Lisbon, Portugal

Yes, I made it to Europe but it has taken me this long to post because I couldn't figure out how to change the language on the post to English.  Now that I have that figured out I guess I am out of excuses... except for the keyboard is funny and someone switched keys around so I can't find some punctuation marks so forgive some of the spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Lisbon has been wonderful, great food, people, and wine!  Oh and I guess you can say the city is quite nice.  My time here has been so great that I extended my stay here for another night.  The first night I participated in the hostels wine tasting event of wines from Portugal and then we went out for a couple of drinks.  I quickly learned and am still trying to comprehend that it is perfectly normal for everyone to walk around the streets with drinks. Basically people walk into a bar buy a beer and then stand in the street drinking.  People also walk up and sell you drugs just like the flowers and jewelry that they walk around selling you at restaurants.      

The city of Lisbon is a beautiful city with a rich history.  In 1755 an earthquake/tsunami/fire flattened a lot of the city which was then rebuilt.  The city is picturesque sitting on the Tagus river with many buildings covered in beautifully decorated tiles.  Today I sat and ate lunch at a restaurant on the river in front of the monument recognizing all of the Portuguese discoveries.  In the background sat a beautiful golden suspension bridge that looked oddly identical to the Golden Gate.  A few days into the trip so far I haven't felt lonely or missing home yet, but the relaxation of this beautiful sight made me think of the beautiful place that I live. 

   

Earlier in the week I went north on a tour to Sintra a small beautiful town along the coast about 45 minutes from the city with 7 others from the hostel.  We visited a couple of beautiful castles situated on hills one which had lovely gardens and underground tunnels/mazes that we were given flashlights for.  We enjoyed the challenge of trying to make our way through the tunnels and of course I was the only one who screamed when someone hid and jumped out to scare us.  We concluded the day visiting Cape de Roca the most western part of mainland Europe and then in Cascais tasting amazing gelato that was rated one of the top 500 ice cream places in the world.  Yes, 3 days into this trip I am already eating my way through Europe.   

Lisbon has already begun to teach me a lot.  The most important lesson that I have learned so far is that I don't have to see everything and that if I want to sit and do nothing one hour that is completely fine.  I am learning the importance of not having to rush through life but to sit back take my time, relax and enjoy the surroundings and doing nothing at all is a beautiful and important thing to appreciate something even more.  

Tomorrow it is off to Madrid either in the morning on a bus or on a night train.  I promise to post more frequently in the future and to have some better stories.  I have over 2 months so I need to warm up a little before these posts are exciting.  

Besos,

Laura