Every Thursday I go out with the other young teachers at the high school. Since my town happens to be in the middle of nowhere, all of the teachers are forced to live here during the week and travel back to their hometowns (usually in the bigger cities) during the weekend. This is great for me because I have people to hang out with during the week and plenty of free rides to exciting places during the weekends.
This past Thursday however, was different from the normal routine. Immediately after school ended at 2:30 we piled into cars to have a picnic in "el campo" (the country). It was about a seven minute drive up a mountain to a sort of picnic shelter that sits close to an old church. The place was absolutely beautiful and I'm sorry to say that I forgot my camera.
This time all of the teachers, old and young, participated in the festivities. We started out with a traditional Spanish appetizer: straight up bread, cheese and serano ham. Then we had paella, followed by deer meat, salad (which always is made with vinegar and a lot of olive oil here), and a delicious desert which I would describe as a wonderful combination of flan and cake. As always, there was plenty of beer and wine to go around.
After the picnic, we carried on the Thursday night tradition of drinks, tapas and fun within the bars in town.
The next day I prepared my trip for the long weekend - to Lisbon, Portugal! Despite the fact that we had faulty weather, I was still able to appreciate how gorgeous this city/country is -I would highly recommend it! And for those of you who can't distingish hola from hi, there are a lot more english speakers in Portugal.
Here is a picture overlooking the river that I took looking off the balcony at my hostel:
I actually ended up staying in a hostel by myself as I waited until the last minute to book and the one my friends were staying in was full! I don't think I mentioned this in my last entry but I learned my lesson after going to Sevilla: NEVER go anywhere without booking a hostel. Luckily, the hostel that my friends stayed in was only a five minute walk away.
Their hostel was in the plaza pictured below, close to the infamous "Bairro Alto." You can also see the trolley lines that cover the city.
Speaking of Bairro Alto, I've never really seen anything like it. This district of Lisboa is basically a hub of great restaurants and bar after bar after bar. There are no open container laws so the streets are just as packed as it is inside. And I'm not talking one road here - I'm talking about a neighborhood.
I should have taken more, but here's a picture of a crowded street in Bairro Alto
When it came to sight seeing we weren't able to accomplish quite as much as we wanted to due to the weather. When I return I plan on checking out the beaches closeby and the castle. However, we did get to see the monestary which was quite impressive. It also happens to be home to the (very) late Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese navigator who established the sea route between Portugal and India circa 1497.
Below are a few pictures of the Monestary
After touring the monestary we decided to go on a quest to find Pasteis de Belem, home to the most famous pastries in Portugal, or maybe even the world.
The tradition dates back to the early 1800′s when the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos was shut down after the Liberal Revolution. Needing a means to survive, the monks used the sugar from the sugar cane refinery connected to the general store to produce sweet pastries. In 1837, they stopped selling through the general store to open a bakery, catering to both locals and visiting steamboat tourists alike. These mini egg-custard pies with a crisp, flaky crust are made from the monk’s ancient, top-secret recipe. It has remained unchanged, passed down only to the master bakers, who still hand-craft them in the “secret room” in the bakeshop. The Pasteis are normally served warm out of the oven and lightly sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.
There are people that swear by the fact that these pastries are the best things to touch their lips since their first piece of pizza but I'm not a pastry person and to me they were just fine. However, if you go to Lisbon you should try one and also check out the back room in this place (which by the way is ALWAYS packed) it's huge.
After trying the pastries we took a walk along the board walk and marina that lines the Rio Tejo, which happens to be the largest river on the iberian peninsula. I was amazed at just how big it looked when I saw it in person.
As I said, I'd definitely like to go back to Portugal while I'm in Europe. Next time, I'll be a little more prepared to speak a few words in Portugese. Although in general the country has a much better understanding of the English language I often found myself asking, "do you speak english or hablas español?" and then things just got complicated.
Right now I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the next weekend and with it comes a visit from my good friend Bernadette! She was in my group when I studied abroad here in Spain two summers ago and also happens to be a Spanish major (Bee I already told everyone you could speak perfect Spanish hahaha). We're working out our travel plans right now and there's a good chance we'll make a glorious return to the city we studied in before: Segovia.
Until next time!
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