Peaked in Portugal

The past weekend consisted of an IES excursion to Portugal. Aka everything was planned and (mostly) paid for, which was definitely nice. However, it did make me appreciate the freedom of exploring cities on my own, without tour guides or obnoxiously large groups. Regardless it was still an awesome weekend traveling with all of the students in our program and much-needed after an unprecedented (read: uncalled for) difficult midterms week.

On Friday our first stop was Coimbra, a smaller city known for the beautiful University of Coimbra dating back to the 13th century, making it one of the oldest universities still operating Europe today. The University of Salamanca is one of the oldest as well, so this paired with Coimbra's size and charm made it very comparable to Salamanca and thus easily likable. My favorite part was definitely the university's incredible library, la Biblioteca Joanina, which looks like it's straight out of Hogwarts with two-storied shelves of books covering the walls, complete with complementary ladders and an exquisite Baroque decorative style. Photos aren't allowed so here's a pic from Google that just doesn't even do it justice.

We explored the city for the rest of the afternoon before continuing the bus ride to our hotel in Lisbon. Never have I ever regarded hotels with such luxury as I do this semester. Honestly, I would've had a good weekend even if all I experienced in Lisbon was the hotel bed, shower and breakfast buffet. Before dinner Andie and I ordered Manhattans from the hotel bar because what else does one order at a fancy hotel?! Dinner was organized by IES at a restaurant with traditional Portuguese food, fado music/dance performances and bottles of wine that were continuously replenished, so we were happy.

Saturday began with by far the best breakfast feast I've had so far this semester, so the day was obviously off to a good start. In the morning we toured one of Lisbon's main tourist attractions, Castillo de San Jorge, a medieval fortress on a hill that offered some incredible views of the city. The absurd windiness this morning while the majority of us girls were wearing sundresses might have also offered the city some ~incredible views~ if you catch my drift :/

Next we visited Boco do Inferno (Hell's Mouth), a chasm in the seaside cliffs of Cascais, a small city near Lisbon. The view of the ocean and vicious waves were beautiful and we enjoyed climbing around on the rocks and taking too many pictures. Needless to say I got yelled at once or twice by IES David for climbing too far or standing too close to the edge or something like that. We found a cute starfish and had an intellectual debate about their regeneration abilities after @Addie broke one of its arms. Then we ate lunch in Cascais, which is just the cutest little coastal town. I had some delicious fish & chips and ate ice cream by the beach. Content.

We returned to Lisbon and visited Monasterio de los Jerónimos and torre de Belem. Here we tasted the famous pastel de Belem (or pastel de nata), a traditional Portuguese egg tart pastry extremely popular in the region today. Sounds kind of gross but they're actually amazing. While one can find them all throughout the country, the original bakery is located in Lisbon right next to Monasterio de los Jerónimos. According to the brief research I just conducted, the pastries were actually first created here in the 18th century by Catholic monks because apparently it was common for monasteries to have large quantities of egg whites at this time? Not entirely sure about this but S/O to those monks because I'm a big fan of their pastries.

El Monasterio

Pastel de Belem

At night during our free time we explored Barrio Alto, an artsy, swanky area of the city known for its fun nightlife. The highlight of the night was by far the rooftop bar we started at, PARK Bar. Rooftop bars are inherently cool but this one was especially cool with its older but still down-to-have-a-good-time crowd, fun drinks and of course, incredible view. It was too dark for a good photo so here's one from their website because seriously, how cool is this???

On Sunday (after another amazing hotel breakfast, RIP) we left Lisbon and began the journey back to Salamanca, but not before stopping in Fátima to visit the famous Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima (la basílica de la Virgen de Fátima). I can't say I'm super knowledgeable about this but from what I understand it's a huge deal to Catholics because the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three young children here and supposedly told them each a worldly secret (the third is yet to be revealed). The site is considered holy because of her appearance, and the children are buried here as well. Today it represents a major pilgrimage site, where millions of Catholics come to worship Our Lady of Fátima each year. It was an intriguing visit and very interesting to watch such intense displays of worship.

All in all this trip concluded another amazing weekend abroad and European adventure. Lisbon's plethora of hills, vibrant building facades, cable cars and Golden Gate Bridge doppelganger reminded me a lot of San Francisco. I've been to Lisbon once before but at that time had not yet been to San Francisco; having now been to both, it's crazy how similar I find the two cities. I absolutely love San Fran, so of course Lisboa has my heart too!!