Day 50: Is this Heaven? No, it's Lisbon.

Well, as you can tell by my title, I loved Lisbon, Portugal. It wasn't heaven and it wasn't Iowa, but it came pretty darn close. We drove to Lisbon from Sevilla and it took only about 5 hours. There was no immigration control of any sort-- our passports were never seen and our bus didn't even have to stop. The welcoming nature of Lisbon only continued from there!

When entering the city, we were told that Lisbon is a sister-city of San Francisco. In fact, they even have a Golden Gate bridge-- the one in San Francisco was supposedly modeled after the one in Lisbon. The city is built upon hilly terrain and so cable cars are also used in Lisbon as a convenient mode of transportation. The city just had a fantasy-type of energy to it-- the streets were lined with houses painted in all different colors and with white trim. There was a devastating earthquake in Lisbon in 1755 so only a couple of the old neighborhoods remain. The rest of the city was reconstructed, making the city a perfect mix of historical and contemporary architecture. Due to this more contemporary design, the majority of the city is laid out in a grid fashion-- with two main plazas at its heart. The city is easy to navigate and if you do get lost, there are plenty of English-speaking people to point you in the right direction!

This brings me to my next point: the people! The people were so welcoming and kind. The nature of the people reminded me of my experiences in Latin America-- they possessed a temperament and generosity which is very different from the Spanish culture. (The Spanish culture is much more European in this way. People are nice, but in a much less forthright way.) The waiters all spoke English and every place we ate had vegetarian options! People were so happy and friendly.

The city's location: on the Tajos river, next to the ocean, and in the midst of forests and natural parks-- made the nature just as beautiful as the city and as the people. I felt at home walking along the streets and just taking in the sights and sounds.

The entire weekend I had a great group to travel with and we enjoyed long meals: talking and laughing. One night, after our meal we even landed upon a free Portuguese dance lesson! It was a blast! I really hope I'll be able to return to Portugal--it left a lasting first impression!

If you'd like to see my photos, click the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150757665124052.470322.655734051&type=3&l=33f64ff01f