We left for Lisbon on Monday (2/15), and arrived at some desolate-looking bus station made even more desolate by the copious amounts of rain and gray sky. Not fun. So Naomi and I went to the metro to make our way into Lisbon proper and the apartment where we were staying (yay connections and free housing!)--oh, fun story about the Lisbon metro: due to the fact that Lisbon metro cards do not love me at all, traveling in Lisbon consisted of me squeezing up very very close to Naomi as she went through the little opening doors into the station...or just straight-up running through with complete strangers. Fun times. But yes! The first night we were made a popular Portuguese dish by our host, baccalau (salted cod) with little potato slices, eggs, and onions. Really good, but I can't say I'm a fan of baccalau. Anyway, upon being told that the next day was CARNIVAL and because we didn't have anything else to do, Naomi and I made our way to Barrio Alto, the "hip" part of Lisbon and wandered around, enjoying all the crazies in their wild Carnival costumes.
The next day, armed with a hastily-bought umbrella to protect us from the rain, we set off to explore the city. And since it was Carnival, we came across a small parade: during Carnival, people--everyone, not just children--dresses up in crazy costumes, and this modest little parade had drum teams, people dressed up as kings, old Portuguese peasant women, priests, bourgeoisie caricatures, what looked like French Revolutionaries wearing red caps...whatever.
It was pretty ridiculous, and wherever we went that day we'd come across someone dressed up. After the parade dispersed, we made our way by trolley into Afalma, the old neighborhood of Lisbon. There, we saw the Sé Catedral de Lisboa, which dates back to the 12th century and where there are currently excavations of even older Moorish settlements underneath.
Then we continued to head uphill--sadly we did not see the Castle of Sao Jorge, an apparently huge fortress in Lisbon which provides spectacular views of the city, because we were soaked and fairly off-course--but it was fun to walk around the old district and see random statues and tile works, and we were also able to get a really pretty vantage point of the river Tagus:
See how gray and overcast it was?
Wednesday we woke up earlyish since our flight to Madrid (where we'd catch a flight to Marrakech) was later that day. Luckily, it was a beautiful day (it seemed like wherever we went, we'd get gray and rain for 2 days, and 1 day of brilliance), and we caught a bus to Belem where we saw the Monument to the Discoveries, the Jeronimo Monastery, and the Tower of Belem. It was SUCH a gorgeous day: the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds, and it was nice to leisurely see all these monuments situated on the river. Although the Mosterio dos Jeronimos was nice and the Monument to the Discoveries was imposing, I really enjoyed seeing the Tower of Belem: a large fortress/castle/prison right on the waterfront, we spent a couple hours wandering around and climbing up to the top.
Monument to the Discoveries and lighthouse on the river
Mosterio dos Jeronimos
Tower of Belem
View of the water from the Tower
After the tower, we decided it was time to take our leave, and caught a cab to the Lisbon airport...where I quickly discovered my debit card was missing and freaked out (it's been cancelled). Then, we spent years (5 hours) in the Madrid airport, from 1am to 6am, and that was...unpleasant. And then after that we got on a plane and went to Marrakech!
MORE TO COME
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