Lovely Lisboa

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On my way to the airport in Milan a Moroccan guy called Saad started speaking to me, he was such a lovely guy, we arranged to meet up in Casablanca when I go, how exciting! Then on the plane (2 hours late of course) I started trying to have a conversation with a Portuguese guy called Umberto who doesn’t speak English. So we ended up giving up on trying to speak to each other and listening to Cat Empire on my mp3 player instead, which he said he likes!

My host in Lisbon was so fantastic! Antoñio was recommended to me for a host by Emi who I stayed with in Prague, she went to stay with him before. He picked me up from the airport with his three friends Fred, Tania and Evania and we went back to his place. I ate some food he made earlier (it was about 11pm by this point, bloody Easyjet!) and we went for a quick drink in Starbucks. The walk to Starbucks was very pretty, we went past the monastery, all lit up at night, and a pretty park with huge round fountain. I also met his housemate Paulo who was very interesting to talk to, he drinks a lot of coffee, lives at night and talks about mind control a lot, refuses to go on facebook because there is too much information about people on there. It was interesting to listen to his views and I watched some films he made as well.

In the morning Antoñio took me out to see the sights of Lisbon. First we went to Belem, which is the area where he lives, we saw Belem Tower, originally a prison, and unfortunately closed on Mondays, so the friendly pirate told me who was stood guarding the door. And we walked along the river side, a very chilled area, towards the monument of the Portuguese explorers, with the bridge that is the same as the Golden Gate bridge behind. We went back into Belem a bit and went to a cafe where they have ‘’pasteis de Belem’’, a kind of egg cake - bit like crème brulee in pastry - and this cafe was the best place for them, they have been making them for 200 years from a secret recipe and yes, they were yummy! You have them sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and they are very crispy, lovely!

After our refreshment we headed into town. We wandered around the squares, down rue Augusta the main shopping street, through alleyways and cobbled streets, and saw several view points of the city. All of it was beautiful and I loved wandering around there, such an amazing city. We went into the Sé (cathedral), which was blissfully cool as it was a scorching hot day; you could feel the sun hurting your skin as you walked around. We went up to the castle, took ages finding the entrance and then decided it was too expensive to go in anyway! So we got an ice cream instead and wandered back through the cute little alleyways to the metro.

When we got home we chilled a bit then decided to go to the beach. It was about half an hour drive but worth it, the beach was lovely! We went in the sea and lay down for a while, it was a bit windy and we left as the sun went down. Antoñio cooked us a meal and we watched the Usual Suspects!

Next day Antoñio and I were completely tired out from all the sun the day before so we got up really late. Then we went to a fruit market on a completely fruitless (haha), silly mission - someone I stayed with in Como called Umberto used to live in Lisbon, and he had a friend in a fruit market who he used to go and see every week and he would teach him Portuguese. So he wanted me to find her and give her a message, but all I knew was that she is short, has brown curly hair and he used to call her ‘Tia’ which means ‘Auntie’. So of course we completely failed in the mission, and poor Antoñio had to be dragged round this fruit market. He made the best of it though and brought some yummy figs and cherries!

We didn’t do much for the rest of the afternoon, Antoñio’s cousin João came over, cooked a meal and we watched a very funny film called Darjeeling Limited. Later on we wanted to get out of the house so we went to the cultural centre down the road and Paulo came with us. It was like a modern art gallery, the first room was really cool, loads of musical instruments and amps and things stuck on the walls, all painted with faces, and a drum kit, guitar and keyboard you could play. And there was a weird triangular mirror room you go and sit in and all the mirrors reflect you at different angles. The rest was pretty much like any other modern art gallery, but interesting anyway! There is a garden outside where we sat for a while, then walked home. On the way home we found a massive pothole in the ground and Antoñio decided to sit in it so we had a bit of a photoshoot of him being eaten by this pothole. Fun fun!

Next day I went to Evora on the bus. It is a small town but very pretty, about 2 hours on the bus from Lisbon. It has a small Roman Temple, cathedral, an amazing 15th century aqueduct running right through the city and which has houses built inside it, I would LOVE to live inside an aqueduct, I got very excited by the idea! I had lunch in a little cafe and had a pasteis that was extremely inferior to the pasteis de Belem! I walked around the park as well, which had some very loud peacocks in it, and headed back to Lisbon.

On the way back I started to talk to a guy on the bus, he couldn’t speak English but he had his laptop so we were communicating through Google translate! He was telling me all about his ‘’health problem’’, which basically was that he is incontinent; he showed me his nappy and everything. He was 22! And is having an operation in a month’s time. But he was very sweet and when we got back to the train station he brought me a coke and we talked some more. Antoñio and João came to pick me up, Antoñio had been dancing to cheesy music all day to get a free ticket for a concert so kept singing ‘’staying alive’’! I cooked some Chinese noodles for Antoñio and Paulo and we watched V for Vendetta.

In the morning Antoñio and I picked up João and we went on a road trip! First stop was a town called Peniche, where we were picking up another couchsurfer who was going to stay with Antoñio. Her name is Eli, she is German and is working as an au pair in Dublin for an Irish family (she speaks English with an Irish accent!) and the whole family were on holiday in Portugal for 2 weeks. Eli wanted to see Lisbon and Antoñio was her first ever host! Peniche is a touristy place but nice, what we saw of it, right near the sea.

Next stop was Antoñio’s father’s place that he is renovating (he asked me to tell me friends that it is a nice 1 bed house and cheap to buy and in a nice area of Portugal - all of which is true - if anyone is interested let me know haha!) Antoñio’s brother and their friend who is about 80 and they call ‘’the Master’’ was also there. Then we went to his father’s friend’s house to help her start her car. Then we all went to have lunch in a cute restaurant by the beach. Antoñio’s father paid bless him, and we all had a delicious sea food meal, I even tried octopus which the Portuguese couldn’t believe I hadn’t had before, but then I found out none of them had eaten Indian before which shocked me to the core haha!

Next stop was to visit Antoñio’s grandfather, a lovely 92 year old man who lives in a lovely farm house. We didn’t stay long then went to Antoñio’s father’s real house to get some costumes! For we were all going to the Medieval Fair in Obidos, and if you wear costumes you get in free! So there I was in a long white robe with gold trimmings, while Eli was wearing a green robe. Another of Antoñio’s cousin’s was there (his name is Cesar Augustus, couldn’t BELIEVE it), wanted to dress up as well so he went home and said he would meet us there. He turned up hours later wearing his mother’s dress and a belt, amazing! But Antoñio and João didn’t dress up.

Obidos was gorgeous: castle walls, cobbled streets, donkeys and carts, people with leprosy walking around everywhere, colourful stalls selling wonderful things - at one we ended up speaking to the Tunisian guy and smoking sheesha with him! He gave me a Turkish eye trinket. Inside the castle itself were loads of craftsmen, like a blacksmith who Eli and I spoke to, and people playing medieval music. In the food area was smells of roasting meat and wood smoke. We ate some great soup out of ceramic bowls and some pork sandwiches. We went to see the jousting but got there a bit late so tried to stand on the hill but couldn’t see much! We watched a bit of the jester though, he was like a kids entertainer really, very funny! And there were some great stalls full of musical instruments, I felt sorry for the girl of one stall because all of us crowded round and were trying every single one of the instruments she was selling!

On the way down to the car we stopped to try some Gingina (or something like that!), like a liquor that you drink in a tiny chocolate cup and then you eat the chocolate after. The Master brought a few for Eli and me, it was lovely! The Master really liked Eli because they can both speak French really well! That was such a great day, and Antoñio is an amazing host, he really looked after me. After I visited the Algarve I had to come back to Lisbon to get a flight to Madrid, and he said I could stay with him again and he took me to the airport for 5.30 in the morning, bless him!

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