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Published: December 9th 2008
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We had a good weekend in Portugal! Friday we left school a little bit early, we got the hook up cuz we went with the school secretary! We left Priego at about 2:00 and headed to Extremadura, which is the furthest province in Spain, closest to Portugal, where Lourdes’ boyfriend, Luis, lives. It took about 2 and a half hours to get there, but we got Luis and then headed to Lisbon. It took about 3 hours from there, but he brought his GPS so it was a pretty smooth trip. We arrived in Lisbon at about 9:00 or so and went to the wrong hostel first, but we found ours down the street and checked it. We had some difficulty due to the language difference, but we got to our room and got all settled in.
We drove to the port where Expo 98 was, which was an international festival held in 1998 which was 3 months long and featured many different countries, including the USA. It was really cool to look at, and most of the buildings are now converted into office space and various other uses. But there are restaurants from several different countries all in a line
down the water. Of course the American restaurant featured hot dogs, haha, but it was closed. We ended up having dinner at an Argentine restaurant and it was very good. We finished eating and returned to the hostel at almost 2:00 am our time! So we went to bed.
Saturday morning we got up early and had coffee at a nearby café and then walked around Lisbon and up the huge hill to the Castle of St. Jorge. It was very beautiful and we arrive just in time to beat the lines and the fog. From the top you could see all of Lisbon and a beautiful view of the water and the famous bridge. After that we walked down along the water and saw the Convent of Carmen, which is a gothic architecture ruin. We had a speedy lunch and continued walking the city. We arrived at the national domed church just in time for it to close, but we got a peek inside. We walked back to the hotel to freshen up and went to the Barrio Alto which had many restaurants and we wanted to see some Fado, which is traditional Portuguese music. We found one and
had a wonderful dinner consisting of a huge plate of meat and all sorts of seafood as well as a seafood paella. The music was really good and they had 2 women and 1 man sing. It is a kind of sad type of music with guitar and bass and the Portuguese language is really pretty. It was pouring down rain all evening so after dinner we just went back to the hostel for bed.
Sunday we woke up early again and drove to Belem and went to the monastery and church there. It was very pretty and there was a mass going on as well. They had a really cool world history exhibition as well, accounting for all of the happenings in Portugal versus what was going on in the rest of the world. After that we visited the famous pastry shop there and had little custard pastries, of which they sell more than 10,000 every day. It was pretty yummy. From there we drove to Sintra, which is on the coast of Portugal. We saw beautiful cliffs and stopped at a beach. We also visited the Cabo de Roca, which is the most western part of
all Europe. It was very pretty and very cool to see.
After that we went to the palace of Sintra which was beautiful. They had several different rooms, including a big hall which had beautiful tiled walls and a wooden ceiling featuring the family coat of arms. We also walked around the city a bit which was lovely and all decorated for Christmas. By then it was pretty late and raining of course, so we went back to the hotel to change and rest before dinner. We went to a delicious Italian restaurant and had dinner. It was really fun and the food was great. We walked around Lisbon a little bit more before heading back to the hostel.
Monday we woke up extremely early and drove to Evora which is a small city near the border of Portugal and Spain which is still surrounded by a wall. We saw the cathedral which was built in the 12th century as well as the university, which was built in the 14th century and forced to close in the 16th century. The city was beautiful and for once it wasn’t raining! We spent an hour walking around and seeing the old Arabic
castle and looking at everything. We then headed back into Spain, driving 2 hours to Gerena, where Luis is from, and went to his family’s house out in the country. They own a small house in the country with lots of land covered by acorn trees. The pigs in Extremadura are fed only acorns, which is where the expensive and delicate Jamon Iberico comes from. Luis’ family has a few pigs. But the house was cute and most of Luis’ family was there . They prepared traditional cochinillo, which is suckling pig, as well as other types of grilled meats. We had salad and French fries of course. Everything was so delicious and the company was wonderful. After the meal we walked the grounds with Luis and his father, Paco, as well as Luis’ niece and nephew who are 6 and 4. We saw lots of cool stuff, got chased by pigs, and then returned to the house for coffee and dessert. The mother in law of one of Luis’ sisters made a delicious lemon cake. By that time it was already 5:00 pm and we still had about 3 hours to drive
home. So we said goodbye and dropped Luis off at home and then started the drive back to Priego. We sang Spanish Disney songs as well as silly songs such as “Down by the Bay” it was a fun trip. We saw the most beautiful, as well as biggest, rainbow I have ever seen on the way back.
We got home and of course it was raining in Priego, but we said goodbye to Lourdes and just rested. What a tiresome, but wonderful weekend it was!
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marebear
non-member comment
Ham
Girl - you'll have to write a book called Ham O Spain. Or my year of Ham. Glad you had fun. love Marebear