This is my first time being in Europe, and to start this trip off, Lisbon, Portugal was the first stop. I am traveling with my best friend from home, Jess, who has been to Europe before but never Portugal. I am writing this post at the end of a six day whirlwind of adventure, food, beaches, and interesting characters from all over the world. The last time I was out of the country I was in Thailand, so honestly at first Portugal seemed much more tame and navigable, and while I do believe that is true, since we were traveling by ourselves and not with a group it was a whole new kind of travel adventure for me. Planning every day was an adventure in itself, really. Rather than simply posting a ten paragraph essay of words, I'm going to try to share my experiences as organized and as best as I can. Accommodation Jess and I stayed at Yes! Hostel Lisbon. It was probably the best decision we could have made to help this stop on our trip be a success. This hostel was absolutely fantastic. Yes! Hostel is a very clean, super friendly, and incredibly social hostel. We participated in the hostel's 10€ dinner four out of the six nights, which came complete with hours of conversation, bread & dip, soup, main course & sides, dessert, and... open bar!!! Free shot every night at 11:30, be there or be square... saúde (cheers)! The food was a solid 7/10 on average but the meal really got its value from the social aspect as well as the open bar. Hostel dinner conversations were where this trip got its charm for me. Each person I talk to was from a different country, here for a different amount of time, for a different reason, with different previous/next destinations. Endless stories to be shared and lessons to be learned. Not only that, the main way that Jess and I would decide what we were going to do the next day was from the recommendations. And most of all, we made friends (imagine that)! More on those friends later... Activities I suppose the facade of travel is the sightseeing and activities. Portugal made this part wicked fun. Among other things we... participated in our hostel's free walking tour of the area, visited the Castle of St. Jorge (image above), discovered the mountainous castle town of Sintra, soaked up the beach (multiple times!) including a surfing lesson, and explored the abandoned/refurbished LX Factory and neighborhood of Belem. The first of my two favorite days was the day that we toured Sintra. Sintra is an unbelievable location, with huge castles planted on top of hills and a quaint little town nestled at the bottom. Most people purchase a tour which drives them to Sintra then up to the castles, but Jess and I decided to do this our way. We bought train tickets for not even 6€ round trip, then walked up to one of the biggest castles, the Moorish Castle. The walk up was through basically a botanical garden with tons of cool foliage and interesting smaller buildings along the way. Although we were dripping sweat by the top (well, basically the whole time), the view from the top really felt earned and I feel like most people totally miss the garden on the walk up because they are too lazy to do it. My other favorite day was our last day in Portugal. Jess and I met two Australians (not traveling together, just a coincidence) who we "squadded up" with, so to say. We all went to Cascais, a gorgeous beach town 30 minutes outside of Lisbon by train. Obviously Jess and I could have done this by ourselves, but it was our new friends (!!) that put it tied for my favorite day. We hung out on the beach for hours, talking about everything from our siblings to our school culture, to slang in our countries. When we got tired of this we rented a paddle boat with a slide on top!! That's right, a slide! We risked it (for the biscuit) and brought a speaker and a phone on the boat with us and had a hoot on the water! The day was completed with a nice halal meal by the beach and a very late dinner back in Lisbon of the best hamburger I've ever had. How lucky we are to be enriched by such cool people in such a cool place!! -click on the first photo below to open up the gallery and view captions- History and Culture Something truly fascinating about foreign countries to me is how old and rich their history can be, especially compared to America's short yet sweet history. For example, Lisbon used to be a bustling city of mostly wooden and stone structures, but in 1755 a massive earthquake hit and caused all buildings to topple. Unfortunately, this earthquake occurred on a holiday where everyone has candles lit, so all the wooden toppled houses caught fire and the whole city went up in flames. To add to the mess, the aftermath of the earthquake, a huge tsunami, finished off wrecking the city. What remains today of the original city is just that much cooler because it survived that series of unfortunate events and is the face of Lisbon's old history. Perhaps my favorite thing about the city itself today is that all sidewalks, many building sides, and most streets are tile. The tile on the sidewalks forms patterns and the buildings have colorful geometric sides. It really adds a beautiful charm to the city. Friends
I touched on this subject when I took my WFR course earlier in the summer and met some amazing people. My favorite thing about going new places is meeting new people. Hostel culture makes takes this to a whole new level. As mentioned earlier, each hostel dinner provided countless new conversations with some really incredible people. One of these people was a really kind kid, 21 years old, from California (he was actually one of few Americans I met but worth mentioning in this post because of our amazing conversation). Long story short, over the last year he had undergone some serious physical changes and noted that even friends he hadn't seen in a year hardly recognized him. We struck up a conversation because I related to that on some level, having gone to college, changed completely to someone I hardly recognized, but now I (would like to believe!!) am changing back to the healthy and motivated young adult that I used to be. We talked for hours about how change can be so jarring and overcoming that can be so difficult. We both agreed how one of the key characteristics of travel is learning to "be comfortable being uncomfortable" and to overcome new situations, and it is basically a training ground for life. We talked about how travel, especially social travel, teaches you confidence and a belief in yourself and your roots. This carries right over to overcoming those changes and growing into the person you've always wanted, or just discovered wanting, to be. I can't put into any more words how much this conversation struck me at the time and will stay with me for the rest of my life. It is times like these, when one conversation at the very exact right moment in your life can teach you more than a year in school or a year in therapy ever could. I've really come to realize more and more, that yes, I travel for the sightseeing and food and culture, but really what I get most out of it is huge personal growth and confidence building. These are life lessons that I have only begun to grasp as I begin my (roaring) 20s in this crazy world. Figuring it all out... Man! Six days in and I'll already consider this a life changing experience. We are taking this trip day by day and loving life as we do it. We are so lucky to be able to travel at this age and with such encouraging families, it really adds to to the whirlwind of it all. There's more to be learned from a country than its history, and there's more to be learned from a person than your first impression of them. Jess and I are having a ball and can't wait to see what Madrid has in store for us next! Comments are closed.
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