Where is the time going?

Amity and I at the Azahar goodbye dinner

The girls outside of Palacio de la Pena

Padrao dos Descombrimentos

View of Sintra

Waterside of Cascais

Torre de Belem

View of Lisbon

With less than twenty-four hours at home in Madrid after spending a little more than five days in Paris, I was off to Portugal on Thursday morning with sixty or more students I traveled around Spain with at the beginning of the semester. We had a long drive from Madrid to the town of Cascais, a suburb of Lisbon where we would be staying for the weekend. Before getting to our hotel, we stopped at the ruins of Castel Sao Jorge in Lisbon and were given a brief history of Portugal. Who knew that Lisbon had to rebuild itself after a fire, earthquake and tsunami in the 1700's?

We drove through Lisbon and got to our hotel with enough time to unpack and shower before dinner. Many of the girls had five-person suites facing outdoors, so that night Azahar enjoyed each-other's company by hopping from one suite to the next.

Friday morning we were up early for a buffet breakfast and about half us decided to travel to Lisbon with the teachers while the other half hit the beach. I was tempted to ditch the lectures, but I knew I would regret not seeing as much of Lisbon as I possibly could, especially since I'll have all summer for the beach! We were dropped off at the waterside and learned about a lookout tower/prison called Torre de Belem. Fun fact: this building has the first ever representation of a rhinoceros in Europe carved into its exterior due to Portugal's ties to Asia and Africa when exploring and trading with them.

Next we climbed the Padrao dos Descombrimentos - a monument to Portuguese discoverers and a lookout over the Tajo river. We had a beautiful view of Lisbon and its famous bridge that replicated the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. We walked a little ways inland and arrived at the Mosterio dos Jeronimos, a monastery and church. The Muslim influence that we learned about at the beginning of the semester was very prominent in this Portuguese church. Its architecture reminded me of the Alhambra of Granada. Inside the church was Magellen's tomb, but his body isn't in it because it was never recovered. After lunch, the teachers surprised us with a "treat" of an authentic dessert only found in Portugal, known as Pasteis de Belem. Delicious! That night was our Azahar goodbye dinner at a fancy casino with live music. By the end of the night we ended up at a club near the casino, and had a good time dancing to a live band.

The next morning, while even more people went to the beach, I went on the tour of the Palacio de la Pena in Sintra, Portugal. It was originally a Muslim palace then a hunting resort for the King of Portugal. I have never seen a palace like this in Europe, with such classical features but obvious remnants of Asian and Muslim influence. It was an absolutely beautiful palace, and luckily is still preserved after all of the natural disasters in Portugal. The rest of the day I spent with a few girls exploring Cascais: walking to the beach, buying souvenirs, and being tempted to eat seafood...but I'm such a wimp!

I'm so glad I got to see Portugal, as it is right next to Spain I would have felt awful if I had missed it! I only wish we could have seen more of Lisbon, as I have heard so many wonderful things about it. I am currently enjoying my second to last week in Madrid. The weather is perfect and I am trying to check things off my "Madrid To Do List" before time runs out!

Besos,

Emily