Day 3: 8th June: More of Lisbon

We took our time waking up in the morning, and then Papa dropped us off in the city. We walked down the Avenida de Liberdade, wandered around a little, and I impulsively bought a white Hard Rock Cafe Lisbon t-shirt, which I absolutely love! The sun was out, and we pranced around in our little sundresses.. Gonçalo took us to see his University, which is a quaint, beautiful old convent-turned-university building.

Then, we went off to meet Duarte Costa, Gonçalo's handsome, charming, polyglot of a cousin, who is a tour-guide, too. While crossing the road, I had THE MOST embarrassing moment of my life - a Marilyn Monroe moment - which I will NEVER let myself forget! Duarte met us at Chiado, and took us all around Lisbon! We saw many churches - again, all adorned in gold and glory - and one, which was burnt down, but retained an awe-striking beauty.

The church that was burnt during the earthquake is the second photo - its beauty is different. More rustic, and raw. Absolutely lovely.

We saw the river Tagus - the loyal, strong husband of Lisbon - the view of the bridges and the Christ the King statue during the day is quite different. We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant on a hill overlooking Lisbon - we had sardines and codfish, which is fantastic, considering I have not had REAL, fresh fish in AGES. Godddd, I love Portuguese foooood!

We also saw some small distinct neighbourhoods (Al Fama, and a Moorish village) as well as the Church of Grace on the top of a hill. We saw most of Lisbon from there. We bumped into Felipe, a friend of Duarte and Gonçalo who was on holiday, and so all 5 of us continued to wander around Lisbon. We then met Monica for a Superbock (Portuguese beer) and SNAILS!

After that we ventured into Belém, saw some beautiful architecture and buildings  where we had pasteis de Belém, supposedly the original version of pastel de nata. SO much goodness!

[Continued]


Monica met us at Belém, and so we had a car after that. The 6 of us cramped into her car and we headed off to some sort of International Sailing Competition Carnival nearby - having to hide Isabelle bwteen us to avoid getting summoned or fined trololololol! There were 2 DJs and a ferris wheel... so Filipe, Duarte, Isabelle and I got into one compartment on the ferris wheel and had a GREATTTT time scaring Isabelle by tilting the thing! :D 


After some dancing on the field we headed home.. but decided we were hungry so we went to look for one of those not-so-secret bakeries that open past midnight! We had paín du chocolat in the car and it was still warm and fluffy and OMGGGGG LOVELYYYYYY! Definitely the sweetest way to end a night like that!


After getting back to the condo, I had to stuff everything I brought with me into my suitcase because at 2am, we were going to drive off to Sesimbra...