O Mar

I went to the sea (o mar) this weekend! The Lisbon coast is gorgeous. It was one of those places where you want to take a million pictures to try to capture how beautiful the place is. 

First we went to Cabo da Roca, which is the most western point in all of Europe. It was seriously breathtaking. Joy came with me and she really loved it. 

Then I spent some time in Cascais, a beach resort town where lots of the Lisboetas go on the weekends.

This place is called Boca do Inferno. It's in Cascais. 

I liked this man fishing. Cascais started as a fishing town, and there's still a bit of fishing industry.

More of the Cascais beach. I went in the water at what was called Praia da Rainha.

 I saw this as I was strolling through the little town. I wasn't sure what to make of it, so maybe you can tell me.

That evening I went to Colombo, the largest shopping mall in all of Iberia. I can't even begin to describe how huge or confusing it was.  

I also had a view of Estádio da Luz, one of Lisbon's main soccer stadiums. I had wanted to see a game there, but Portugal's season ended early because of some European competition. Soccer lovers probably hate me right now for not knowing whatever huge European soccer thing is going on.

Today after church, I went to the Gulbenkian museum. It is supposed to be Lisbon's best museum. It was really lovely. It is a lot smaller than many other museums, but still had some really great pieces, ranging from Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art, to Mesopotamian and Islamic art and European art, including my favorite, impressionism. Photos were discouraged, so I only have a picture of the outside, which was quite unassuming.

Then I went to this shopping center of sorts called the LX Factory. It is an old factory that has been re-purposed into boutique shops focused on design, art, music, architecture, etc. It's in the Alcantara district.

The first place I went was this Bookstore I had heard about called Ler Devagar (Read Slowly). It has a very industrial feel, but it is really interesting because it has floor to ceiling books, and it's filled with staircases and ladders so you can reach them.

Then I went to this place that only makes one type of chocolate cake. Nothing more. Apparently it's supposed to be the best ever. It was pretty delicious.

I was supposed to visit another place too, but the volatile Lisbon weather forced me to return home. 

Paris (not really)

On Wednesday I finally made it down to the bay. Like right on the bay. It was so great and windy. I could have put my feet in the water or something, but the steps leading down  to the water were very slimy. And I was still wearing my suit. It wouldn't have gone well. 

Then I began strolling through the area known as Baixa. I started at the south end at the Praça do Comércio (also known as the Terreiro do Paço) which used to be the site of a palace until the earthquake destroyed it. Now the surrounding buildings house government bureaus, etc.

Lisbon tries really hard to be like Paris. Here is one example: the triumphal arch echoes the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Other comparisons

• the street I work on, Avenida de Liberdade, was designed to be like Paris' Champs-Élysées.
• the Elevador de Santa Justa was designed by an apprentice of Gustave Eiffel, who designed the Eiffel Tower
• the Queluz palace (I still need to go there) was designed after Versailles

There are lots more examples, but you can see what I'm saying.

This is the main street in Baixa. Lots of shops and cafes.

There seems to always be a statue person in this area.

This was near Praça da Figueira at the end of the street. It´s where the Lisbon Massacre occurred.

I liked this pigeon. He is white.

I rode up the elevator. It was free with my metro pass! Sorry I'm too lazy to crop that man out of the bottom.

View from the top of the elevator

Awesome view of Rossio

Then yesterday, I decided I needed some American food. So I went here.

And bought this souvenir.

I'm in Love

The last couple of days have been a lot of fun. On Monday, I went to this mall near my work called El Corte Ingles. It's a Spanish department store, but it has a couple branches in Portugal. It is basically the most fantastic mall I have ever seen in my life. (Although the Galleries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché in Paris may be slightly more fantastic.) It is 13 floors, first of all. It's like if you combined Super Walmart with Babies R Us with Whole Foods with a restaurant with a huge department store (including normal priced things and fancy shmancy Coach, Bulgari, etc.) with a Super Walmart with a craft store with a movie theatre with a food court. I was in love. I did a bit of shopping in the grocery section, and I got some cashew juice (my favorite, from Brazil) and some ewe's milk cheese (Ewe's milk cheese is all the rage here, but I am hesistant to try weird animal milk cheese so I have been putting off buying it. It turn's out it mostly tastes the same as provolone.) and a few other little things. I also picked up some good quality nylons finally.

The grocery section was seriously awesome. I have been to three other grocery stores in Lisbon, and on average they were only like 8 aisles, so this one was amazing. it had 4 aisles of just yogurt! It had a whole shelf of octopus. A quarter of the store was devoted to sausage, cheese, and cod. For real. There were huge pig legs hanging everywhere. I don't think I've ever been so impressed by a grocery store. I could probably talk about this store and this mall for another several pages, but I'll spare you the details.

Anyway, yesterday I went back to El Corte Ingles to watch the Avengers in 3D. I enjoyed it, and the subtitles are always good for teaching me new slang. I ordered some popcorn though and Portuguese popcorn is a disappointment in comparison with American popcorn.

I heard they donºt let you take pictures in malls in Lisbon, so here are a couple google photos for you.

Sintra and Things

This weekend was quite busy. Friday night I went to Cristina's house because she invited me to her birthday party. It was interesting. I've never been to a party with so much alcohol. There had to be 2 bottles of wine or hard liquor per person. There wasn't anything non alcoholic set out, not even water, so I had to scrounge through Cristina's fridge to find some juice because everyone kept trying to get me a drink. Also, there was so much smoking that I couldn't breathe. At least half of the people were smoking at any one time. But other than that, the party was fun. 

Here is a random picture of the building I work in. It's several stories tall, but it's hard to find an angle that will show that. 

I spent Saturday in a little town called Sintra on the outskirts of Lisbon. Some of the main sites in Sintra include 2 royal palaces, a Moorish castle which was renovated and used by Portuguese royals as well, and a large estate known as Quina da Regaleira.

This is a view of the main part of town. The outline of the Moorish castle is on top of the hill.

This is taken from the courtyard of the Sintra National Palace, built primarily in the 15th and 16th centuries, and remained a popular retreat in the 19th century. It has two huge conical chimneys over the kitchen.

One of the rooms of the Sintra Palace. I love the tilework.

Exterior of Sintra Palace. It's so different from the Renaissance architecture I'm more accustomed to in Europe.

My favorite site was probably Quinta da Regaleira. It's a large estate with the most beautiful grounds ever. It has fun caves and secret passageways and other really beautiful architecture. It was  designed in the early 1900s by an Italian architect.

The palace

The next three photos are pictures from the grounds

Then I went to the Pena Palace, which was re-designed in the 1800s by a German architect. It is quite charming.

View from Pena Palace

Finally, I went to the Moorish Castle. This was built in the 8th century by the Moors and fortified and restored in the 14th and 18th centuries by the Portuguese. 

Also, on the train ride back to Lisbon, I noticed nearly all of the suburbs of Lisbon are high rises, which is interesting because close around Lisbon, buildings are only 4 or 5 stories tall because many of them are quite old. I can't believe how many people must live on the outskirts of Lisbon though to warrant such a sea of high rises.

Today I went to church again. The missionaries that were in the ward transferred (to my dismay because one of them was American and it was nice to have someone who spoke English around) and now there are sisters in the area. Here is a picture of the inside of the church. I think it's really lovely and unique.

Then  I went to the Palacio São Bento, which is only about a 3 minute walk from where I live. It's the house of the Portuguese parliament.