Lisboa at Length

Hey, all.

I apologize for not writing to you all in a long time. I would like to say that I have been busier lately, which explains why I have not had time to write here, but I am not sure if that is entirely true. I think that it might be, but I also think that I have less free time now than I did during the month of January when the majority of my posts came. I also think that during January everything was new, noteworthy, and I wanted to tell you about. Now, after being here for about three months (this is about the halfway point, y'all), things that were once new, strange, and interesting are now commonplace. However, please be prepared to read a rather lengthy post this time, as I am going to try to make up for not writing here for a while. I am also going to write in my other blog in the near future, so check that out too if you are looking for something to fill your free time and if you are looking for some deeper thoughts from yours truly.

That being said, I think I might start with my trip to Lisbon since that was the biggest thing that has happened in my life since the last time I posted. So we left on Friday with a forecast of rain the entire weekend. It was going to be warmer than Salamanca (something like mid-60s in Lisbon), but it was also going to be rainy the entire time. Whenever we have been in a new city here, I always like just going on a walk and letting my feet carry me throughout the town. Rain would limit my desire to do this. But I was still excited nonetheless, as we were going to Portugal.

We got there on Friday, checked into our FIVE STAR HOTEL (What?!) and then went on a little tour of the city and the Castillo San Jorge. From this vantage point, we were offered truly incredible views of the city. We were able to see all of the houses, the river that runs into the Atlantic Ocean, the suspension bridge that is similar to the one in San Francisco, the Christ figure that is like the iconic one of Brazil, and we could enjoy all the history around us up there (the castle and the walls surrounding the castle). Then we had the rest of the night to do whatever we wanted. As per usual, most of my peers in my group wanted to go out, but I did not. Instead, I stayed in the hotel. While I was in the hotel, I learned some interesting things about Portuguese life and attitudes. In Spain, virtually every television program is in Spanish. That is to say, that the audio is all in Spanish. Portugal, on the other hand, has a lot of American and English language programs. Before I went to Portugal, I had talked to Sara about it and she told me that all of the American movies that they show there are in English as well, just with Portuguese subtitles. This is different than the Spanish way of doing things, as the Spaniards like to dub these movies instead of providing subtitles. So many people (myself included) think that this, in conjunction with the fact that the Portuguese being learning English at a young age, is why the English spoken by Portuguese citizens is so much better than that of Spaniards. In the hotel, I was able to watch History Channel, BBC, Disney Channel, along with a host of other popular television programs in English. It was weird.

On Saturday, we got up and had breakfast. Since I went to bed so early the night before, I was up much earlier than we needed to be, so I went down to the all-you-care-to-eat buffet breakfast and started my day off right. I got down there, and it was a five star breakfast as well. They had a whole host of fruits, they had the Iberian staple of meat and cheese, they had some good coffee, and a whole ton of pastries. All of it was so dang good. Later in the morning, some people from my program joined me, we finished up eating, and then we went out for a tour of the city. We went a little ways out of the city limits to visit a the Monastery of Los Jerónimos. It was an incredibly beautiful building, all white on the exterior, and impressive looking. (You can see all of these buildings, along with descriptions, on my Facebook page now.) We then saw Torre Belem, which functioned to control who could enter the port of Lisbon centuries earlier. It was really interesting to hear about the system that the Portuguese devised to control their port. There were some other towers on the Atlantic Ocean that would send a message to Torre Belem, describing the ships that would be entering and whether they were friends or foes. If they were foes, the cannons that were nearly on the surface of the water, would shoot the ships, damaging the hull and bottom part of the ship, causing the vessel to sink to the bottom of the river. This was clever because, given the height of the tower, the unsuspecting enemy ships would be expecting an attack from above, but they were really going to be attacked from below.

After seeing these two monuments, we drove through Lisbon to get a panoramic tour and then we were let go for the rest of the day to do what we wanted. We got off in the middle of the city of Lisbon and I found a group of people that were going to do some sightseeing. But then I remembered that these people were notorious for sitting in cafes all day, so I decided that I was going to find one person that would want to walk around the city with me and that would appreciate it. For this reason, I chose Nathan. He is in the same exact program (even many of the same classes) as me, and we walked around. First we got some lunch at a restaurant for really cheap. We got some fish (bacalau), French fries, a small salad, and a drink for real cheap. Like real cheap. I was really excited about that because it was really good food, it was a local bar, and it felt like an authentic experience. After lunch, we walked around the city a little bit more and then we went back to the hotel for a bathroom break and to get a little recharged. After about ten minutes, we went out to explore the city again. We found a tourist map with a bunch of sites to visit while in Lisbon and I saw that there was a place that we could see the aqueduct. I thought it looked really neat when we crossed the bridge to get to the Monastery earlier that morning, so I suggested that to Nathan. He was OK with my decision, and so we started out. After about two hours, lots of looking at maps, trying to decipher them, and lots of walking around, we were finally able to reach the aqueduct, which was really awesome. We were able to walk around ON TOP OF it! Nathan really liked it a lot, and I thought it was a super cool experience. We only walked a little way, but it definitely looked like you could walk the entire length of the aqueduct without a problem, or without anyone or anything stopping you. We decided not to do that, as we were unsure where it would end and we did not want to get lost again. Instead we headed back to the hotel, taking the long way (dando un rodeo, as the Spanish say). In so doing this, we found a really cool park that gave us awesome views of the city. I was really pleased with this find and could have sat there all day. We got back to the hotel and went our separate ways, which involved my date with my pillow (or going to the cine de las sábanas blancas (theatre of the white sheets) as Rufi told us she says).

The next morning, we started our journey back to Salamanca, stopping twice on the way. First we stopped in a town called Óbidos, which was a really small town, famous mostly for its medieval walls and castle. I was able to walk along the top of the walls and see the city and the surrounding area. It was a really cool town. I ended up buying some port wine, which is really popular (and apparently made in various parts of Portugal). I am not sure when I will use it, but I am going to enjoy it, I am sure. We got on the bus and an hour later we arrived in the next town of Batalha. This town is mostly famous for its monastery, which was really pretty. We did a little tour of that, walked around the town a little bit, got some lunch, and then started out for Salamanca more seriously. It was an overall fun trip and I liked it a lot.

I think that this has been an unnecessarily long blog post about my time in Lisbon and I was going to add more about my birthday and an update about school, but I think I will save that for subsequent posts, as I am getting a little sleepy right now and would like to go to bed. So, until next time...