It was finally time that we hit the road for some time away from France. This weekend's adventure? Lisbon, Portugal! A destination that has been on my list for quite some time now. One of my friends and her boyfriend traveled there last September, and they only had positive things to say about it. So, I decided it was about time I went and checked it out myself! My uncle got me a First-Time Europe travel guide this past Christmas, and it was super helpful in navigating some of the main attractions to see in Lisbon, seeing as we only had a weekend there. Before we left, we were able to learn a few things about Lisbon and the Portuguese culture. Thanks for thinking of me this Christmas, TW! ;) Lisbonne, Portgual - le 8 février au 12 février 2018 Summing Lisbon up in one word is easy: tiles. We immediately noticed that the city was covered in tiles when we were busing to our hostel Thursday night. From the buildings, to stair cases, and even the showers in our hostel, every corner of the city was filled with beautiful tiles; it was truly artwork! I also ate more than my fair share of Pastel de Nata (Portuguese egg tart pastry), and may have even tried some Port Wine while I was at it, but that's all part of the cultural experience, right?! Vendredi/Friday - le 9 février 2018 Aside from the minor setback in weather we experienced Friday morning, we had a full day of exploring and sight seeing. We checked out some nearby bakeries, where of course we saw Pastel de Nata by the dozens! Hard to resist them when they look that good. We also stopped inside a Sardine store, a specialty in Lisbon, called The Fantastic World Of Portuguese Sardines, where they had cans of sardines for every year dating back to 1916. The store proposes to revisit the last century of history in Portugal and in the World, therefore promoting also a reflection on the last centenary of canned fish in Portugal. How neat! Other exciting sights were the Tile Museum (a must see in Lisbon), the Pantheon, and three different churches, one of which being Notre Dame - see if you can figure out which one that is ;). The views from the top of the Pantheon were breathtaking! The sun finally decided to come out, which made it that much more of a beautiful moment to take everything in. It would have been the perfect spot to have a picnic lunch! Samedi/Saturday - le 10 février 2018 We had the best weather on Saturday: warm sun and minimal clouds! We hardly needed our jackets. Since we had seen most of the city center already, we ventured out to Belem for the day. It's a local neighborhood about a 20 minute tram ride over. While in Belem we saw the Monastery, the Monument of the Discoveries and Belem Tower. My favourite by far was the Jerónimos Monastery. I truly have no words that describe it well enough. To sum it up, the monastery is one of the most prominent examples of the Portuguese Late Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon. It was classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the nearby Tower of Belém, in 1983. With its grand architecture and exquisite detailing, it is definitely a historical beauty. Later on, we headed back into the core of Lisbon to see the The Praça do Comércio (Commerical Square). Lots of bright and cheery yellow to be seen here! We were beginning to notice that blue and yellow are both very popular colours in Lisbon, particularly in their tiling. I may have to look into that some more to see if there is any historical significance. Beautiful colours nonetheless! Ended off the day with a quick visit to the Pink Street: quite small and located in their former "red light district". A short but sweet walk. Sintra - le dimanche 11 février 2018 We definitely had an interesting day in Sintra, to say the least. The weather was not cooperating with us... mild with lots of fog, even though the weather report stated otherwise. Regardless, we made the best of it, hopped on the train, and within 30 minutes we were in Sintra, a resort town in the foothills of Portugal’s Sintra Mountains. Due to the weather, we didn't stay long, but it was long enough to hike up one of the mountains to see the Moorish Castle. We didn't end up going inside (tickets were a little pricey), but the 30 minute walk up and down was a nice way to see catch some stunning views of Sintra and engage with nature. It was a good reminder that it isn't always necessary to do the classic "touristy things" when visiting new places. Later on, we learned that buses take you up to the castle for five euros round trip... and they drop you right off in front of the castle... a "fun" after the fact surprise for us all! The walk was still worth it in my opinion. I slept like a baby that night! Lundi/Monday - le 12 février 2018Of course Monday, the day we were leaving, was a sunshine filled beautiful day. Our flight back to Nice wasn't until the afternoon, so we took a walk to a close by location with street art to snag some artsy photos. I have to say, this was one of my favourite streets in Lisbon. I am always blown away at how stunning graffiti can actually be when it is treated like an art form. We also walked to the Arc de Triomphe, which we learned is a part of the Commercial Square - talk about déjà vu ;) As much as I love traveling, exploring, and seeing the many wonders of the world, I always love coming back home. There's nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed at night, or curling up on the couch with a warm cup of tea (kind of like what I'm doing while writing this blog post lol). In the next couple weeks, it will mostly be school and preparing for some midterms before our reading week. It is also Carnaval here in Nice starting Saturday, so stay tuned for some of those upcoming adventures!
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