This is Lisbon

I have now been in Lisbon for four days, and it is truly amazing. Compared to what the weather forecast told us, we have actually been pretty lucky. We've had a little rain, but also a lot of beautiful sunshine and pretty warm days. We arrived around noon on Saturday and Christie's host cousin Hal met us at the airport. He helped us to figure out the metro system and find our way to the hostel called This is Lisbon. If you ever come here I highly recommend this hostel. It is amazing. The people who work here are incredibly friendly and so, so helpful. We had signed up for an eight-person room but we ended up having it to ourselves, which was nice. After settling in, we wandered the city for a little bit and then had dinner at an adorable little Portuguese restaurant. We also had the best sangria! So good we had to get it last night as well. 

We started off Sunday morning by eating our breakfast outside on the terrace at the hostel. It was the best sitting there and enjoying the view. 

After this we had a free tour organized by the hostel. It was just Christie, Ilana, Hal (for a little while until he had to go catch his plane back to Copenhagen), and I with the tour guide. What we had been told would be a two hour tour turned into a six hour tour. It was almost constant walking, but it was completely worth it. We saw so much- most of which we would not have found on our own. Our guide, Eduardo, was so much fun, and we had some great conversations with him. For dinner that night we just got some bread, cheese, and fruit from a nearby grocery store and ate at the hostel. Groceries are fantastically cheap here, especially in comparison to what we're used to in Denmark. 

Ruins we went to on our tour

View from the ruins

Christie and an orange tree. 
She and Ilana later climbed it and picked oranges for all of us.

Yesterday was pretty rainy, and we were exhausted from all the walking the day before so we took it pretty easy. We played cards at the hostel in the morning after breakfast for a while. Then Lorenzo, a man who we have met here at the hostel, invited us to join him and a friend for lunch. We went to a vegetarian Japanese place and it was very good! Afterwards we tried green wine, which is extremely Portuguese. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing cards with friends at the hostel. In the evening, a Portuguese couple came and made us a traditional dinner. We shared this dinner with the couple who prepared it for us and a French couple who are also staying at the hostel. A group of Germans also sat at the table with us, but had made their own meal. Christie and I discovered that between everyone at the table, we could count to ten in eleven different languages: English, Spanish, French, Danish, Swedish, Portuguese, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, Italian, and German! It is an amazing experience to meet all these people from around the world. And everyone is so friendly and open.

Today we went to Castelo de São Jorge. It was beautiful, both the castle itself and views of the city from the castle walls. It was built in the 11th century. I find it so interesting to explore places with such history and try to imagine what it would have been like in the past.

Peacocks and cats were roaming freely at the castle.

After the castle, we went to a street flea market and then stopped to get lunch at a little restaurant on our way back to the hostel. Instead of going out to eat tonight, we went to the grocery store and bought pasta and a few things to make back at the hostel. Making dinner ended up being much cheaper than eating out. And it was fun to cook together and sit in the living room/dining room of the hostel.

Tomorrow morning we're off to Barcelona!