I feel like Im in Portugal...

---

April 10, 2009 is Good Friday and we spend the day exploring Lisbon. Me and dad argued about taking the sightseeing bus. I tell him the trams are more well known and touristic then the sightseeing bus, he says the sightseeing bus he loves a lot more and really enjoyed using them when he went to Paris. Eventually I convince him "please please please lets go the tram" and we take Tram 28, Lisbons most famous tram, to the top of the hill. Actually this is one of the steepest trams in all of Europe!

Before this tram ride we go to our dinner cafe and have some delicious breakfast. I get a cod fish sandwich - as apparently that’s what they are known for in Portugal - their delicious fish.
We take tram 28 from Rua Augusta and all the way up to the end past the Castelo Sao Jorge and the tiny windy streets of Alfama. We get off at the end and I suggest to dad that we hike around a bit. We do getting lost and ending up by a church and then it starts to rain. We go and wait by a tram stop and the tram comes past and tells us that even though we got off about an hour ago - we cant board with the same tickets. Jipped we stay under the tram stop for another 10 minutes until the rain stops. Then we walk down to Alfama, about 10 minutes away. This is one of my favorite places in Lisbon. Its little old streets are narrow and small and I wonder how cars get through some of these places. We go up one street and emerge on an amazing view, of rooftops, townhouse/apartment blocks that look like they were built in the 18th century and modern 21st century apartments in the distance.

From the old apartments I see clothing lines, stuck outside the window and a woman looks out the window below getting ready to dust out her bed sheets and I feel like I’m in Portugal.

---