos of our lives is not as good as Becky's ability to tell people about the events of our lives. While most of you probably know that in February, we were fortunate enough to meet up with our fellow European onSiter, Eleah Reimer, for some midpoint debriefing and exploring, you probably haven't seen many photos. In an attempt to remedy that, here are the three brief but wonderful days that we spent in Lisbon, Portugal for our Extended Learning Experience (E.L.E.)

We decided on Lisbon for a few reasons. First and foremost, Eleah has been living in Stockholm, with something like 4 minutes of sun per month (a very slight exaggeration) and we had read that Portugal is one of the sunniest countries in Europe in the winter. In this, it did not disappoint. We had beautiful 18° weather everyday. We also wanted a cultural experience—we had thought about a beach island in the Mediterranean, but as this was a "Learning Experience," we wanted to learn. And again, we were not disappointed. We went into church after church after church and palace after castle after monastery. I was in heaven. I'm not sure Eleah knew what she was in for when she embarked on a "vacation" with me, but I was deeply stimulated and refreshed by what we saw.

I also should offer a brief apology to those who are hoping to see food pictures here. Normally, I'm a strong supporter of taking pictures of the food on our trips, but I was so hungry from the 10's and 20's of kilometres we were hiking each day, that I generally chowed down immediately and would have been taking pictures of empty plates by the time my camera came out. Please understand, the food was excellent. The seafood particularly (as well as the beef, which is not a very common thing in Spain) was excellent.

Day One: Downtown Lisbon

We decided that attacking the core of the city should be priority one for our first day. We were staying in an apartment about 20 minutes outside of the city centre, accessible by an easy and inexpensive train system and were happy to have a retreat to go to every night. The core of the city is very European. Restaurants and pastry shops, bars and designer shopping. Much of the centre of town is pedestrian only and all of the sidewalks (and many of the roads) are done entirely in mosaic tile. It's incredible! We shopped, drank coffee, visited churches, had pastries, sat in the sun, and then walked the seawall in search of a restaurant for dinner. As we walked the seawall, we realized that Lisbon was very quickly becoming a modern city as well. If you took much of what is cool about Vancouver or San Francisco, and merged it with a European city, you'd have Lisbon. Our first day was a success, and it was topped off by a view of the ocean, delicious shrimp and cod appetizers, and beef smothered in roasted peppercorn sauce for dinner. At this point, I was ready to move to Lisbon.

Day Two: Sintra

Because we only had three days in Lisbon, we wanted to make sure we took one day trip. We had been told by a friend who recently travelled to Lisbon that Sintra, a town up the coast about 45 minutes away had some great sites to see. We looked it up and found the main attractions were a 1100 year old Moorish castle built by Moroccan Muslims and a vibrant 17th century palace. The long and winding road that led us there was a little longer than the train would have been, but we did get to see the farthest western point in continental Europe, and we felt very close to Canada at that moment. The castle felt like Cair Paravel at the beginning of Prince Caspian when the Pevensie children don't yet recognize it's their old castle. It was a good little hike and had marvelous views of Sintra and the coast beyond. The palace was eccentric and fun, and the tour was worth the cost of admission (this cannot be said of every castle/palace in Europe). For dinner we took a local's advice and ate at their family's favourite restaurant in a little back alley. It was a dive, the food wasn't great, and the service was even worse. Worth the laughs it provided? Absolutely. 

Day Three: Monastery & Lisbon

Our final day in Lisbon gave us the chance to return to the city and do a few of the recommended tourist things. Our first stop was on the way into the city: the Monastery of Saint Jeronimo. While the cloisters (which cost a small amount) were beautiful and interesting, the cathedral (which is free) is what is really spectacular. We were fortunate to have much of the cathedral to ourselves and I could have sat in there for hours. While photos don't do a building like this justice, be sure to check them out. We then made our way to Lisbon, enjoyed more pastries, which I should mention are much better than Spanish pastries, and relaxed yet again in the sun and warmth. Late afternoon, we made the hike up to Saint George's castle, at the highest point in Lisbon, where we watched the locals playing cards and took in the beautiful views of the entire city and the coast beyond. It was a great way to cap off our time there.

The next morning, we arose early to catch our flight, but I was able to catch the sunrise from our bedroom patio and a few pictures of the apartment we rented as well. All of this to say, if you ever have a few free days, and can find flights for 40€ per person and an apartment for 30€ per person, go spend those days in Lisbon. I guarantee you won't regret it.