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Published: April 21st 2007
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During the first week of our Easter break, five of our friends (Tom, Tina, Emily, Jason, and his friend Jason - yes, three Jasons) came to visit from California. It was great to see them after so long and we somehow managed to squeeze seven people into our 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment without too much trouble (although it did take some serious strategizing to get into the bathroom in the morning). Everyone flew into Lisbon on Monday and they rented a Peugeot minivan (how stylish) and drove up to Coimbra. It was kind of funny seeing all of these familiar faces from halfway around the world standing at our door but after about three minutes everything was back to normal and everyone was having fun and catching up. The first night we went out for Portuguese/Brazilian food and then came back to the apartment to hang out. The next morning, once everyone had gotten ready and filled up on sugary Portuguese pastries and coffee, we headed out to the Roman ruins of Conimbriga, 20 minutes outside of Coimbra. We came back to Coimbra for lunch, and then spent the afternoon checking out the sights around here. That night we headed to
the mall because Tom and Tina's luggage had been lost and they were running out of ways to combine the few articles of clothing they had carried on the plane.
The next morning we left Coimbra to head to Lisbon and saw a lot of sights along the way. Our first stop was the monastery in Batalha, which we had been to on our school field trip in January. After that we headed to the walled city of Obidos, which was fun except that we were all starving when we got there and the only restaurant that was open and had room for us took over an hour to bring our food out. Once we had some food in our stomachs (and some coffee and some of the local cherry liqueur, ginja), things looked up again and we had some fun walking along the city wall. Our next stop was Sintra, a park area outside of Lisbon that has some cool palaces and castles. The highlight of Sintra was visiting Cabo de Roca, the westernmost point of continental Europe. We were there right before sunset (and the arrival of a big tour bus) and after spending so much time
in the car, the fresh air and wind coming off of the ocean felt really good.
After dinner in Sintra, we drove into Lisbon, where we had booked a hotel. What should have been a simple 20 minute drive turned into over an hour of driving back and forth, squinting at the tiny Portuguese tile road signs (pretty, yes, but not so functional, especially at night). The road that our hotel was on was kind of like a highway and we drove back and forth a million times before finally spotting the hotel sign off in the distance and just driving in the general direction until we got lucky and found the entrance. After a well-deserved drink at the bar, we all headed off to bed.
The next day was spent exploring Lisbon. We started in the Belem neighborhood, home to two monuments to Portugal’s discoveries in the 1500s, including the Tower of Belem, as well as the Jeronimos Monastery, built with money from the spice trade. We had lunch at the café that makes the special pasteis de Belem custard tarts, and then took the tram into downtown Lisbon. We started at the Praca do Comercio, where
every guy in our group was offered hashish at least once (and one friend was offered coke - did he look particularly questionable?). We decided to keep moving and wound our way up to the Sao Jorge Castle, stopping at the Lisbon Cathedral, or Se, along the way, which was full of beautiful flowers and plants in preparation for Easter. After the castle, we headed to the Solar do Vinho do Porto, or Port Wine Institute, to taste some port. The place was kind of cool and lounge-y feeling, and you could order port by the glass (some for as little as one euro), as well as cheese and other snacks. After two glasses of port each on relatively empty stomachs, we stumbled over to a fado restaurant in the Bairro Alto, where we had dinner and heard some great fado music. I have to say I was more impressed with the place than I expected to be - it was obviously put on for tourists but it didn't feel too much like a polished show. Most of the singers were also working in the kitchen, and they were all really talented and seemed to be enjoying themselves. Jason and
I were excited because we actually knew a couple of the songs they were singing.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. Jason and I had an early flight to Paris the next morning, and everyone else was leaving at various points during the next day, so we said goodbye to everyone except Tom and Tina, who were also heading to Paris. Thinking back on their visit, I'm pretty amazed at how much we packed in without ever really feeling rushed. I had been kind of worried about the logistics of traveling with seven people, but everything just seemed to work and we had a great time. We also got spoiled a little, as everyone treated us to meals and brought us goodies from the states (including large amounts of very good chocolate, which I have eaten unfortunate amounts of this last week).
- Lindsay
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