Lisbon Day 2

Wow. Parts of this place are truly beautiful and parts are so impoverished. Its kinda sad. The contrast between the two is obvious and stunning. One thing for sure though, the people of Portugal are very friendly and very kind. I was surprised how unpretentious they are. And so many speak English, its crazy. Of course, at this time of year, there are so many tourists. I've found mostly Brits and Ozzies on my tours and walking around. A few Germans as well. I've met lots of nice people so far. Thank god I'm not shy, otherwise I'd be bored all by myself. ;)

Today I woke up kinda late since my system is all off-kilter. It was sooooo hard to get up. Oi. But I did eventually. Since I don't want to spend exorbitant amounts of $ while I'm here, and the supermarket next door is very reasonable, I went and got some sandwich food to make some sammies to take with me while I walked around the city. It is very very hot too, so lots of water needed to be consumed.

After a quick bite for breakfast and figuring out where the hell the metro station was, I was off to Rossio, which is considered more downtown and the center point for most sights in Lisbon. The metro was a short ride and I found myself in the Baixo-Chiado district which is where Rossio is located. It is lovely there, all old buildings made of marble and granite. And the first thing I went to do was take the Elevador de Santa Justa which is a giant elevator in the middle of nowhere that you can take up to see the whole of Lisbon. It was designed by Eiffel's apprentice, so you can imagine how beautiful it is. All iron and metal. It is really beautiful. As I was standing in line, I met a few girls from Georgia who has just come from Lithuania and were on their way to Madrid. Random that they had just been in Lithuania. lol. They were really nice and we got to talk alot while waiting for the lift. We all took pics of one another up on the top. The view was stunning today as the skies were virtually cloudless. It was gorgeous.

I walked around Rossio square and found a Starbucks. lol. I didn't get anything there, but I am really surprised how many things they have here that we have @ home. And yes, today I got brave and tried the Cheeseburger flavored Ruffles. They weren't bad. A little odd, but not bad. After walking around a bit, and sitting in the shade to eat my sammich, I headed up to where the grayline is located - Marques de Pombal for my excursion to Sintra, Cabo da Roca, Cascais and Estoril.

My tour guide was awesome. Her name is Dora and she was our guide for last night's tour of Lisbon and Fado music. She has great little stories to tell here and there and is a lot of fun. She was speaking Spanish, Portugese & English throughout the entire ride. That's nuts! My brain gets all scrambled when I try to speak 2 languages, nevermind 3!

The ride to Sintra was short. A totally full bus of people. We split up when we got to Sintra as some had free time in Sintra as part of their trip and some of us had a trip up to Pena Palace. My trip included Pena Palace which was AMAZING!!! I get really over-excited when I see castles so I took a bajilion pics! lol! The castle was built in the 19th century and was originally a 16th century monastery. It is called a fairytale castle and is therefore filled with all sorts of beautiful tiles and gargoyles and paintings. All of the original furniture and gifts that the royal families received while there are still there and you see them all when you go in. It is gorgeous. All kinds of things like Limoges porcelain, Indian and Chinese items and a really cool room all with Stained Glass Windows collected by Ferdinand the II when he lived in Germany. The castle looks alot like Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. But Pena was built 30 yrs before. It is really magical. The outside especially. The Portugese are famous for their tiles, and this is obvious all over the castle. There are also little touches of moorish art and culture as the moors were in Portugal for a long time. There are moorish castles all over the place here. The most interesting thing though, is that there are touches of masonic symbols everywhere. Ferdinand was a supporter of the templar knights and masonry. VERY interesting stuff. There are indications everywhere with animals that symbolized masonry in the walls and symbols on the ceilings interspersed with other art. There are also 2 gates in the palace, the gate of death and the gate of life which symbolizes the balance in life. They are beautiful as well.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I'd rather see a castle than a town anyway. lol! So I was glad that I got to go up to Pena, which is @ the top of the mountain in Sintra rather than walk around Sintra for a few hours. ;) Though on the way down, I saw two blue Roans pulling a coach and I wished I had gotten to see them up closer. I had a blue roan once and I loved her so. *sigh* I also was LMAO the whole way down the mountain cuz a local boy jumped in front of our bus and flipped us off - lol!!!

After Sintra, we made our way to Cabo da Roca which is littlerally the end of Europe. It is the outermost and Southernmost part of Europe before it becomes the Atlantic Ocean. It is absolutely stunning. I don't have the words to describe it. All cliffs and water in the sunset. Beautiful.

Then is was off to Cascais which is all beaches on the water. It is just gorgeous to see. We drove by Boca do Inferno, but I didn't really get to see it as we just drove by it. But I liked Cascais so much that I think I'm gonna go there for the day on my last day here. There is much to see and do there and I'd like to have more time to explore. The views of the ocean and bay are so calming. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough for me to go later this week.

Estoril is right next to Cascais and is home to the largest Casino in Europe. It is very schmancy as many of the royals wanted to be close to the royal family so there are palaces and homes of dukes and royals everywhere. It is also worth exploring. But by this part of the trip, the damned jet-lag was giving me a migraine and I was ready to go home. I skipped dinner tonight cuz I was so exhausted. I've never been one to get jet lag. But this is just kicking my ass. Hopefully a good night's sleep will cure that.

On the way home, my tour guide was telling us that since Portugal was neutral during WWII, many spies came to Estoril to play in the casino. And Ian Fleming was inspired by one of the spies he met @ the casino. So much so, that he got the idea for the James Bond series. isn't that cool???

My Room is very nice, but the ac doesn't go on till you stick the card in the main switch slot which also operates the lights. So when you first get in, its on the hot side. That doesn't help my headache at all.

OH! And I think that I forgot to mention that when you are in a Fado House and the performers are singing, you have to remain completely silent. It is in respect for the performer and what they are trying to convey through the song. Fado is very emotional and to truly feel it, silence is required. I think that is awesome. There was a moment when the instrumentalists began playing and someone started talking obnoxiously and they just stopped. It was fantastic. I'm glad they did it. Musicians are so often unappreciated and disrespected.

I've uploaded a ton of photos from today on my facebook! Go check em out!

One other thing to share - people wear Harem pants here ALOT! Its weird. And I hope they aren't becoming a fad again. They just aren't attractive. lol!!