At the dawn of Friday on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, Liz, Ankita, Will, Ken, and I met at a very quiet, deserted ICADE and hailed a cab for the airport. We were headed to Portugal! This was probably not the best weekend to plan a trip, since a week later all of our final assignments, research papers, thesis proposals and exams were just waiting to drown us in what seemed like endless pain. But at the same time we all needed a big break before all hell broke loose.
Since Monday was a national holiday, we spent 2 days in Lisbon and 1.5 days in Porto. Despite the short time for two amazing cities, we saw and did so much!! Something I love about traveling with Americans: we are so ambitious! I was super excited for this trip in particular because it was the first one since spring came and we didn’t have to lug around our big coats and boots.
I loved the sights in Lisbon for its balanced combination of modernity and history. We saw a medieval lookout tower against the shore of the ocean, a breathtaking monastery, one of the biggest aquariums in the world, the palace, and the site of the 1998 World Expo (wow, I was only 8 years old then!).
We were in for quite an adventure when we got to Lisbon. We got the wrong idea of deciding to take public transportation to find our first sightseeing destination. So many things wrong about this: First, we had nothing to eat so far that day since dawn. We decided to find a good brunch spot when we got to our destination. Second, we were soo exhausted. Since our flight was at 7:30am we got little to no sleep to make sure we were ready in time. Third, Lisbon’s subway rules are so weird and complicated even though it covers so little distance and no one really tries to help you because barely no one takes the subway in the first place!! Mix these elements together and you will have 5 very grumpy, very lost Americans.
Before realizing we were on the express train. Oh look at those naive smiles.
First we couldn’t figure out how the ticketing machines worked, so we got stuck there for about 30 minutes. Then we realized that we couldn’t use one ticket stub with multiple rides on it for more than one person at a time. So we had to find the personnel and get that fixed. Then when we got off the subway and switched onto the commuter line, we realized all too late that we had gotten on the express train and had gone 9 stops (NINE STOPS!!) past our stop. When we got off to turn around, there were a set of two sliding doors for the exit, about 5 feet apart from each other. I slipped in my ticket to get through the first set of doors. I tried to slip it in for the next set of doors, but it wouldn’t accept my stub. So I got confused and tried to exit through the doors I entered, but they wouldn’t open anymore!! So I was stuck in a weird glass trap with everyone laughing at me. The security guard had to come and get me out -_- . We then realized we had to pay for new tickets to go all the way back, except from that point it wasn’t possible to get off at the right stop, so we had to get off at a stop about 5k from our destination (ooh look at me using kilometers instead of miles! ha ha). On our walk there, we spotted some graffiti that explained exactly how we felt in that moment…
But in the end we finally found the watch tower we were looking for, and it was definitely worth the effort!
We had so many sweets and delicious meals in Lisbon. One internationally recognized treat is Pastéis de Belém, a Portuguese egg tart pastry, eaten with powdered sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top. Back in medieval times, egg whites were used for different cultural necessities like starching clothes and wine processing. The monasteries would use the leftover yolks to make these treats. The renowned Pastéis de Belém in the Belém area is known as the original pastry shop to sell these treats, with the secret, original recipe still conserved to this day. They tasted really similar to Asian egg tarts (which I’m obsessed with!), and later I learned that the Portuguese actually influenced them.
On the cab ride to our hostel, we asked our driver what the “must-try” dish in Portugal was. He answered with bacalhau, or cod. Then he talked about how it’s a staple dish in Portugal, and how he has so many childhood memories associated with it. He named all the different ways his mother would cook it: fried, steamed, rolled into croquettes, etc etc. So that night, when we fortunately ran into a great family-owned, non-touristy restaurant, we ordered the cod. Ken and I ordered it “com nata,” while Ankita and Will ordered it “a la plancha.” Ankita and Will’s cod was super salty..it was kind of hard for them to get used to it. But me and Ken’s cod with cream was amazing!! It came in a thick, creamy sauce, mixed with cod, potatoes, and onion, and had been baked all together. Great recipe here.
Lots of good food, and tons of sightseeing later, we caught a night train to Porto.
I couldn’t get enough of Porto’s landscape! Some of the highlights of our day of exploring was definitely just sitting on the grass by the riverside, eating candy popcorn and watching the skiers do cool tricks with the water. The neighborhoods are very steep, narrow streets with tiny passageways and colorful facades. It was almost like a maze and we just blindly followed a path for a while and to our surprise it opened up to an unexpected open patch of grass surrounded by graffiti, which opened up to one of the best views of the city.
Something ironic that happened the morning of that Sunday as we were planning our route through the city was when we were sitting in a garden looking at our map when I noticed a big open marketplace taking place across the street. It was happening right in front of the Contemporary Art building, which made me want to go even more. I insisted to Ken and Ankita that we check it out and led the way across the busy street. To my horror, it wasn’t an open marketplace of vintage items or memorabilia at all…it was an open trading plaza for pet birds. And by this I mean stressed out birds, crammed into tiny bird cages in groups, feathers flying everywhere, shrieking filling the air….IT WAS MY PERSONAL NIGHTMARE. Needless to say, I ran myself and my phobia right on out of there.
Besides some mild bird trauma, the rest of the trip was amazing. We got a wine tour and tasting, ate some amazing seafood, and saw what some consider one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. What a quaint, rustic, charming city!
Hope you guys enjoy all the details I plan to update with in the upcoming posts!
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