Sofia Somewhere

On our last day in Lisbon I planned for us to visit the Oceanario. We took the metro to get there; it was in another district of Lisbon -- Parque das Nacoes. This district was actually the site of the World Expo in 1998. There was this avenue of flags that had flags of all the countries that participated in the Expo. We walked along the river to the Oceanario. It was colder in this area because it was by tbe river. The outside of the Oceanarium was not very impressive looking but the actual aquarium was neat. It was cool how everything was arranged and we saw three cute sea otters!! The Oceanarium was cool but I'll have to admit that with what I've read while researching, I expected a bit more. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the aquarium and with that done, I completed my checklist of things I wanted to see in Lisbon.

This morning, Bel arrived from Madrid. We had breakfast together then left to catch the train to Sintra. We walked up to Rossio where the train station was and were able to catch the 11:01 train to Sintra - the ticket was 3,60 euros round trip, but we had to pay 50 cents for the card thing that you beep. So weird. Sintra is actually part of the Lisbon region but not part of Lisbon city (unlike Alfama and Belem which are districts in Lisbon city). It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its Romantic architecture. The train ride took us 40 minutes. It was colder in Sintra than in Lisbon because it was located higher up in the hills. We stopped at the municpal hall to get a map then headed off to explore. We decided to go first to Quinta da Regaleira . It's this summer estate of a wealthy family. The place was really interesting though because unlike many other summer palaces/houses I've been to in Europe, it was located on a hill. The house was actually small but ...

Today, we decided to go on one of the free walking tours the hostel offers. At 10:30 we gathered in the lobby. Our tour guide came and we walked to two other hostels nearby to pick up more people. Then we walked to Praça do Pedro where we started the tour. Our tour guide, Tara, is actually Canadian. She came to Lisbon two months ago but fell in love with the city and never left. She really knows so much about Lisbon though. Here's Tara talking about St. Christopher, who happens to be the patron saint of travelers

To get to the airport and catch our flight, Ange and I woke up at 4am. We changed, got ready, had something to eat, and were out the door. We got to the bus station at 4:30 and waited for the bus to take us to Cibeles. Bel said the bus comes every 20 minutes... we were getting nervous waiting for it! We were just about to take a taxi already when along comes to bus almost half an hour later. We took it up to Cibeles and from there took the shuttle to the airport. We were able to check in and board without problems and were soon on our way to Lisbon. We arrived in Lisbon at about 8am (it's one hour behind Spain) and took the shuttle to the city center. I was really hesitant at first to visit Lisbon; I thought that there was pretty much nothing to do here. But as I was riding the bus, I looked out the window and was getting excited. For some reason, the city gave me a strong first impression. We followed the directions given by the hostel and were able to find it without problems. ...