Lisbon was quite the adventure and we are learning lots of lessons. A bus, a flight, and a train ride later we made it to Lisbon! When we arrived at Knock Hostel we couldn't find it. We walked past it several times, but had no clue because it was unmarked. After asking locals (who had no idea there was even a hostel in the neighborhood) we found the building it was supposedly in and rang the doorbell. Five minutes passed and finally we were able to catch the door as somebody left the building. Opening the door revealed peeling paint, tarnished handrails, signs taped to the wall that said "HOSTEL" with an arrow, and a strong odor of mildew. Ok- yes I picked the cheapest option, €6 a night is tough to pass up, which also happened to be the one closest to the city center. In my defense, I ran it past the group and they were all OK with my choice. When we got to the top of the stairs there was a man watching cameras- DIRECTED AT THE FRONT DOOR- who greeted us. Yes- he saw us at the front door and did not let us in. The hostel looked nice enough (you can't expect too much for €6 a night) and we had Ben as a guard dog. To top it off we'd all have been in the same room, so it probably would have been OK. However, the room we were supposed to stay in had curtains for doors and seemed to be laking lockers to keep our things in. Understandably, a few of the members of the group were uncomfortable. After a failed attempt to negotiate for even a partial refund, we left the hostel and started out looking for a new one. I was feeling defeated and upset as the charge was on my card and it seemed like I let everybody down. In hindsight nobody was upset and I would have slept there. We spent the rest of our first day in Lisbon looking for a new place to stay and got SUPER lucky. Home Hostel was in the midst of a renovation and as we arrived they had finished three rooms. Somebody had explained the situation to one of the managers and we even got free welcome drinks. So, moral of the story? Yes, my mom has told me before but I didn't listen- the cheapest option isn't always the best option. After settling in we sat in the lounge and visited with some other guests. For dinner we went to one of the many places recommended by a local with our new friend YoTom from Berlin. Until now I hadn't taken the opportunity to get to know other guests at our hostels and I really regret it. I had some great conversations and learned a lot. And now I have connections in Germany and Egypt! Meanwhile Savanna was struggling to learn how to take a bus and there wasn't too much I could do to help. I gave directions, but a taxi ended up being easier for her (and a lot more expensive). When we missed breakfast at the hostel the next morning we were given a voucher for a free coffee shop at a super trendy cafe. Ben, Savanna, and I sat for a nice breakfast before walking up to the CASTLE. The line was an hour long and a lot of people told us it wasn't worth the money or the time to wait, but we enjoyed the neighborhoods surrounding it on the way up. Later in the day we met up with the others for a "free" Sandeman walking tour. I stumbled across this company by accident while looking for things to do. The tour is technically free, but donations of around €10 per person are highly encouraged at the end. The tour was led by a local and was incredibly informational- we learned a lot about Lisbon's history. Ben was complimented on his high IQ because he knew nearly every answer to the guide's questions. We liked the tour so much that we signed up for the pub-crawl later that evening. We began the pub-crawl at 10pm with a meet and greet before starting a game of beer-pong. Who'd have thought. We went to three pubs and ended the night at a club. Along the way we met a couple from England who calls McDonalds "Mackies." A few hours into the night I found myself promising them I'd have McDonalds before we leave Europe- oops. One of them even told me he likes to watch Youtube videos of people from around the world eating McDonalds. Whatever you may be thinking, they were a lovely couple and a lot of fun to spend the night with. On our third day we spilt ways with the rest of the group. We ended up at a different (and slightly cheaper) hostel on the other side of town. While our new hostel was nice our room didn't have great air flow- we all three woke up feeling a bit sick. So, we took a breather and had a bit of a more relaxing day. We ate at a lovely restaurant called Kaffeine for breakfast and then took Tram 28 through Lisbon to the Al Fama neighborhood. Our final day was spent visiting Belém and Sintra. Apparently Mondays are not the day to go sight seeing in Belem- both the Jerónimos Monastery and the Belém Palace were closed. Although, we did get to see the guards outside of the palace change places. We visited Pastéis de Belém, a bakery that is famous for their Pastéis de Nata. The bakers follow a secret recipe from Jerónimos Monastery and the pastry, as it originated here, has become so well known that most locals known it as "Pastéis de Belém." We visited the Tower of Belém and Padrão dos Descobrimentos before taking the bus to Sintra. I wish we had spent less time in Belem and more in Sintra as there was so much more to see. After talking to a local we decided only to visit Quinta da Regaleira. We walked through a lovely park, admired Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle from afar, and made it to Quinta da Regaleira just in time to purchase tickets as they shut the gate behind us. While we had planned to enter the castle, we ended up spending two hours in the castle's garden exploring the many caves it had to offer. If you have the opportunity to visit Sintra, take at least a full day to explore it's many treasure. I think we easily could have spent two or three days there. As our trip came to an end and we headed towards the train station we stopped in a tile shop to get a glimpse of their hand painted tiles. Ana, the woman who let us pop in even though she was closing up, informed us that the shop had been run by her family for 25 years; and, every single tile in the store had been painted by different members of her family. How cool! The ceramic tiles that Portugal is so well known for actually originated in China, but the Portuguese began painting them blue and white. This is why you might think of blue and white tiles when you think of Portugal. Ana also told us the story behind another very prominent figure in Portugal- the chicken. As the story goes, there was a man sentenced to death and he pled innocent. He said "If the rooster sings three times on the day of my execution then I am innocent." Surely enough the rooster sang and the man was set free. Our trip to Lisbon (and Sintra) was nothing short of fantastic. I hope to return one day with more time to enjoy Sintra!
1 Comment
Mom
4/23/2019 05:57:18 pm
🤔 The saying “you get what you pay for” comes to mind. Glad you were at least listening! ;)
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AuthorCoffee addict. Chocolate obsessed. I'm ready to explore. Archives
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