I've been in Madrid Lisbon and Paris the last few weeks. All completely different experiences.
Madrid I was in only for 3 days. But saw a lot of things, I took a free walking tour and saw the Real Palace (largest palace in Europe, 4000+ rooms), Mayor plaza (where they have been executing people since the 1600's and as recent as 1970's, public executions), puerta del sol (main plaza where all roads in Spain are measured from, like mile markers), Cathedral Almudena (completed in 1999, very new, looks old), as well as the oldest restuarant in the world, Restuarant Botin, there famous dish is infant pig, and also went to the museum of jamon( a restuarant known for it's cheap ham dishes, 1euro for a ham sandwich).
After the tour I looked down at my feet and decided I needed some new shoes as both shoes had holes in them. I also needed toothpaste and deodorant. I was out if deodorant for a week I smelt really bad. I met a bunch or fun people later that night and we watched the Barcelona vs. Madrid fùtbol game for the Spanish Cup( final match) and everyone in the hostel was going wild and cheering. Madrid ended up winning so a group of brazillians and a few others all went to the big party in the street. There was a dj playing music and everyone was cheering and having a great night. It was so fun and obviously I stayed out a bit later then I should have. Haha
Next morning I rolled out of bed (By the way I'm really getting sick of always having the top bunk) went down for free breakfast packed a lunch and went and walked around the city. It was a beautiful day and probably 75F, I went to a park with a pond in the middle and just laid out and relaxed. After being in a hostel for the past 3 months it's nice to just get away and have some private time to relax.
I got back to the hostel and ran into Ally who I had met in Barcelona, so we made a plan and we decided to go out with some of the people in the hostel that night. It was a lot of fun we went to a 7 story club and they barely let me in because I wasn't dressed nice enough (sorry I'm backpacking and can't bring all my designers clothes, jk I don't have any anyway) but we all had a great night and went home in the weeeee ours of the morning. I caught a airport bus the next morning for a flight to Lisbon!
Oldest restuarant
And what they serve
Madrid was a blast but very short. I was hangin out in puerta de sol the last day and was just people watching. You can see some crazy stuff. And noticed a group of prostitutes just walking around trying to make money at like 2in the afternoon. It was weird to see them out at this hour because I have seen some out at night but never in mid day especially with them walking around the cops and everything. I also asked the tour guide why he thought that Spain had went bankrupt after being such a world power not so long ago. He said the government and people of Spain are very corrupt. It's how they were all raised and until they start helping eachother out and get rid of corruption they will continue it's bankruptcy.
I flew to Lisbon the next afternoon (Friday) and found my hostel and met a young lad David (Germany) and we went and walked around the city and we went to some really good view points of Lisbon. We each grabbed a beer from the market and went and drank along the Atlantic Ocean. We talked and had some good conversation. He had a meeting with an old professor the next morning so we headed back to the hostel around midnight. I met some guys from Finland when we got back to hostel and we went out to bairro alto the area with all the bars and locals. It was close to the hostel and we each got a mojito 2 euro for a big one and carried it through the streets drinking and talking. In my first day of being in Lisbon i was asked probably 30+ times if I wanted hash, marijuana, cocaine, heroine, anything. this got me off gaurd at how many guys were trying to sell us drugs they were also grabbing us and trying to get us to buy there drugs. We felt very uncomfortable (the most uncomfortable I felt in all my travels) so we decided to go home after only being out for an hour.
I took a walking tour the next morning and saw many famous sites of Lisbon. I asked the tour guide what was with all the drug dealers and he said, that the cops look past it because many if the drugs they sell are fake, they lie to all the tourists to sell them fake drugs. I continued to get asked to buy fake drugs the next 5 days.
I walked around the rest of the day just looking at things for myself and getting the vibe of the city. That night I met some friends and we all went out. We decided to try and go to one of the well known clubs in Lisbon called Lux but we weren't on the "list" so it would have cost 240euro per person to go in. We decided to go home and sleep.
I woke up the next morning put on my best backpackers outfit and headed to a famous church in Lisbon as it was Easter Sunday. I got there it was packed so I stood and knelt the entire mass. I didn't understand anything as it was in Portuguese but I still knew what was going on and it was a great experience. It was raining on my walk home so I got a bit wet. That afternoon I went across the river and went to Christo Rei (Jesus Christ) the statue that over looks Lisbon a replica of the one in RIO DE JANIERO. Lisbon also has a bridge that looks just like the Golden Gate Bridge that the USA supposedly used as a model.
That night a girl Pia (Germany) and I went to a local restuarant and watched the Portugese league fùtbol match. It was between Benfica vs. Olhenese (I think). First half was boring but Benfica ended up winning (local Lisbon team) so when we walked out of the restuarant the people in the streets were hooting and hollering and everyone was so happy.
Pia and I went back to hostel got some other kids and made our way to Marques de Pompal where there was a huge party happening for their victory. People were lighting flares and fireworks in the crowd. People had climbed up on the statues (got some videos). Many were wearing gas masks and police were in full body armor. I felt a little nervous but it was a joyous celebration. We were there for a few hours celebrating with everyone then went to sleep.
The next day I went to Belem a short tram ride away, and saw a old military fortress, a palace, and a world renowned pastry shop. The pastry called pastel de nata which is like a small pie filled with cream. It literally melted in my mouth and makes this town famous. I walked around for many hours seeing the sights then just made my way back to the hostel.
That night I joined the hostel for a night of Fado (pronounced fahdu) that is a type of music famous to the Portuguese people. The style is a sort of longing and always hoping for a better future, it was very emotional and a great experience. We were listening to it till 2 in the morning in a small bar that only held like 40 people, it was extremely packed and a bit to long. We all left and went to an illegal pastry shop, the reason it was illegal is because all pastry shops have to be closed at 11pm. So this one was hidden in an ally and looked like an old jail cell. Everyone got pastel de nata (not as good) and headed back to the hostel.
Tuesday morning Michael, Mack (vancouver), Auberlin (Alaska), and I all went to the local market. It was in alfama a famous area in Lisbon. The market sells everything from jewelry to records to iPhones and junk. The thing about the iPhones is supposedly if you get your phone pick pocketed this market is where you come to look for it. It's more of a black market. We checked it out for an hour then Michael, Mack and myself went to cascais to hit the beach. It was a beautiful day and we all fell asleep on the beach. After 3 hours of sleeping and chatting we headed back to the hostel.
Back at the hostel I met 2 young lads jack and Liam (Sydney, ausi) and we started bsing and although jack had to leave Liam and I decided we were going to go out in bairro alto, Michael joined us as well. We found a small bar that had foosball so we put our money down to play. They had some different rules then we do but the main one was that you could spin the goalie (like he can use his hands in real fùtbol) also the foosball players feet stick out instead of just a flat area like they do in the states. Anyway we didn't win any games they were a lot better then us so we went to walk around some more. We met another group and headed to a club with them called music box and we had a good time dancing and listening to music.
The morning came quick and Marcus(australaia) Auberlin and I went to Sintra. It was a 45 minute train ride but 100% worth it. We first stopped at a palace and gardens called Quinta de Regaleira. This was an old fortress built by an extreme rich family in the 1700's the sweet thing about this place was the tunnels underground between many of the different parts of the grounds. It also had a lake (more like a pond), tennis court, waterfall, an upside down spire( a spire that went into the ground rather then up towards the sky) ,an aquarium, chapel, and of course the palace. I felt like a little kid running around the fortress never sure when I was going to see light again or where I was going to come out of the tunnels.
It was a lot of fun and we spent a good 3 hours walking around the fortress.
After this we made our way to palacio Pena a palace on a huge hill overlooking Sintra. It was 7 euro to get in so we just jumped the walls surrounding the palace and went into the park. We walked around and made our way all the way up to the castle which cost another 7 euro so we decided to head to the moorish castle across on another hill. We didn't go into the castle cause it was again 7euro so we made out way back down to Sintra and caught the train back to Lisbon.
Although I started out not liking Lisbon much because of all the drug dealers and not feeling safe it grew on me over the duration of 6 days I was there. I stayed away from the areas I didn't like and I made good friends that I enjoyed hangin out with. All this added to a better experience and more excitement towards Lisbon and the surrounding area.
The illegal bakery
Church in alfama
Looking back at the bridge
Upside down spire
After Lisbon I flew to Paris to get my big city on. I met Katherine there and we stayed with one of her friends Lindsey Horan that plays professional women's fùtbol for Paris (psg).
I got to the suburb of her residence a few hours before she was done with a fùtbol match so I just went to a nearby park and hung out and looked down on the city. It was a nice day so relaxing for a couple hours felt great.
I went to her house around 8 when she said she would be there and we chatted for a good 4 hours before she headed to bed having fùtbol practice in the morning. I waited up for Katherine when she got to Lindsey's around 130am.
The next morning Lindsey was gone to practice so we went into Paris to have Chipotle (American burrito shop) and it was so amazing. We walked around and saw the Eiffel Tower, the louvre, vendrome, the library, Arc de Triomphe, and many other famous things I have no idea what they are. Paris is a place of high fashion, everything is expensive, and national monuments or places of interest on every corner. It was hard to keep it all straight.
Paris is the first place I actually experienced rain so it made it a little less appetizing being outside walking around all day long. We still did it but got really wet most days.
That night we were exhausted from walking around all day I made them a little backpacker mix up of pasta and we watched a movie and went to bed.
Following day the two girls and myself went to arc de Triomphe again and walked down the famous street champs élysées. It was full of high end stores and even had a 5 story Abercrombie and Fitch store that you had to wait in line for..... Toooo high class. We loved Chipotle so much the previous day we decided to go again. It was better the second time. Of course being in London we had to go to Notre Dame. It was insanely big and there were gothic creatures all over it. It was extremely cool. The inside was extremely tourist it did not seem like a church at all. That afternoon we cruised around the city again and made Mac and cheese for dinner. Was missing my American food. And again we watched a movie from exhaustion.
The following day we went to mount martyr which is where the basilica of the sacred heart is housed. We went up into the dome as well as inside and it was a very cool view of the city. We then walked down into te city from there and it started dumping rain. We hid behind a building for a good 30 minutes. We watched many peoples umbrellas fold inside out. It was hilarious and seemed just like the movies. We met up with Lindsey at chipotle.... 3 days In a row and this one was the best one yet! Such a good burrito. We then went to the Eiffel Tower to watch it "sparkle". It was so good we had to watch it twice! We went back to Lindsey's to watch the Da Vinci Code because much of the movie took place in Paris. We all fell asleep. It was a really long movie.
We woke up ate the rest of my pasta and hit the metro to catch Katherine's flight and my bus.
Paris was really good and beautiful at night. Had a lot of fun spending time with Katherine and getting to know her friend
Lindsey.
Hung out her when I was waiting on Lindsey.
Anyway had a great time in Paris it was really expensive but still had a great time. In London now working on getting my visa for brazil as well as checking all the sights! Booyah
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