Elizabeth in Granada

I knew when I came to Granada that I wanted to travel around Europe on long weekends, but I would have never thought I’d end up in Portugal even though it’s right next to Spain. Over the weekend my roommate Sam and I took a trip to the Lisbon, the capital city. We took an hour and a half bus ride to Malaga and then got on a plane to Lisbon. I had such a great time and was so impressed by the city. The people were all extremely friendly and most – luckily for us – spoke English. When they didn’t we were able to get by with Spanish. They got the gist of what we were saying. With the exception of one cab driver who we suspect ripped us off on the trip to our hotel from the airport (he charged us 17 euros and dropped us off in the wrong part of the city), everyone was super helpful and curious to know what we thought of their city. When we told one waitress that we were studying in Spain, she said that we should study in Lisbon next time!

Before I go any further, I want to make note of the fact that I flew on the smallest plane I’ve ever been on. It was only an hour and 20 minute flight, but my first thought was still “you’ve gotta be kidding me” when the bus pulled up to the side of the plane. There were literally 9 passengers on the flight! I had both an aisle seat and a window seat all in one.

We got to Lisbon on Thursday afternoon after traveling all morning. After finally finding our hotel, conveniently located on top of a huge hill (seriously, I’ll never complain about the hills in Granada again), we checked in and relaxed for a while before heading out to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I was definitely craving some American comfort food, especially after the long day of traveling and the mishap with the taxi driver.

The hotel, Residencia Mar Dos Acores, was perfect: it was really inexpensive, included breakfast and wifi, and most importantly, it was CLEAN. Even though the walk up the hill was awful every time and the bathroom was tiny, it was really close to public transportation (both bus and metro stops) and the staff was multilingual and very helpful. They were happy to give us directions to places and even called a cab for us when we checked out.

On Friday morning we took the metro to the outskirts of the city to visit the Oceanarium. Apparently it’s the largest oceanarium in Europe! I’m not a huge fan of zoos but this place was amazing. They had a huge aquarium in the center of the building surrounded by rooms with animals and plants from different parts of the world. Afterwards we decided to take a ride in the sky buckets in the park next to the oceanarium. The view wasn’t as great as I’d thought it would be, but it was something fun to do nonetheless!

After visiting the oceanarium we enjoyed an awesome seafood lunch. I love the irony of going to an aquarium and then having an entire fish, head and all, served to you on a plate! I got bass and it was amazingly fresh and delicious. Lunch was kind of expensive (but so worth it, especially the dessert) so we saved money by having Hard Rock leftovers for dinner. After trying in vain to get to the neighborhood where there are supposedly a ton of bars and clubs, we ended up at an Irish pub near the center of the city. It was so packed that we ended up having to share a table with other people (who were really nice and, no surprise, spoke English fluently). At least we got a table though, because there was live music! Hannigan’s in Granada should take a cue from them and start having performers, it was a lot of fun.

Saturday was a perfect day, both for weather and sightseeing. We started off going to the Feira da Ladra, a huge flea market that takes place on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It was basically a giant yard sale: a lot of antiques, clothes, toys, jewelry, etc. Then we headed to the opposite end of the city to visit Monasteiro dos Jeronimos (Jeronimo Monastery) where the explorer Vasco da Gama is buried. The monastery was gorgeous, both inside and out.

After the monastery we went to get a really cheap lunch (falafel pitas for only 3 euros!) and STARBUCKS. It’s been forever since I’ve had American-style coffee, especially iced coffee. It was fun just to sit in the park and relax. We also went to Belem Tower, a 16th century fortress/watchtower right on the water. It was 4 euros to go up and we didn’t want to spend the money so we just took pictures of it from outside.

Dinner on Saturday night was amazing. We found a great, affordable restaurant called Beira-Gare in the center of the city. Both of our meals were under 8 euros and we got a LOT of food. Steak with a fried egg, rice, salad, and french fries. I still can’t believe I ate everything on my plate. I also ordered a glass of wine, but little did I know that there is no such thing as a glass of wine at a restaurant in Lisbon. I learned this the hard way when I was brought an entire half-bottle of red wine. Fortunately it wasn’t that expensive so I didn’t feel bad about not finishing it.

Sunday was a pretty relaxing day. We went to the Calouste-Gulbenkian Museum: first to the building where the modern art is housed, then to the main museum. The collection was really small and limited but admission was free and it was something fun to do for a while. Plus, the weather was awful: it literally rained all day. We spent a lot of the afternoon watching tv at the hotel because there wasn’t much else to do in the city. Surprisingly there were a lot of American/British programs. I got to watch many episodes of What Not To Wear, something I haven’t done since coming to Spain. There was a channel that was basically the equivalent of TLC. It had reruns of Say Yes To The Dress, Jon and Kate Plus 8 (pre-divorce), and Miami Ink. It was fun to just chill out and enjoy being on vacation.

I discovered that literally NOTHING is open in Lisbon on Sundays, not even cafes and restaurants. I’m used to retail stores being closed in Spain, but restaurants?? We were able to find an open cafe for an afternoon snack and coffee (we saved money by eating a lot at breakfast and skipping lunch) and I got to try a Portuguese pastry, pastel de nata! (picture below) It was a problem when dinner time rolled around and we had to walk a mile in the rain before we found a place that was open. Fortunately the food was good enough to make up for it: salmon with potatoes and salad.

We left Lisbon on Monday morning. As much as it was a fun trip, I was homesick for Granada. It was so great to pull into the bus station in Granada and feel like I was back home.

Random facts about traveling to Lisbon:

• Before getting to Portugal, I was kind of cocky about the language and figured it wouldn’t be a problem at all. I almost bought a phrase book but figured I could do without it. Even though most people spoke English it still would have been nice to have so I could say SOMETHING to people instead of giving them blank stares when they spoke to me in Portuguese. It was really interesting because I can read Portuguese almost as well as I can read Spanish, but the pronunciation is so different. So if you go to Portugal, just buy a guide book. Then you’ll at least know how to say “Do you speak English?” and “I don’t speak Portuguese” instead of just responding in English.
• I’m really glad I did a little research on food and eating out before I went because I read somewhere that in Portugal the appetizers at restaurants are NEVER free. Not even bread! At every restaurant we went to they brought us several plates of appetizers (olives, cheese, bread). You’re supposed to just send back the ones you don’t want – whatever you eat you pay for.
• Lisbon is a really international city. All the menus are in at least six languages. There were tourists from all over Europe which was really cool.

Can’t wait for the next trip: Glasgow, Scotland!