Lisbon, Portugal

We arrived in Lisbon after a short flight. Our first mission was to figure out the metro, which wasn't too hard. Our hostel ("We F***** Hate Tourists") was nice and clean, and the staff were delightful. We finished our first night by climbing a never-ending staircase up the *Miradoura da Senhora do Monte* - one of Lisbon's many hills - to watch the sunset.

Our roommates had gone to bed early when we returned so we had to awkwardly unpack, shower, change...all without waking them up. Obviously at 6am when they woke to catch an early flight, they didn't do the same!

The following day, we had our first *pastel de nata*, the Portugese egg tart pastry. We saw a funky shop selling all sorts of canned seafood, and Steven wanted to buy some for his dad. We ended up with octopus, mussels and sardines.

Afterwards, we decided to walk across the city to a Declathon, passing through the *Jardim Braancamp Freire* which, for some reason, had chickens!

On the 12th we took the overland train to Sintra, a small town in a natural park, to see the Pena Palace, a very funky castle in the "Romanticist" style and a former residence of the Portuguese royal family. The castle sits atop a mountain surrounded by enormous trees and beautiful gardens. Getting up there involved an edge-of-your-seat bus ride up some very narrow roads.

We had some snacks in town - Steven randomly bought some shots of this cherry liqueur called *[ginja](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginjinha)* with our pastries.

Steven: After we returned to Lisbon, we went exploring. I insisted we go down an alleyway that can only be summarised as "Little Pakistan", which ended at a fantastic craft beer spot called *Dois Corvos*, "Two Crows". Amy had a rice beer...I had a sour.

That night we attended a *petiscos* (tapas) night at the hostel, followed by some traditonal *fado*, a sort of Portuguese folk music. The guide from our hostel announced "she had seen it too many times already" and left us there to fend for ourselves. I met an Italian Swiss man who's name I forget, and remarked to him that he was a "rare breed". At the end of the night, this American fellow paid the entire tab, announcing that it was a pittance compared to his salary - he was an anaesthetist from South Carolina. Great guy.

On the 13th we hired e-scooters and followed the very long promenade to the district of Belém, which claims to have invented the *pasteis de nata*, or *pastais de Belem* as they call it. They came in boxes of six: I had two, Steven devoured 4. We both ended up getting burned.

We ended the day with a seafood dinner at *Cova Funda*. I had seabream, and Steven had cuttlefish with *tinto*. He tried to ask if the *tinto* was strong...the waiter didn't understand. *Tinto* means ink in Portuguese. His cuttlefish looked great until he cut through the ink sac...

My fish still had the eyeballs and teeth, and Steven had a very black mouth. The French couple beside us couldn't stop laughing!

We had to leave for Albufeira the following morning. After packing up, we headed to Oakberry, a place Steven had found and wanted to try. They served something called *açaí* bowls, basically berry sorbet topped with fruit and granola. We were absolutely hooked.Baca lagi