Trip
to Lisboa, Portugal
A
group of us headed out for the weekend to enjoy the country right next to
Spain, Portugal! The streets are tiny and they make certain that they maintain
their historical architecture. After getting our bearings of the land and checking
into our place the first order of business was catching some waves. Lisbon is
known for their waves and surfing so we thought we would give it a shot. We had
no idea what we were getting into but we just went with it. All of us were a
bit shocked when we actually did warm ups for surfing (also a little winded
since we haven’t done much physical activity). That 5 minute jog was a bit
rough. We then we did a quick lesson on shore and off to the water we went! It
is NOT as easy as it looks folks, balancing on the board is pretty difficult
even if the waves we were surfing we not that big. Surprisingly though we
caught on pretty fast and all of us were able to get up and balance with the
help of the instructors. By the end we even got up once by ourselves!
Next
day was a sightseeing day. We walked through their downtown with shops along
every side. Some filled with souvenirs, clothing, antique shops, or even port
wine (what they are famous for). We ended our walk at the Museum of Sacred Art.
We got in for free, yay student discounts! It was filled with relics of old
bishops and saints. We even got to see statues of Saint Xavier, the Jesuit
saint that SLU’s church is named after. There were historic altarpieces covered
in gold, priest’s garments and extravagant paintings. Next to the museum was
the Sao Roque Church, one of the most famous Jesuit churches in Europe. Here
are pictures to help you understand the beauty and intricacy of the church; any
way I describe it will not do it justice.
The
next place we stopped at was Pavilao Do Conhecimento, a science museum!
According to trip advisor it is a great place to go and explore and have fun,
which is exactly what we did. Three rooms filled with interactive activities
and experiments did the trick. We made huge bubbles, played a speed game,
tested different paper airplanes and experimented with lights and colors. Who
wouldn’t want to spend a day as a kid again?! There was a tightrope bike that I
dared to try. Even though there was no way I was going to fall it still was a
bit freaky, but I did it!
For
dinner we found a place called Timeout market where they had converted a
warehouse into a huge market of food. All along the edges were many different
tiny versions of food places around the city. In the middle there are tons of high-top
tables and stools where you can eat and of course live music in the middle.
Surprisingly enough we got Asian food because it looked so good and we hadn’t
had any the whole time in Europe yet and it was absolutely delicious. After
Timeout it was time to experience the nightlife. We all decided to do a pub-crawl
to get the most out of the time we had. Starting at a small place and worked
our way up to a huge new disco club that had just opened 2 weeks before. It was
massive and had great music that was perfect to dance to all night.
Our
second day was spent exploring the city again but this time we went down to the
port town. We tried all of their specialties including pasteles de nata. A
delicious cream filled pastery that I may have eaten a few too many of. We also
stopped at a wine shop to try their famous Port Wine. The old man helping us at
the store showed us many different wines and even let us try one that had aged
60 years. I don’t know much about wine but it was good, but also cost about 300
euros.
After feeling like real connoisseurs of wine, we went to have an
authentic Lisbon meal with Fado. Fado is a type of music native to Portugal
that includes a special guitar-like instrument and intricate vocals. While we
enjoyed our spectacular food, we also enjoyed four rounds of Fado music from
different performers. Perfect way to end the trip; I never wanted to leave!
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