Lisbon - part 2 of Portugal

From oporto we caught a train down to Lisbon which is only 3hrs... a much needed 3hrs of sleep!

Our initial impression was even better than Oporto.. Lisbon maintains its historic appearance without looking worn down like porto. Here EVERY street is cobble stone, and the side walks are smaller cobble stones made into patterns. All i could think about was that my dad being a concretor could make life here a whole lot easier if he taught them how to pour a slab! ha ha but i would not nearly look as pretty.

We were lucky enough to again pick a great hostel to stay in.. the OLD TOWN hostel..

It was near everything.. however lisbon is full of hills so our calves really got a work out which the boys did not appreciate having such horrible hangovers

In lisbon we did saw quite a few attractions the city had to offer while getting a taste of the nightlife.. rather just the bars with 1L cups of beer for 1 euro and 1L cups of vodka+sprite for 5euro.. The nightlife pre-disco is in the streets where there are numerous small bars with super super cheap alcohol and every one just drinks outside the bars. Along with your fellow drinkers there are 10000000000 drug dealers asking you, if you want drugs. now i thought i was used to seeing these guys in Barcelona.. no siree.. lisbon is a whole other level.. these guys just walk up to you showing you the stuff in their hands and asking you to sample it.. crazy!

Enough of that.. when we were not drinking we were doing some sight seeing.. we saw Saint Jorge's castle in the middle of the city which was well.. full of well big stones but when you get your imagination going its quite cool to think that people actually lived in it. A man playing the flute and jingling bells helps the mood!

I was lucky enough to get to visit a flea market near the castle.. i say I because the boys were dead bored within 10 mins.. lost as to why i was so excited.. quoting Gato '..But what do you do with this shit, it is old shit '. ahh precisely the point! but the market was not all old.. there where many stalls selling leather items, and local designers' items.  i did find one thing they could show some interest though...

So we moved on but there wasn't anything that would motivate these boys..

 We also caught the metro to the town of Belem, where we saw the Belem palace the official residence of Portucal's president since 1910. It was built in 1559 pretty damn old.. and could do with a scrub to get it white again if i may say. There was a mighty storm brewing at that moment. but the rain lasted a mere 30mins. so to pass the time we found an all-you-can-eat japanese restaurant and ate and ate and ate.. quoting Gato 'ohh i love this shit, oh and this shit.. it is the best shit'

After our experience of the Francesinha we were not willing to explore any more 'popular' meals. So insead it was japanese, then all you can eat asian buffet, then indian cheese burgers (a whole 1.4 euro ) and then sandwiches..



Green and gold shots.. literally has pieces
of gold in the alcohol



We definitely had some wild nights in Lisboa i blame the alcohol being soooo cheap. we indulged! Especially the 1Euro shots

Which turned into about 8 for the boys.. my antibiotics sped up the 'drunken' feeling so i couldnt really keep up.. dammit.. however the consequence of these shots made a path of destruction. on our way to the disco we were suddenly kicking, climbing, hanging and pushing absolutley everything.

The funniest i may say was Gato throwing a green garbage bin at the boys and it hitting Igor in the head! Hallarious!

 A GREAT HOLIDAY FULL OF LAUGHS

Oporto - part 1

Eat, walk up hills, siesta and drink ..This was my lifestyle in Portugal

For the last 6 days i have been in Portugal with 5 Erasmus guys i lived on campus with .. and what a week it was. Unfortunately i got an inner ear infection a couple of days before i left so i wasnt in my best form over there... and the fact that i drank every night could not have helped the infection get better!

The Group minus lukas - Gato, Marko, me, Balla, Igor

But nevertheless i had a ball. The trip started in Porto also known as Oporto - for all those Australians i suppose you may know it for its chicken burgers with peri peri sauce.. but may i correct you i did not see ANY chicken burgers on the menues and little did i see anything with peri peri sauce except for in the Grocery store.. highly dissappointing! Instead the traditional and most popular native food of Porto is a dish that looks like absolute shit! (excuse me for anyone who may be offended). The Francesinha - It is a kind of sandwich with several meats covered with cheese and a special sauce made with beer and other ingredients.

But to wash down this 'heartattack' Oporto is famous for its Port Wine (hence where the name came from). Although none of us really like port wine we still went on a tour and tasted some port that we were pleasantly suprised at.. and even though it was not a drink we would buy for ourselves the boys insisted that we must drink all of the samples because one must not waste free alcohol! So an hour later.. we left

The beaches in Portugal are really nice .. and they actually have white sand.. unlike barcelona! and oo la la no paki's so i could sleep with my hangover in peace!

But my favourite thing in porto was the litre cups or should i say potplants of vodka + sprite for 5euro.

Quoting Gato (polish) ' oh i love this shit.. this is the best shit'

 

Another Unfortunate thing was that the Final of the Champions league was on while we were in Portugal.. but we represented Barca pretty good in Porto.. When they won we were chanting the Barca songs in the street and for some it did not f***ing stop i.e. Balla. singing/shouting it in my one good ear..

On a cultural note Porto is quite unique .. There are many works of art throughout the city inspired by the Moors over a century ago. The most elaborate are the hand pained ceramic tiles that cover building walls.
The lower ribiera area is declared a UNESCO heritage site. It was actually quite a mission walking through the winding lanes with really steep stairs to climb down. But while trying not to get lost the walls, pavement and houses were really quite beautiful minus the washing hanging out them and the occasional broken down house.