Marcella's Blog

It is the morning of our last full day here in Portugal and what a fantastic week it has been! In some ways it feels like we have been here for months when we look back on all that we did and gauge our deep knowledge for the public transit maps!  We have become more sure-footed too - literally...I am not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but all the sidewalks (and many streets) here are made of cobblestone. That  material combined with hills makes for each walking around each day a strength exercise. Our apartment is half way up a steep hill that is all cobblestone and we have found that whenever we want to get somewhere we have to traverse up and down hills that are the little sisters of San Francisco. At first we would have to take breaks, but now our ankles and quads have built up the stability and strength necessary, so hills no longer daunt us. We think this whole country is decked out with cobblestone because when we arrived in Fatima yesterday the sidewalk...

Today was a day to see many museums in the downtown area. We started our day with some Pastel's de Belem as we bought many home yesterday for our future breakfasts, and headed out to catch the bus north. We started our day by visiting the National Tile Museum...yes ceramic tile. It was actually very interesting and I now have more appreciation for the art as I now know the laborious process. The tile was left over from the Moore influence and many contained the national royal color of yellow. From that museum we decided to catch a bus down to the Military Museum and learn about the Portuguese artillery, outfits and war contributions. We worked up an appetite and made our way over to Commerce Square, which was once the site of the Palace, and now government office buildings to have some lunch. The Portuguese are tricky with their appetizers - they have break and olives on the table but once you touch them you pay for them and it ends up being an extra $15 dollars! So we have lea...

Tuesday was another very full day spent on our feet. We are getting good at maneuvering through the public transportation system. We took a taxi, bus, train, tram and cable car. Luckily, we did not take the metro, as we found out later that they were on a 1 day strike! Guess this government isn't much better than ours :-) We spent the day in a neighborhood about 3 miles south west of downtown Lisbon - Belem (Bethlehem). This area is right at the mouth of the Tejos River and the Atlantic, so it was very marine centric. We took the train into Belem, but it was a commuter train that did no stop at our stop, so we had to work our way back across the tracks and learn their timetable and train stop process. We figured it out and were able to get back into Belem within a few minutes. Once in Belem, we walked right past the Presidential Palace and headed to this famous pastry shop for breakfast- Casa Pasteis de Belem. This place has the most famous custard tarts called Pastel de Belem....

Yesterday, we spent the day touring Sintra, which is a small town about 15km west of Lisbon - towards the atlantic coast. This area holds the title for being the western most part of Europe. We actually stood in the western most room of the western most castle in all of Europe! The tourist center even gives out certificates if you stay for sunset since you are the last in Europe to watch it go down!  We started off our day by going to Pastelaria Suica for some yummy treats and cafe. Then we boarded the train in Rossio and headed out to Sintra. This was the resort town for the King back in the day and now it is still a rich coastal area.  We started by walking up to the old village area and on the way we passed some sort of happy government protest. There was music coming fro the loudspeakers, but all the police were on strike sitting around. Anyways, we first stopped at the Palacio Nactional de Pena (National Palace of Pena). This was the Portuguese royal vacation pal...

Hello from Lisboa! Just a quick note to let you know that we have arrived in Lisboa after a long sleepless flight and are enjoying this city! We arrived to a country that does not need landing cards or a formal customs process, so that was a surprise. Maybe it is because they do not get a huge amount of tourists? We took a taxi to our apartment for the week before heading up to the National park. The apartment is so nice - 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms- and a spacious kitchen living room and dining area. It is halfway up this really steep hill, so we are definitely going to be getting our workouts in. This whole town is actually pretty hilly and many of the streets are cobblestone, so our ankles are getting a workout. We went up to the national park to get my race packet, and to tour the national aquarium. This is the largest aquarium in Europe! It was pretty cool to see so many kind of fish in one place! We have also been stopping in churches along our journey to take in the masterpieces...