Lisbon

Don't believe people when they tell you that Portuguese is just like Spanish - it's not!!! There are a few similarities, but mostly it's different and the pronunciations are VERY different. Just a warning!

Lisbon is similar to Barcelona in some ways - hilly (although Lisbon more so), by the water (although Barcelona on the Mediterranean and Lisbon on a river that flows right into the Atlantic) - and very different in others. For one thing, there are far fewer Americans in Lisbon!

Since I went back to back on the same trip, people keep asking me which city I liked better. I would have to say Lisbon but only by a tiny bit. They are actually very hard to compare. The people in Lisbon were much nicer in general (although the Spanish were very friendly, so nothing against them) and seemed extremely happy that you were visiting and trying to speak their language. In Barcelona it almost seemed as if they expected visitors and were actually somewhat overwhelmed by them. Which is understandable given the sheer number of tourists there.

Tile (like the ones above) are traditional in Portugal. There are whole buildings covered in patterned tiles and sometimes they put them together to make pictures. There is a lot of seafood to be eaten (yummy!) too. My favorite part of this trip was the beach at Cascais (pronounced cash-kish (long i) I think). There are several beaches all strung together with a boardwalk, but our favorite was the first one from the train station.


The city had a broad avenue running down the middle. We stayed right off this, so got to enjoy it every day. It had garden areas in the medians and beautiful sidewalks. I imagine they'd be pretty slippery when it rains, but thankfully we didn't have to find out!

Lisbon has a statue of Christ similar to the one in Rio de Janeiro. El Cristo Rei overlooks the city of Lisbon from across the river and was erected in thanksgiving for Lisbon escaping WW II. We took a ferry across and then a very hot bus trip and then an elevator ride to the observation platform. As in any city with hills, there are lots of great view spots, but this one was my favorite in Lisbon.

We had time for one other day trip to Sintra. There are a lot of palaces and elaborate houses there. Also, the gardens around some of the houses are like tropical forests! I loved wandering through and seeing how dense everything was and so beautifully put togehter. It actually reminded me a lot of Colorado, even though it was manmade.

View of Castelo de Sao Jorge at night