A Portuguese Reunion!

Thursday, September 16, 2010
After a really long and uncomfortable train ride we arrived in Lisbon. Our final country on our European adventure! Definitely bittersweet! We got off the train and our feet were super swollen and stiff and so we managed to make our way to the metro and get ourselves to our hostel to drop our bags. We planned out our day on the couch and were off to see Lisbon. We grabbed a little breakfast at the cafe outside our hostel before catching the tram to the top of one of the hills where the castle sits. At the tram stop we met this Canadian Pharmacist from Toronto who was actually staying at our hostel. We had planned to do the same walking route so we decided to stick together. We saw some really cool lookout points, a church and arrived at the castle. Heather and I weren’t too keen on seeing another castle but he was so we parted ways there. We wandered around some more, saw the Lisbon cathedral and made our way back to our hostel to check in for 2pm. We showered and got ready for the night and took the metro to meet my grandparents who were in Lisbon for the day before flying home tomorrow. We saw that there was a metro stop right outside where they were staying and decided to take the metro. Little did we know that we would end up walking the wrong way, and be an hour late to meet them. We had worried my grandma as she thought that we had miscommunicated and were supposed to meet elsewhere when we were late. We did make it however, and they saw us coming up to the hotel from their window. We brought some more things for them to take home for us. They had brought an extra bag for us to put our things in and had also themselves packed really light. It was great to get rid of some more weight! So we had a few drinks in their room before heading back into the city centre to grab some dinner. The concierge at the hotel had recommended a little spot for some traditional Portuguese cuisine. It was actually quite close to where we were staying so it was really easy for us to get home from there. We arrived to this place and were treated to a fantastic meal and had a really good time. It was nice to catch up with them and have some quality time together. Did I mention how great the meal was? So after dinner we parted ways as they had to get up early for their 7am flight. Heather and I walked the few blocks back to our hostel and had some cocktails. They were having a dinner party but had a little bar set up in the common room and this guy making them. We chatted with him for awhile as everyone else was at the dinner party and had a few cocktails. We were exhausted after that and knew that Lagos was going to be a big party and a very long weekend ahead. So, we headed to bed and really needed to catch up on some sleep after our 1 hour night and then the terrible night train. We were definitely ready for a quality night sleep and the beds looked really comfy which has been a long time coming.