Thursday, September 22, 2011

Day 54 (Lisbon)





This dog appears to have farted a cloud with a face, and is wary of it.








This morning I had decided to shell out the money for a number of those big open top bus tours, and a tram tour through all the major parts of Portugal. But, once at the stop, I got really impatient, and decided to walk. This turned out to be a good decision. I. saw. So. Much.



This is the monastery right by my hostel. You can see why I felt stupid wondering which stop was mine. But if you don’t know ahead of time, and you’re in a blind panic, how are you supposed to know? You don’t.










This is the iconic Torre of Portugal. To me, it kind of makes me think of a sand castle. I’ve never really seen something quite like it. Everyone should see this. NOW.









This is some discovery monument or something? This is why I failed history. It doesn’t matter that I read about this more than once. It’s gone now. Now it’s just “some discovery monument thing”. Yeah.















ABC














This is my new Portuguese boyfriend. I just love his smile, and staring deep into his eyes...












Then it was CASTLE TIME. Oh the castles. How I love them. But this one is particularly great. It's much more castle-y than some of the others.




It has beautiful grounds, with beautiful views












Yeahh, it has a bridge and a moat. I will dig a moat around my house. Don’t even doubt me.










It had all these walls you could walk around on, and into the towers and such…

I took like 100 pictures of just the castle. You’re gonna have to hit up flickr to see all the pics from today (http://www.flickr.com/alimook)




From the castle, I saw this cool old building that had kind of fallen apart, with a bunch of arches still intact. After leaving the castle, I became hopelessly lost in the city. But I eventually found a sign for some ruins, and it had a symbol of an arch, so I followed it. Another thing that Portugal is not so great with. Signs. I just got more lost, until I reached a building, behind which I could see said ruins. So I made my way around. Or at least I thought I was. Have you ever looked at nicely placed spaghetti, all loopy and squiggly together? That’s what European city centers are like. I have no idea how long I wandered around for at this point, but I eventually found a plaza, and nearly passed a building before I realized it was the entrance to the ruins. I ran inside, and was soooo glad I hadn’t given up and gone home.

They are the ruins of an old convent, and they have a bunch of historical items and a mini museum at the back. If you ever go to Lisbon, GO HERE. This is one of my favorite sites I’ve found. I don’t know how popular it is, as admission was cheap, and it wasn’t even in my guidebook. That is why getting lost in a city is the best way to discover it.

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