Bom dia, Lisboa.

This weekend I went to Lisbon with two amigos, Austin and Mickey. The three of us got there Friday (at slightly different times, since I had a different flight) and headed to our hostel in Baixa. The hostel was incredible. It is supposedly a "boutique hostel," and it was really beautiful and high quality. It is called Living Lounge Hostel and I would highly, highly recommend it.

We left the hostel and walked around Baixa to the Praça do Comércio and took in the nice views of the river by sunset. We walked up to the Bairro Alto area as well searching for the Botanic Garden. This involved talking to people in Portuguese, and when we finally did arrive, the garden had been closed for some time. Disappointing, but we carried on. We bought cheap carbonated sangria at a grocery store, then went back to the hostel for their "Happy Hour," with 50 cent beers. We met a group of nice American boys, most of whom attend Cornell, and realized that they were our roommates. (There were 3 of us and 5 of them staying in the same room.) We headed from Happy Hour to a nearby restaurant and had dinner. 

From dinner we went to the Bairro Alto again. The streets were completely filled with young people drinking. In Spain drinking in the streets is incredibly common and called botellón. We bought some cheap beer and ended up wandering around the bars, popping in to dance briefly in some of them. At one point we saw a big group of student-age people wearing black costume suits carrying instruments. I stared at them for a while, hoping they might decide to play, and they seemed to catchy my drift. They offered to sing a traditional song, and I gladly agreed to be their audience. (Austin and Mickey were not as interested.) They sounded great and the whole episode was so random and so cool. 

We decided to search for a disco we had heard about called Jamaica. It took forever to find it, and just before going in we met a group of German kids (and one Swedish girl). Instead of going to Jamaica, we turned around and went to get a drink with them. They all were really nice and had excellent English and Spanish. People in Europe are so multilingual.

We ended up going home after having one drink with them because we were all exhausted. The next day we partook of the very good free breakfast and walked to Alfama, another district. There we saw several of the major churches, including the São Vicente and the Sé. We also spent quite a lot of time wandering around this famous flea market that is behind the church on Saturdays. Austin and Mickey bought some cool bohemian shirts and I got a scarf and silver bangles. We had planned to see the Castelo São Jorge, but opted instead to go to the beach. 

We took the train to Carcavelos, the beach recommended by the hostel. It was really fun to hang out on the beach, and the weather was beautiful and sunny. A guy on the beach was playing guitar and everyone around him was singing songs in Portuguese. I think Portugal is a very musical country. I found myself trying to capture for the rest of my life in perfect detail the feeling of lying in the sand in my swimsuit, hearing the waves of the ocean and the melody of the guitar, feeling the sun warm my skin, knowing that I was happy and young and complete. 

The beach trip ended and we boarded a train back to the city. We went straight to a grocery store and bought some vinho verde (Portugal's fabulous white wine) and a bottle of port. Because you can't go to Portugal without trying Port, right? We went back to the hostel and set to work. I cut up the onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper for our sauce and set the table. Austin boiled the farfalle pasta, pan fried the chicken breasts, and cooked the sauce. Mickey washed the strawberries, cut up the chicken, and did the dishes. It ended up being delicious and best of all cheap! However, we had a lot to drink, as Austin and I shared the bottle of wine and the three of us killed the bottle of port. (Port has double the alcohol of wine.) 

We ran into the Cornell boys again and went up to the room to hang out with them. Lots of fun chatting and more drinking ensued. We made it to an Indian restaurant, but we were not very hungry having just eaten a huge pasta meal and that ended up being the last stop of the night. On Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast, then Mickey and Austin headed to the airport. I went to the Castelo that we had intended to go to the day before. It was a cool fortress at the top of the city, so the views were amazing. The weather was lovely and the whole place was really peaceful and full of flowers. It was the perfect end to the trip. Lisbon is an incredible city with lots to do and beautiful things to see. I hope I go back someday.