Cuentos de la americana en España: City Break: Lishhhboa (Lisbon)

Like it usually goes, this blog post is only about 2.5 weeks late. I spent the weekend of May 20-22 in LOVELY Lisbon in Portugal, an adventure I undertook alone. It ended up being one of my favorite adventures thus far.

To start things off, I took the overnight bus from Sevilla to Lisbon, placing me in the Portuguese city around 7:30 am. Between bumbling over my lack of Portuguese knowledge, chasing down the tram and overall looking very lost, I final found my hostel--Johnnie's Place in the heart of the neighborhood of Graça. Despite running on 4.5 hours of sleep (maybe you aren't aware of how uncomfortable buses really are), I hit the ground running. I spent some time in the Praça do Comércio before heading over to Belem, the western most neighborhood in Lisbon. I climbed the Tower of Belem, peaked into the monastery and finally indulged in some FANTASTIC pastries, pasteles de nata, from the renowned Pasterleria de Belem. That afternoon, I headed back towards my side of town and visted the Castelo de Sao Jorge, a giant wonder that gives you the most magnificent view of Lisbon. After running around the city by day, I was not only pretty tired but also a little sunburned. I headed back to the hostel for a treat of a night--a home-cooked Peruvian meal and a night of Peruvian storytelling, hosted by Pedro (the owner of the hostel).

pasteles de nata

The neat thing about Johnnie's Place is that the owner loves to organize hostel-wide events to complement the experience. My Friday night was consumed with stuffed bell peppers, black beans and Quechua legends, told by a my nice friend Wayqui. I met Wayqui in the lobby of the hostel and we hit it off right away--over the next two nights, we talked about everything under the sun, from Spain to favorite music, to religion and the US politics. It gave me a fantastic opportunity to practice my Spanish (ironic, since I was in Portugal, and they really don't speak Spanish (despite popular belief)). The opportunity to meet him was incredible, what a unique soul. And now if I ever find myself in Lima, I know exactly who to call.

The next day I woke up early to go to La Feira de Ladra, the weekly flea market that is very famous. As I wandered around the rows of stalls with a few Polish girls from the hostel, we made some great finds (and some less than great ones too). For lunch we stopped for a gazpacho break in the Praça do Comércio followed by a FREE wine tasting, where I sampled wines from 3 different regions in Portugal. The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent watching a few hours of fantastic, authentic and local fado, the traditional music of Lisbon. It is singing-oriented and accompanied by guitar and other instruments--usually the songs are woeful, sung by women lamenting over the loss of their men at sea. The fado was truly an incredible experience and we had a great time interacting with the locals.

To round out my Lisboa trip, I followed the girls to a MARVELOUS gelato shop in Barrio Alto--seriously the most legit gelato this side of Rome. As it that wasn't enough of a sweet fix, we headed back to get some MORE pasteles de nata. Definite sweet overload/sugar rush. That night, as a final hoorah, a few of us went out the mesmerizing Barrio Alto, and grid of insane nightlife filled streets and walks of life. It truly was the perfect end to the adventure.

I think with my Lisbon trip, I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet some many awesome individuales in my hostel--and from all over the world (Peru, Poland, Ireland, the US, just to name a few). It was definitely one of my most memorable trips mostly because of the wonderful interactions I had--the type of interactions that remind just how wonderful traveling really is.