Blogs from Lisbon & Tagus Valley, Portugal, Europe - page 56

Leaving Granada after having arrived less than 48 hours before, we were on a bus for a 12 hour ride to Portugal! To make the trip longer, the Spanish law states that bus drivers must stop at least every 3 hours to keep them from falling asleep, sooooo, we were on and off the bus all day long. Finally we were there by evening where we had dinner, and fell into bed. Laura, Natalie and I still hadn´t caught up on sleep and had a tour to catch at 8 the next morning so we crashed! The next day our Irish tour guide, Michelle, took us to Lisbon (we were staying at Costa da Caparica, a beach town outside of Lisbon), and we saw the Monastery of San Jeronimo, the Discoverers Monument and the Tower of ... read more

I would just like to say that Lisbon is way way better than Madrid. Much better looking and friendlier people. I found a cute little hotel to stay at in the central part, so getting to places is easy walking except for the hills! Which is a good thing because the bus system here is super crowded. Anyways, I've been gorging myself on pastries and cafe and taking little trips to Castelo de Sao Jorge, Torre de Belem, and the monastery of st. Jerome. All very beautiful places. I particularly enjoy the statue or whatever it is of Jesus across the bay. It's kinda like the ones you see in Brazil, with the arms spread open. Of course, I also managed to squeeze in some shopping,,,mostly for snack food items from the El Corte Ingles, which ... read more

So I´m in Lisbon and I could not be happier. The plane ride was easy enough and I was fortunate to see one of those wonderful fast-forward sunrises one only experiences while traveling directly East at 600 mph. Approaching Lisbon, we flew right over the south-westernly most tip of Europe and I was able to pick out each city along the coast until we got to Lisbon itself. The best part, however, was the bus ride from the airport. I unintentionaly sat next to two French girls, Elodie and Marie-Laure, having never really talked to a French girl, I was delighted to find it very easy to strike up a conversation immediately. By the time we reached the hostel, we were friends... and.... get ready... Maurie-Laure said I spoke excellent French. This may seem trivial, but ... read more

7 DE MAYO DE 2002 Poco después de regresar a Madrid, un día de mayo, a Alex y Domingo, amigos y compañeros del doctorado, y a Luis se les ocurrió improvisar un viaje a Marruecos en un coche alquilado. Una amiga mexicana, Soledad, lo había hecho antes y aseguraba que salía muy barato. Pero en Algeciras, ya para subir al ferry, la aduana nos detuvo: la empresa del coche no nos había dado un papel indispensable para poder sacarlo de España. Y de regreso, chatos. Alex insistió en cruzar el estrecho y se fue solo. Los demás estuvimos un par de noches aburridos en Marbella, y sólo un día aprovechamos para hacer el hermoso recorrido de los pueblos blancos andaluces. En la segunda foto, Algatocín, colgado de las montañas:. Y en la tercera la hermosa Ronda, ... read more

Alan and Richard were planning on going on to Morocco and they had had some jabs before they left England. I had not, so I decided not to risk going with them. So off they went, leaving me sad and lonely again, with a couple of hours to kill before the next train left for France. To avoid a repeat of that hellish journey, I decided to get into the queue to make a seat reservation. After a long wait, I discovered that there was a supplement payable to travel on this train. Since I had not got any change, I was forced to get in another queue for the currency exchange, just before the guy behind the counter decided to leave and help one of his mates for half an hour. Back in the reservations ... read more