The City of Statues and Beauty
I've realized that almost every time I name a post, I forget to explain why I named it that in the actual post so from now on the first thing I'm typing is the reason behind the title even if it doesn't go with the flow of the rest of my post! So with that being said I will start by saying that Lisbon has a bajillion statues everywhere so we nicknamed it the city of statues and i added the beauty because it was absolutely amazing!!
So first things first. Friday morning Stephanie and I woke up at 4 to get to our 7 am flight..we were pretty grumpy. Once we got to Lisbon we decided to go to the Aquarium which is the second biggest in Europe! Our friends were arriving a little later so we explored ourselves. The Aquarium was super cool! Then we met up with our friends at our hostel! Which by the way was amazing. I was super nervous about staying in one but it was great! I highly recommend the Equity Point hostels, they have them all over Europe! Actually there was one problem though, you had to walk up a hill and a few flights of stairs to get to it, but it was so worth it. Anyway after we met up we went exploring and just walked around town and saw a ton of statues and monuments. Then we grabbed dinner and got caught in a hurricane. Apparently for the past 3 weeks its rained everyday in Lisbon. Lucky for us it only poured that one night for about 20 minutes. We also had every intention of going out that night, but once we got back to the hostel we all just passed out-which was great because Saturday we did SOOOO much. First we got tickets for the hop on hop off bus tour. Our first stop was the Lisbon Cathedral and it was beautiful! We walked around it for a bit and then got back on. We then got off at the Monastery of Jeronimos which is GIANT. It's also extremely beautiful and has some great history. We then stopped at Pastreis de Belem, which is world famous for their pastries and it did not disappoint. If you ever go you have to get their famous pastry. It was so incredibly tasty. Next we went to the monument that is for all of the explorers who left for the New World. It is huge and breathtaking. We then walked to the Tower of Belem which is where the boats would actually leave from! Also, these monuments are right on the River Tagus where it meets with the Atlantic Ocean. Also in the distance from these places is the Christo de Rey statue, which is a smaller version of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, and the 25th of April bridge which is almost identical to the Golden Gate Bridge. The view was spectacular. Pictures did not do it justice at all. I wish I could describe all of these places more but it is definitely just something you have to see for yourself. After that, we went to the Castle of St. Jorge which was crazy!! it was on top of a mountain obviously so we had a little hike again! The view from their was even better than the other view. And then finallly we went to Livreria Bertrand, which is the oldest running bookstore in the WORLD. I was so excited to go. I was acting like a little girl. I obviously bought some books too. It was probably my favorite thing we did to be honest. Finally we went back to the hostel and made some dinner before going out. Which was an adventure. So in our hostel we met a group of 13 guys from London. We all went out to the bars, which are very interesting. Its legal to drink and walk in the street with drinks in hand. Therefore all of the bars are super tiny and every one is just outside. I spent most of the night impressing the guys on my knowledge of England. We also had a fun game where we would play true or false with the stereotypes of each others' country. Apparently they think we hate Canada, only play sports, and drink anything and everything out of red solo cups. It was hysterical. Then we spent a long while trying to perfect our American/English accents. That was also a hoot. We also taught each other slang words. I'm going to fit right in when I visit! And that was about all for the night. Unfortunately our flight left at 1 Sunday so we didn't get to do anything today, but I'm exhausted! I also have a lot of school work this week that I'm dreading. luckily its pretty easy just a little tedious. So thats about all I have for my first trip! I miss everyone a ton! Please please message me I love hearing from all of you!
Abrazos y besos
Ellen
So first things first. Friday morning Stephanie and I woke up at 4 to get to our 7 am flight..we were pretty grumpy. Once we got to Lisbon we decided to go to the Aquarium which is the second biggest in Europe! Our friends were arriving a little later so we explored ourselves. The Aquarium was super cool! Then we met up with our friends at our hostel! Which by the way was amazing. I was super nervous about staying in one but it was great! I highly recommend the Equity Point hostels, they have them all over Europe! Actually there was one problem though, you had to walk up a hill and a few flights of stairs to get to it, but it was so worth it. Anyway after we met up we went exploring and just walked around town and saw a ton of statues and monuments. Then we grabbed dinner and got caught in a hurricane. Apparently for the past 3 weeks its rained everyday in Lisbon. Lucky for us it only poured that one night for about 20 minutes. We also had every intention of going out that night, but once we got back to the hostel we all just passed out-which was great because Saturday we did SOOOO much. First we got tickets for the hop on hop off bus tour. Our first stop was the Lisbon Cathedral and it was beautiful! We walked around it for a bit and then got back on. We then got off at the Monastery of Jeronimos which is GIANT. It's also extremely beautiful and has some great history. We then stopped at Pastreis de Belem, which is world famous for their pastries and it did not disappoint. If you ever go you have to get their famous pastry. It was so incredibly tasty. Next we went to the monument that is for all of the explorers who left for the New World. It is huge and breathtaking. We then walked to the Tower of Belem which is where the boats would actually leave from! Also, these monuments are right on the River Tagus where it meets with the Atlantic Ocean. Also in the distance from these places is the Christo de Rey statue, which is a smaller version of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, and the 25th of April bridge which is almost identical to the Golden Gate Bridge. The view was spectacular. Pictures did not do it justice at all. I wish I could describe all of these places more but it is definitely just something you have to see for yourself. After that, we went to the Castle of St. Jorge which was crazy!! it was on top of a mountain obviously so we had a little hike again! The view from their was even better than the other view. And then finallly we went to Livreria Bertrand, which is the oldest running bookstore in the WORLD. I was so excited to go. I was acting like a little girl. I obviously bought some books too. It was probably my favorite thing we did to be honest. Finally we went back to the hostel and made some dinner before going out. Which was an adventure. So in our hostel we met a group of 13 guys from London. We all went out to the bars, which are very interesting. Its legal to drink and walk in the street with drinks in hand. Therefore all of the bars are super tiny and every one is just outside. I spent most of the night impressing the guys on my knowledge of England. We also had a fun game where we would play true or false with the stereotypes of each others' country. Apparently they think we hate Canada, only play sports, and drink anything and everything out of red solo cups. It was hysterical. Then we spent a long while trying to perfect our American/English accents. That was also a hoot. We also taught each other slang words. I'm going to fit right in when I visit! And that was about all for the night. Unfortunately our flight left at 1 Sunday so we didn't get to do anything today, but I'm exhausted! I also have a lot of school work this week that I'm dreading. luckily its pretty easy just a little tedious. So thats about all I have for my first trip! I miss everyone a ton! Please please message me I love hearing from all of you!
Abrazos y besos
Ellen
Love love love your blog. I am so glad you are experiencing the culture of Europe. I was very impressed with the pictures although I must admit I was trying to figure out what was what. So much for the history teacher. I love you Elle Mae! (as i drink out of a red solo cup!)
ReplyDelete