It never ceases to amaze me just how close the countries in Europe really are. Lisbon, Portugal was just a hop away from Madrid, and there were so many different things to see!
Friday morning: My roommate & I get on a plane.
ONE HOUR later: We’re flying over the coast of Portugal!
Over the gigantic Atlantic!
We had wanted to try CouchSurfing for this trip, but our fellow Madrid interns who had already been to Lisbon highly suggested that we stay at The Independente Hostel. We also highly suggest you stay there because it was amazing. Getting there involved more hill-climbing than expected (were we actually in Pittsburgh?), but it was more than worth the huffing and puffing.
View from the lookout across the street from our hostel
Traveling makes you a crazed hungry person, though, so we had to find food fast. Good thing there was a restaurant attached to our hostel! All the food served at The Decadente, as it’s known, uses solely Portuguese ingredients that are in season. I figured I’d give the sardines a whirl since they’re used so often in Portuguese dishes.
“These still have eyes…”
After filling up, we threw our stuff in our room, and went downstairs only to run into two other girls from our program who were checking in downstairs. Yes, in Europe, you can just run into people in other countries. Once they got settled in, we jumped out into the streets of Lisbon.
These little gumdrop chairs with trees in them were everywhere. I’m a fan.
I was happy to discover that Lisbon is much more graffiti-friendly than Madrid.
“Remember who you are.”
Hey, your house fell over!
A real Angry Bird
We got to see so much of this art because we walked approximately forever plus an hour or so to get up close to the Ponte 25 de Abril (25 of April bridge) in Lisbon that’s based off of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, but that everyone says looks like the Golden Gate Bridge. We were thinking it was a rip-off, but it’s ok because they were made by the same company. 
Also note the mini Christ the Redeemer statue, like in Rio de Janeiro, in the back there.
Oh, and remember the OCEAN?!
Fishy fishy fishy
That’s where you could find us the next day. Beach + some Portuguese practice + a little bit of sight seeing = a fantastic break from the everyday life in Madrid. We were fine with getting back to "our city", but it was a little more difficult to do than on other trips. Maybe the IIP should expand over into Lisbon in upcoming years!
- Alexa
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