Seat Cushion-Lisbon-Day 4

After breakfast I took by myself to do some shopping and I went and sat at the bay for a bit.  It was nice to be by myself and have some time for reflections.  It was super windy out but the skies were blue and the air was fresh.  My nose has stopped running and I am able to breath a little bit again.  The hostel is located right in the heart of Lisbon and the shopping area.  There are many shops to browse through, both clothing department stores and tourist traps shops.

    beach area

 beach area

 famous bridge in the background

 Lisbon statue

 square by the beach in Lisbon

 clock on the way to the beach in Lisbon

tile on buildings

 Christmas decorations in Lisbon, shopping area

 statue with Christmas decorations

 building in Lisbon with yellow tile

 building with blue tile

 city square fountain

 architecturally interesting elevator

 statue of Jesus across the bay

at the beach in Lisbon

 me at the beach

self portrait of me at the beach.  It was super windy so I just had enough time to pull the hair out of my eyes.

square by the bay.  They set up to celebrate New Year's Eve

 Through the arch you will find the streets of the city where my hostel was and a city worth exploring

 beach with bridge and statue in the background

beach with the bridge in background

a homeless guy in the shopping area.  You know the economy must be rough when even the dog has to go to work.  The dog sat perfectly still while it held the plastic coin jar.

 Lisbon at sunset

 sunset

 sunset

 sunset

 I met Brock back at the hostel for lunch and then my bottom didn't leave the seat cushion on the couch at the hostel for the next 5 hours.  I watched Criminal Minds on Brock's computer while he did some of his own exploring.  It was our lazy day to do nothing and it was just fine with us.  We knew we were wasting a day but I think part of vacation is relaxing and we had basically explored all of Lisbon so we were not missing out on anything.

We were turbo explorers the first three days so day 4 was completely justified to just relax.  There are so many people in and out of the hostel that they became a sort of mini traveling family the time we were there.  It was nice to just veg and people watch and talk to my new traveling friends.

    That night a bunch of us went out to the Barrio Alta neighborhood to find some live Fado music.  Our hostel employee Sofia recommended a local Fado bar and we set off to enjoy the local music culture. Fado is music played from the heart and it tells stories of the Portuguese culture through the passionate singing.  Unfortunately by the time we got there, it was packed so a couple of us headed back to the hostel and drank and played cards.  A guy from England, Tom, taught some of us new card games which was a lot of fun to play.

Alfama - Lisbon - Day 3

Today we decided to ride the historic Tram 28.  The tram goes from one end of the city to the next.  Lisbon is basically at the bottom of the bowl and the Alfama neighborhood is up to the right and there is another neighborhood up to the left.  For 1.50 euro you can ride the tram to whichever stop you want.  Each time you get off you have to pay to get back on.

Our first stop was in the Alfama area.  Brock had heard about the Thieves Market and we wanted to check it out.  It literally is a huge flea market where the locals spread blankets out on the ground and sell absolutely everything, including and mostly junk.  I guess it makes sense since in Europe people don't have garage sales (since most people don't have a garage) and this is a location where the locals can set up their area and sell what they don't need.  Not really worth seeing in my opinion but it was said to see in all the tourist books.

locals set up their tents or blankets to sell their goods.

 locals use the parking lot to sell their goods as well.

  

 Our next stop was back down the hill to the opposite side of the city to a church.  After the church we walked back to the hostel.  It was all down hill so it was all good.  At the hostel Brock and I split up and I walked back up to Alfama to an amazing look out point. There is a cafe at the top and I had a pastry and soaked in my environment.  I am so lucky to be where I am at, at this moment in time.  That thought just kept going through my mind.  I loved feeling the freedom of being by myself and exploring the unknown city.

 view from a little park in the Alfama area

 view of Lisbon from park cafe

 view from neighborhood in Alfama area

Above:  Many of the buildings are made from tile.  It is really beautiful

view from cafe mid way down the Alfama area

     I walked my way back down towards Lisbon and stopped at another cafe halfway down and had a glass of Port and appreciated the view of the city.  How cool was it that I was drinking Port in Portugal.  WOW!! So amazing.  I met back up with Brock and we made pizza for dinner and hung out at the hostel.