Copyright (C) 2003 Adam Boggs
Hello Again, from the continent!
Last time I wrote I was scrambling to find a way over to europe. After a short bout of homesickness and deciding I was really ready to move on with my trip, I found a ride over to Lisbon with some folks from Maine. I kind of like the deep maine accent. There were 4 of us on board which made watches a lot easier. We rotated 3 hour watches, so each night I would get up a few hours later and stay up for a few hours in the middle of the night. Life becomes surreal on a sleep schedule like that, and you get to do some serious thinking in those three hours that feel like 12 hours. The trip wasn't nearly as long as the last one though. We left Monday evening and got into port in Cascais, just north of Lisbon, on the following Sunday morning. I offered to chip in for food and gas and help clean up the boat when we got in, and they said to not worry about it. That was very generous of them to let me share their space and also cover the costs. I guess it's better than them having to do 4 hour watches without me, or double 6s.
So, I arrived on the mainland on Sunday morning, July 20th. I bolted off the boat pretty quickly, which was a little bit of a shock to my system since I hadn't totally prepared myself for the transition. I explored some rough iteneraries though, just so I can compare it to what I actually do, and also to better plan so I don't get to the end of my time and I'm still in Spain.
I spent Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday exploring Lisbon. It's a very interesting town with many sections that all have different character. I'm staying in a cheap-ass pension in the Baixa district (pronounced BAI-zha), which was levelled by an earthquake in 1755 and was rebuilt very rectangular. It's sort of the downtown with pedestrian malls and lots of shopping, and has different areas named after traditional professions such as shoe makers, fisherman, etc. Right next to it on one side is an area that was not destroyed by the earthquake, and still consists of twisted streets, long staircases, and tall buildings. Everyone puts their clothes out to dry on a line from their balcony, adding to the character of the place. The portuguese are famous for painted tiles, and it's common to see several buildings in a row each covered with different ornately painted tile. It can a bit of a shock to the eyes, but separately they are very interesting to look at. Dinner was an Indian restaurant next door to my pensao. Finally, a menu I could read and know what I was ordering! It was very good, and I had a wonderful brandymel (honey brandy) after dinner that was excellent.
On the other side of the Baixa is Barrio Alto, or the Upper Neighborhood. This is where the nightlife of Lisbon happens, and is also the gay area of town. I wandered around there the other night and found plenty of people to talk to: a dutch couple who sat next to me at the quaint little livingroom restaurant I found (they were there the night before too they liked it so much); a guy from Paris who stopped to talk to me about why all the lights had gone out in this one neighborhood, and recommended some interesting things to see in Spain and Paris; some guys drinking port, drumming, and swinging flaming balls on the end of chains in the park who reminded me of Boulder; and a group of students from all backgrounds who were taking a foreign culture / history class of some sort that were out hitting the town on their last night in portugal, and dragged me into a cuban club to drink mojitos and listen to cuban music. All in all, it was a fun, albeit exhausting, night on the town. It was hard to believe that 12 hours earlier I was still on a boat without a shower of shave for almost a week.
My last day in Lisbon I explored a couple of spots I missed in town in the morning, and then took a side trip to a small town about 20km outside of lisbon called Sintra. I saw the Tower of Belem, which was used to defend the coast and the Rio Tejo that flows out by Lisbon. It was the last thing that sailors would see as they sailed off to explore the New World. I also stopped by the Pastais do Belem, which is a pastry shop famous for it's pasteles do nata, or little "cream pies". It's so famous, that in lisbon they call them pasteles do Belem instead. Then I took the train up to Sintra for the aftenroon, which is a beautiful little town tucked in the mountains with the ruins of an ancient Moorish castle perched on the hill overlooking the town. I went to a toy museum there that was really interesting, and the collector himself came around and talked to me for a while about his collection. He was in a wheel chair from a stroke, but clearly had a passion for these toys. They tell such history and give real insight into our adult life because what we play with as kids shape our lives so dramatically. He was particularly interesting in WW2 era toys, and had toys that the Nazis would give to children to play with: a gas chamber complete with chemicals that filled it with smoke and other things I would hardly consider a children's toy!. Very creepy, especially since he had a guy come in who played with toys like that as a kid, and told him what it was like to grow up in Nazi Germany. It's not at all what I was expecting from a toy museum, but it turned out to be a greater learning experience and gave me a new perspective on toys that was really interesting. The moorish castle was interesting too. I met a portuguese girl there that didn't speak very much english, but we got to talking about our different cultures over dinner. It is so much more interesting to meet a local and spend time taling to them in broken english and hand waving than it is to meet some australians or brits and talk to them in english. Plus you find good restaurants and order the right things on the menu when you're with someone who speaks the language!
I finally left Lisbon on Wednesday, after being there for a few days and having my fill of the big city. I finally ventured into the world of train travel, and headed down to the Algarve, which is the southern portion of Portugal known for it's warm weather and beaches, and is a popular vacation area for europeans. I got out of Lagos, which is the big tourist center, and went to a smaller town called Salema down the road a little that doesn't seem to be quite so trampled by the tourist crush. I got a room above an old couple's house for 25 euros a night that is absolutely wonderful and about 50 ft from the beautiful beach. Every morning you can see the fishermen out there preparing their nets. Naturally, many of the European women sunbathe topless. I figured if they could do it, so could I, and so off came my shirt without a second thought! And if you climb over the rocks a bit there are many secluded little beaches where it's often nude, and the people grin and bare it.
In 24 hours I took a cab to Torre do Belem, the electric bus to the subway station, the subway to the train station, the train to Sintra and back, the bus to the train station the next morning, oops, took a cab to the ferry station to catch the ferry to the right train station, and then took two trains to get to Lagos, and a bus from Lagos to Salema. I think I'm starting to get this transportation thing down! I got my Eurail pass validated today, so now I have two months by train to explore. Fun!
Tomorrow I head to Spain -- Sevilla and the hill towns of Andalucia, then Madrid for a few days, and finish next week in Barcelona. I'm looking forward to being able to speak more of the language. I've been in Portugal, including the Azores, for a month now, so I'm ready to head on!
Hope everyone is doing well.
-Adam
