Who would have thought they’d be such bookworms? =)
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lisbon
The hills. It feels like an older, prettier, friendlier, more colourful San Francisco. Lisbon is a super hilly city, which makes for some dramatic views. I loved coming down cobblestone streets and looking up from the main squares towards castle-topped hills and terra cotta roofed houses. Very Mediterranean (even though it’s on the Atlantic Coast).
Brazilian influences. I just love how Latin the city is. I don’t know if we were lucky or if it really is teeming with Latin Americans, but seriously, our nights out in Bairro Alto were more Latin than my last vacation in Argentina. We danced to live samba music in old, cozy dives. Portas Largas bar was the perfect hole-in-the-wall place: family-style wooden benches, cheap cheap drinks, old posters on the walls, locals singing and dancing to the Portuguese music. Just so much fun.
Pasteis de Belem. By far, the BEST custard cakes I’ve had. EVER.
Agra salsa bar. We went there after hours, when everything else closed down. I can remember clearly how amazing it was to dance to this song in the heat, the sweat, the loud music.
25th of April Bridge. It connects the city of Lisbon to Almada, across the Tagus river and it looks exactly like the Golden Gate Bridge. Maybe because it’s made by the same company!
Taxis! They are everywhere and super super cheap! We were zipping around the city at 5 euros a pop. Such a bargain compared with London!
The drive to Cascais. It’s a 20 minute drive from Lisbon and is right along the sea. We rushed there on Sunday to catch a glimpse of the beach and to get some ice cream. We barely made our train back to the city to catch our plane home! The drive through the hills was beautiful and reminded me so much of California! It made me think about whether I could seriously settle in Europe. The world is small and I lose track of places because they can start to look so similar to one another.
My girls. The trip would not have been the same without M and C. Seriously, we had such a laugh. I pray that everyone gets to experience the kind of friendship that we share. It is the medicine of life.
Seafood, seafood. Lisbon is known for having great seafood and we took full advantage of this. Octopus carpaccio, cod, fish cakes, prawns, scallops. Exquisite stuff. And so so cheap!
Sunset at the Castle of Saint George. I love cities that make you feel like you’re in a completely different era. Marrackech was like this and being at the Castle of Saint George during sunset elicited the same experience. It was magical – glowing orange and pink light, a quiet peacefulness that comes over everyone during the few minutes before the sun dips beyond the horizon, a soft breeze. Mmmmmm. Just magic.
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I’m in Dublin for a week, staying with Miss. M. We’re still completely wiped from the weekend and I can’t seem to catch up on the sleep debt that I’ve accumulated over the past few weeks. Last night we made dinner in, turned on the fireplace and watched three straight episodes of Sex and the City. A girly night in. As fun as all of this travel is, it can also be really exhausting!
A few tips on how to nurse a travel hangover:
- get plenty of sleep
- eat healthy meals
- stay hydrated
- schedule a weekend of sleeping in
- wear comfy shoes all week long
- clear your schedule for the next week (it will give you peace of mind about the mind space that you have to rest up)
- do not have coffee or sugar
- settle into your daily routine: do laundry, clean your house, go for a walk in the neighbourhood (half the exhaustion is mental, so trick your mind into feeling it’s definitely home)
- exercise (in my experience, this is the best cure for any mental or physical ailment, and it’s so good for you!)
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I’m back from a wicked weekend holiday in Lisbon with the girls. It’s Monday and the damage is done – we’re back at work, totally exhausted, sore and sleep-deprived. But damn, it was worth it! This weekend topped all other girly weekend trips thus far and now Lisbon is my new favourite city in Europe. It’s cheap, colourful, warm, friendly and beautifully historic. It’s a hilly city, with cobblestone streets, medieval castles and old monasteries. The food was exquisite – fantastic fresh fish and to-die for pastries (pasteis de Belem). We had the most amazing chocolate mouse I’ve ever tasted in my life.
If you’ve ever seen the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona, you’ll recall that the threesome in there happened because there was a special chemistry that could only exist between the three characters – they all fed off each other. And M, C and I were just that amazing combination of personalities that made this trip so special. It was madness and silliness and the most painful laughter I’ve experienced. It was the ultimate joy for me to be with my two best girl friends – no limits, no holds-barred, no secrets or rules.
We met people who couldn’t speak a lick of English, danced to live Brazilian samba music in hole-in-the-wall pubs in Bairro Alto. We salsa’d till 4am and tiptoed in our high heels through cobblestone streets packed with locals and tourists. It was music and laughter and sunshine and amazing food. We climbed ancient castle walls, rode trams in the evening wind and hopped in and out of taxis so cheap it didn’t feel like Europe!
I’ve always loved Latin everything – the dances, the culture, the music. And Lisbon surprised me because it is the most latin city I’ve experienced outside of South America. We met some new Brazilian friends and managed to communicate with non-English speaking people with an English-Portuguese dictionary. It is in these moments, where you are pushed linguistically and culturally,when travel really stretches you. It forces you to communicate outside of your own tongue, it forces you to see through another cultural paradigm and it makes you forget about all the material comforts of your own life and home and pulls you into a completely new world. This is the reason I am addicted to it: the newness, the stretching, the moments of pure disbelief that you are actually there, doing what it is you’re doing, meeting with the people that you’re meeting. It’s the kind of shake up that makes me feel so so alive.
I’m exhausted and completely sleep deprived. But memories from this weekend are the happy thoughts that would give me the power to fly if I were Peter Pan. =)
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