the main square. where i bought chestnuts. and munched on every other thing i could find. thus wasting all the remaining money i had and hence had to starve?! no la. but ya. sooo. this is the main square where on our last day (which is also our 2nd day hur) we saw red indians busking. funky like shit. hurhur though we felt for a moment they were just abit out of place. i don't know but i always thought them to be in the states. and for a moment because i was surrounded by so many english speaking tourist i actually thought i was in the states. but hurhur. nooo.
after checking in we headed out to explore the city. because lisbon was way more smaller than madrid we went about on foot. the weather was gorgeous. a very comfortable 18degrees celsius. this is the praca dom pedro IV. it's the square closest to our hostel.
after that we decided to walk to praca do comercio because lo has a fascination for ports and sea and boats. soo off we went. we walked down many streets filled with colour and fashion. hur. lisbon is way neater in its city layout. compared to florence, where there are absolutely no lane markings whatsoever and people drive everywhere and blah. soo lisbon was a nice change. and it did not lose too much of its old charm unlike madrid and barcelona, which were mainly filled with large streets. here they were still tiny but at least big enough for there to be walking path for pedestrians. whatever la. i just like lisbon.
after the port. we headed to castello de san jorge. we took a tram up and damn scary. you know how they are controlled by the current and shit. the guy driving the tram is some F1 driver. reckless. scary. but DAMN FUN. hahaha. free rollercoaster. so anyway, we got there safe and sound, and from there we managed to have a glimpse of the tiny island across. where they have the cross (which is similar to the big cross in brazil? anyone know what i'm talking about?) we did not have time to go over to the other nearby islands and really being in lisbon was really enough to satisfy us :)
the view of the city! oh and this castle is particularly special for this contraption that is similiar to the way cameras work. shit i can't explain it. basically it uses mirrors and lenses to capture images in real time. it was funky shit. could see most of the surroundings of the castle and it was weird how it was in real time. anyway this was the way the king kept an eye on his subjects. i gather he must have alot of fun from spying at them through their windows *cough*
of course after all that hiking around i was hungry. so what better to eat but a peacock. yummy.
after the castello we went for lunch at a tiny family-run cafe. where we saw the ginja (some portugese desert wine thing) and decided we had to get a bottle. sooo. after that we headed off to visit two churches. one was the igreja de santo antonio which was supposed to be the birth place of saint anthony and the other church was the igreja de lisboa. it was a monument built by the queen or something or some woman. shitt i can't remember. but when i do. i will err remember to write it down :)
so before we left for anywhere else. we ran into george clooney. julie's long lost lover. hurhur. it was a very happy reunion as you can see.
we did more walking and saw another church and an elevator, which led up to this church. the church was badly destroyed by the great earthquake in i can't remember when and it's ruins were kept to remind them of the disaster then that had affected them and how they pulled through. strength. honor. love. courage. the likes. soo. after that we walked more and more and then down ave da liberdade. after a DAMN long walk we decided to sit down. and of course whip out my camera and take retarded photos :)
and since we are in lisbon and it is the city of the sun (if i'm not wrong, i can't quite remember, as you can see i have bad memory) we decided we had to try and capture some of the sunset before it was all gone and we would never see it again. sooo. we ran across town (by the way it was mighty far) and found a nice spot by the err. "beach" and watched as the sun set behind the cross. that brought an end to our sightseeing. headed back to dorm and wheee.
our multi coloured room. sooo damn nice and comfortable to sleep in! omg. the best hostel ever. soo cheap and the guy was DAMN NICE. i cannot find a nicer guy really. so helpfun and everything :) we were soo excited when we got into the rooms. each room had a theme. i had the multi coloured madonna i think? i can't quite remember. shit this is danm bad. sooo. after we showered and changed and all. we left for dinner around 9pm. the streets of lisbon were empty! what a difference compared to spain (a city that NEVER ever sleeps) it was a bit daunting but. heck we were starving. and the man was so nice (yet again) that we had to eat dessert even after being stuffed like turkeys. but you cannot resist cute old men right?!
the next day we went to another part of town and saw another church. i know we sound like we are damn fascinated by churches but it cannot be helped okay. the only places that are of any interest are the churches! really. sooo. this one had a mass going on so we left. and retired to the nearby park.
well. i did say retire right. we took a nap and err tanned? hahaha and julie read her book :) it was a nice park. so green and so colourful and it smelled fresh. yepp. i like. and got damn alot of cute dogs. hahaha i wanttt.
after the park we had a light lunch before heading off and walking into the residential areas of lisbon. so cosy and colourful and just pleasant. i don't know. so different from the huge hdb blocks back in singapore and from the gaudy looking villas in florence. soo. quite a change and a much needed one. and this is how we bid our dear lisbon goodbye.
pau
