Day 54

Well, my lovelies, I have to admit I unknowingly lied when I titled this blog “60 Days in Spain” as I happen to be in Portugal at the moment. Claudia and Hugo were the only ones awake when I left, all cute with their morning hair. Hugo panicked thinking I was going home. I was bordering sad saying goodbye to them for the weekend. It’ll be hard to leave them for good. I finally left after I promised them I would be back on Monday, exchanged the maternity swimsuit, and got myself to the airport.

After landing, I got a bit of a stomachache thinking: I’m in Lisbon, I’m alone, I have no phone, no contacts, I don’t know the city, I don’t know the language…then, as I reached for my backpack in the overhead stowage area, a guy nearby grabbed it for me, smiled, and asked in broken English, “is for you?” Bad feeling gone. That simple act of kindness assured me that everything would be fine. People are so amazing, God works through His children all over the world.

I found my hostel without too much confusion, dropped off my stuff and wandered through the city center. I love Lisbon, definitely a different feel than the Spanish cities, and enchanting in its own way. Everyone speaks English to me, different than what I have gotten used to in Madrid, but I realized that I look much more foreign here than I do in Spain. It helps a ton since although I hoped I would understand some Portuguese given its similarity to Spanish, I don’t. It’s a pretty cool sounding language though. I thought about my big bro Kevin, he would have fun being here.

I hiked up to the Castelo de St. Jorge. That was way fun, and tiring. I’ve climbed approximately 37,692 stairs today. Once you get inside the castle, it’s more endless, scary 11th century stairs that lead to some AMAZING views of the city. I love coastal cities. From the castle, I could see (and hear) a parade going on in honor of soccer. Of course, this is still Europe, and like in Spain, soccer is a huge deal. Almost all of the restaurants had the game showing, and everyone was completely transfixed, I love it. I ate authentic Portuguese food at a brand new restaurant . . . I think they’re still working some kinks out, but there was great food after I disposed of some really nasty toppings.

I got back to the hostel before it was completely dark, and I’m still the only one in my room. 11 euros a night for a private room? I’ll take it! The staff is really friendly and helpful, and the facilities are good, so this was a pretty nifty find. I’m so glad I came here and got to experience something different for my last weekend in Europe. I LOVE THIS!!