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Published: October 15th 2006
Hello Reader.
Mike and I, after our tour through Morocco, were on our way to Portugal. Lisboa was first on our list. We had contacted a couchsurfer there by the name of André Lino. How he came to be our host was rooted almost entirely on the fact that he had hosted Kyle, who we also hosted in Valencia just before Las Fallas. Kyle, as he does, left such a good impression with André that all we had to do was drop his name and André was more than willing to put us up for a couple of nights. Unfortunately we didn't meet him until after spending a night in a ghost hostel... but I'm getting ahead of myelf.
Our trip to Lisboa from Tarifa made a stop over in Sevilla. Mike and I had about three hours to kill in the meantime so we decided to explore as much of beautiful Sevilla as possible... which amounted to us using the internet, buying food in a market, and eating lunch. Sevilla is known for being the birthplace of Flamenco, a unique type of music and dancing that has to be experienced to be appreciated fully. Unfortunately, we didn't see
Lockers in Lisboa Hostel
Did you ever feel trapped?or hear any Flamenco. Our tour of Sevilla was confined to a few street blocks... and not the most interesting blocks at that. BUT, being in a rare mood, (probably from the lack of decent sleep), I decided to take advantage of my last hours in Spain and speak to as many people as possible. After all, it was probably the last time I'd be in Spain ever... and understanding the locals was a luxury I probably wouldn't enjoy for a long time.
I talked (read: flirted) with the girl at the information window at the bus station. By reputation, bus/train/transportation station employees are the grumpiest people on Earth and I always do what I can to make them smile. All this girl had to do was slightly smirk and I took it as an invitation to make her laugh as much as possible. She loved us for a good five minutes. Later, I asked a woman on a bench if she spoke French, (I asked in French). She said no. I said, 'oh, me neither' and then spoke to her in Spanish about where the nearest market was... Mike laughed. We had Salami, cheese and mustard sandwiches on
the bench next to the woman. Back at the bus station, there was an older gentleman manning the luggage room. Posted on the outside of which was a large sign that read that he had absolutely no information about busses and to not ask him for the key to the toilet. (Do you see where this is going?) I waited patiently in line and then asked if he could give me a little info about busses and requested the key to the toilet for my friend... He, with unexpected politeness, started to reiterate to us exactly what the sign said. I laughed and told him I was just joking... a few minutes later I realized that I had mixed up the words 'joking' and 'relaxing.' Mike was almost crying he was laughing so hard.
So much fun and we hadn't even gotten to Portugal yet.
The last leg of the trip was spent in an empty bus trying to get passing cars to wave back at us and thinking of food and meals that honey wouldn't go good with, we came up with a few select tomato dishes and that's about it. Honey - infinite possibilities. We arrived
Danger!
Why can't they write those signs in English? about ten pm and took in the avant-garde structure of the bus and train station. We hunted and found a hostel, checked-in, then went to a market for more food. (Market food/making your own food is always cheaper and safer - taste wise - than going to a restaurant.) We ate in a park and crashed back at the hostel.
I feel this is a perfectly random time to add that Mike and I had decided not to shave our beards for the entire time we traveled together. One of us looks good with it, one of us looks like Captin Stubbly, the dangerous and dirty pirate... I'll let you be the judge.
The next day we noticed that the hostel was freakishly cold (not temperature wise, but deserted-hospital-filled-with-zombies-waiting-to-eat-your-heart wise). We took some funny zombie pictures. Also, I secretly laughed at Mike for needing so many of my anti-diarrheal pills... if I had a nickel for every pill that boy took, I could have bought a small child in Morocco. Ahh, poo can be funny.
We got a reply from André giving us the go-ahead. We took a metro and played frisbee in the park with a
kid named Kassim while we waited for André to meet us. The weather was perfect. Kassim looked to be about seven. His parents were no where to be found. Keep-the-frisbee-away-from-Kassim turned into Kissim trying to beat us up. One of those funny-at-first things. After about five or ten minutes my shins were bruised and I was really glad when André came to our rescue.
André was a super nice guy. He studies at the local university and his interests include music, cinema, his girlfriend, and our cooking. (I may have lied about that last one, as most of the meals we cooked included a hefty portion of deep fried potatoes... I'll admit, I might have gone a little bit overboard, but come on, how often do you come across a deep fryer!?) But, as Mike's pill consumption increased, André didn't complain once! He shares his flat with a couple of guys that were out of town at the time. Andre, who joined us in our quest to find a food that isn't complimented by honey, recommended a few not-to-miss places to see in Lisboa. So after another monster sandwich, (that I was tempted to deep fry), André went to
university and Mike and I were off to explore the city.
Lisboa is beautiful. The coastal capital has about the same population of Valencia (eight-hundred thousand or so). There is an enormous hill-top castle overlooking the city. We spent most of that first day walking the streets, scaring pigeons, and getting lost. We were going to go to the top of the castle, but we decided that it would be better to go the following day for sunset reasons. Mike and I had so much fun acting like children. Over the next few days I would take bucket-loads of photos of the two of us acting a fool.
Dinner that night was deep fried. I fell asleep watching a show called 'Rome'. I woke up around four am, at least I thought it was four until I opened the hallway door to pee (no, I didn't pee in the hallway) and an abundance of sunlight spilled into the room. André had those blackout blinds that are designed to trick foreign couchsurfers.
It was actually almost mid-day so breakfast was a quick one - (fried). Mike and I took a train to Belém, a part of the city
Mike Sliding
Mike is that blur you see. on the coast a little north of the center. There was a monastery there that was huge and impressive, as most Christian structures are. The area was also famous for a pastry called, appropriately, Belém that was supposed to be delicious. We forgot all about it, though... and if that wasn't sad enough, we actually ate a McFlurry. I know, I'm ashamed... but I was in a McMood, and it looked sooooo McGood, but in retrospect it wasn't worth missing out on the Belém.
We played frisbee at the park in front of the monestary. (I carry my frisbee with me at all times - thanks to Dan Sutera - one of my guests during Las Fallas!) And later hit up a mall for cheap jandals (Kiwi for flip-flops) for Mike. We walked up and down the water near the World's Fair Center, and I took pictures of people kissing (as I do). That afternoon we high-tailed up the steep hill to catch the sunset from the castle ruins. The view over the city and water was breathtaking. The ruins of the castle reminded me of a work by M.C. Escher or the end of that movie 'Labyrinth'. Mike
and I had fun teasing the roaming peacocks and climbing all over the deteriorated edifice.
Mike and I, using a mix of our Spanish and a heavy lisp, bought some vegetables from a corner shop and prepared a stir-fry for dinner for the three of us. After all that walking we crashed out cold.
Although we were in Lisboa for two full days, they just flew by. And we said a fond farewell to André before picking up some food for the train ride to Porto to meet up with our next host. I was finally getting to use my Eurail Pass I bought six months before. Collective Soul and Counting Crows lulled me into relaxation as I recounted our time in Lisboa... 'Lisboa: Check!'
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Dana Eisner
non-member comment
Memories...
Oh Eli, you just made me reminisce about my times in Sevilla and the trip I took with my friends to Lisboa and Belem. Good times! Love reading bout your adventures, makes me happy ;)