Lisboa

If anyone is ever looking for a vacation destination on this side of the world, I have a recommendation – Lisboa (Lisbon), Portugal!!!! This has by far been my favorite trip so far this semester and honestly, right now I couldn’t imagine a better trip. This weekend I had the opportunity to visit this beautiful country and city. Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and is located on the Tagus River (which I thought was the ocean for the first day, haha - oops!) It is absolutely gorgeous and full of both history and phenomenal views of the river which include the view of a bridge that was modeled after the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and a statue modeled after the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. 

Besides enjoying the view, we spent the weekend getting a tour of the city, enjoying the fabulous weather, learning about its history (seeing statues of famous writers, monuments to kings, and the plaza where the headquarters to the Inquisition was located), shopping at the outdoor market on Saturday, walking along the water, and of course, trying the local cuisine! 

Local cuisine includes lots of seafood and meat. While there, we were able to try Gazpacho, Bacalao (cod), and the absolutely delicious Pastries de Belem! The recipe of the original Pastries de Belem is only known by 3 people in the world. The recipe is so secretive that these three people are never allowed to be in the same place at once. We were lucky enough to visit this bakery and try the pastry – it’s a soft croissant-y outside with delicious custard on the inside. 

Pastry of Belem

Bacalao

One of the last stops on the trip was touring the Castle of St. George. While there, we were able to climb up some of the towers and enjoy the phenomenal view of the city!

Next stop: Spring Break, meaning Italy and the United Kingdom!!!!! I'm so excited for this trip because not only does it mean visiting amazing cities, but being done with my four exams this week :P Hasta luego!

 

Side note: Lisbon has the oldest bookstore in the world!!!! We were able to see it, and the Guinness World Record certificate marking it as older than its competitor in Italy that it beat by only 6 months!

Toledo and Burgos

It's been awhile since my last post, so I'll try to recap what's been happening over here on this side of the world.

Toledo:

After traveling to Salamanca with my school, this weekend was spent with some friends visiting a new city that had everything, history, culture, and a view. We started exploring the city by visiting a museum that had many of the most famous works by the artist El Greco. These paintings were truly incredible and extremely exciting to see since I remember studying them in Spanish classes in middle school and high school. After visiting the museum, we then traveled to La Catedral de Santa Maria de Toledo and then spent the rest of the day exploring the city and admiring all of the synagogues and references to Don Quixote. The best part of the day: admiring the gorgeous view!!!

Burgos:

This weekend was supposed to be dedicated to visiting El Cañon de los Rios Lobos however, due to apparently "bad weather" (You could say I was looking forward to seeing the outdoors) the trip was cancelled at the last minute and we had the opportunity to visit a city we otherwise wouldn't have visited. My friends and I decided to spend our now open Saturday visiting the city of Burgos. After arriving to the city, we quickly realized that there are two train stations that lead to the city and that we had accidently booked the wrong one. Making the best out of this situation, we then proceeded to make the long trek into the city and along the way what did we find? a "bajillion" little playgrounds! And of course, being the person I am, I decided to try out as many teeter-totters as possible! It was a blast! After eventually making it into the city, we then proceeded to explore. Burgos is a city that can be found along the Camino de Santiago and it was exciting to find all of the conch shells along the ground as well as one of the places where many people stay while on the Camino. We then made it to the Cathedral of Burgos and visited the ruins of the Castle. While exploring the castle grounds, we enjoyed hiking, and even found a stone table dating back hundreds of years where we of course decided to eat lunch! We had a very relaxing day and although I didn't get to visit the National Park, I did get to explore some nature :)

My teeter-totter buddy!!!!!

The Cathedral in Burgos

Proxima parada: Lisboa (Lisbon) Portugal