LISBON, LAND OF STEEP HILLS, CASTLES, AND ....

The title probably has you guessing what is the AND?  In due time, In due time.  Although one of my favorite soccer players in the world, Christiano Ronaldo earns his living in Spain, he actually is the pride of Portugal.  Believe it or not, Portugal, after the Roman empire collapsed, was one of the original world powers.  No joke.  Question. Why do you think they speak Portugese all the way down in Brazil?  Portugal is the size of Indiana, slightly smaller actually, while Brazil is the size of the United States.  Crazy right, exactly what I thought too.  But the fact remains, that Portugal wanted to find a route to India, spices and other treasures and stumbled upon South America.  Yes, they took the long route around Southern Africa.  Eventually, Spain wanted a piece of the action as well and they pretty much with the consent of the Pope, who coincidentally was from Spain, divvied up South America.  Being the Marine powers they were, they pretty much could do what they wanted at the time even though they weren't really sure what was out there.  So there you have it, that's why Brazilians speak Portuguese and for the most part, the other South American countries speak Spanish.  It was further solidified, when Napoleon invaded Portugal some 300 years later and the Portuguese Royal Family fled to Brazil and declared Brazil the Southern portion of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and some small African Colony.  Before going to Portugal I didn't know this either but I think it's an interesting story, even more ironic now, since there are rumblings that Brazil has offered to annex Portugal given the Iberian (Spain and Portugal) peninsula's recent financial woes.  Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Like many empires and kingdoms we've visited this past eight months, Portugal is no different in that when the good times are rolling, they build castles that sit upon steep hills along with grand plazas.  Every time I'm hiking up one of these hills to see an amazing castle, I can't help but think about traveling up the hill with no motorized vehicles, or a Swiss built  gondola or something.  Its crazy to me.  And yes another thing about these castles built upon steep hills is that the roads up these hills are usually very narrow and very winding and usually have no railings.  Alas, Portugal had railings in the form of thousands of trees.  So if the car went off the road we would land on many trees and possibly be injured as opposed to Croatia, Italy, and Greece, where an imminent death would follow.  Portugal also has Greek, Roman, and Moorish ruins that are preserved or weaved into their more recent Catholic History.

AND...you're probably wondering what the AND was for...the Pink Baby.  (the pink hat was just a coincidence I think).  So my wife, back in her college days, rolled with a crew called the Pink Ladies' (possessive on purpose).  Something to do with them roaming the campus like they owned (possessive) it...yada yada.  Now they're all married and some have started having kids and I think they affectionately call them pink babies.  Oh we met up with Pink Baby's parents too!  We hadn't seen Pink Baby in nearly a year and she didn't disappoint.  I put the next statement in all CAPS for my mom, my in-laws and friends that are trying desperately to convince the wife and me to have a kid right now.  WHEN WE DO HAVE CHILDREN, I HAVE MADE THE DECISION, NO DAUGHTERS!  And now that I said it, I'll probably be blessed with three daughters even though we only plan to have two children.  My reasoning, daughters are too cute and I would probably lose my discipline.  For example:

Future Pink Baby: Daddy, Daddy, I want some ice cream
Mr. Abroad:  No ice cream tonight, especially before dinner, ok?
Future Pink Baby: PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!
Mr.  Abroad: Ok but just this once.

Can't have it.  I have street cred that I need to protect.  I was named the 2nd scariest bouncer in college and I have to maintain all credibility and that's not possible with a cute little face staring back at you.  I'm not saying sons aren't cute, but Pink Baby and my two nieces are just too cute.

So no daughters.  It was fun seeing some old friends from stateside, especially when their little cute daughter could say "Bus", "tram", "bird", "cow", "ice cream" and "PLEASE" at all the appropriate times.  It's interesting traveling with a young one.  Your schedule is pretty much their schedule.  You rest when they rest, eat when they eat, want to nap when they nap, and eat ice cream when the eat ice cream but for some reason it never seems like a burden.  It was actually pretty fun.  I think Pink Baby's parents enjoyed that my wife and I were there because we did a great deal of carrying.  I'll say this, it's a workout carrying a child around, serious workout! Props to the parents too for taking the little one pretty much everywhere, up a hill to Pena Palace and around the mean streets of Lisbon.

Friends relaxing on the castle steps

My new best friend, we're just talking about the significance of Walter Payton in Chicago

Naptime

We stumbled upon the Prime Minister's palace and watched the changing of the guard.  Not going to lie, not as crisp and sharp as you might expect.  As Randy from American Idol would say, "It was little pitchy and it sounded karaoke." They definitely weren't in it to win it.  

In the Belem district of Lisbon, everyone recommended this pastry shop as a must go and must eat.  I had a little nibble and it was ok but not great.  There was a Starbucks up the road and I had a local influenced Starbucks treat for breakfast instead.

Replica of the Golden Gate bridge.

At the Triumphal Arch at Praca de Comercio

Harbor on the Atlantic Ocean

MOOO!

Street Performer

I think I figured it out.

As I mentioned earlier we made our way to Sintra, technically a 35 minute trip outside of Lisbon.  We were surprised at how inexpensive the roundtrip fare was until we arrived into town.  There we took a bus up the first hill...cha ching....then another bus or walk up a hill for 20 minutes...cha ching, then finally paid admission... cha ching.  Not complaining but by the time we were finally up the Pena Hill, the all in fair seemed more reasonable.  It was pretty funny when we decided to walk the last 20 minutes, I was offered a special two for one deal.  There's always a hustle, no matter where in the world you go, ALWAYS.  5 for 1, I would have been sold.  As you can imagine, I was a bit nervous climbing the steep hills and also looking out from atop the castle.  I gain confidence from the Pink Baby, she was unfazed by a potential plunge from atop said castle.

Someone was not happy with the sun and hustleman approach.

ANOTHER BUS!

The wife below the castle

BEARS! HICAG and the wife.

The entrance

On our way down from Palace Pena, we asked the local Polizia what was the most authentic Lisbon meal we could find and they pointed us in the right direction.  This was definitely authentic Lisbon cuisine.  Seeing that I didn't know what the dishes were on the menu, I ordered the Baked Salmon and our friend ordered the Lobster Crepe.  Baked Salmon is pretty safe...not quite.  It was actually pretty good but it was more like a double baked mashed potato on top of pureed Salmon.  See for yourself.  And the Lobster crepe was a baked then fried crepe filled with pureed lobster.  It was almost too rich for consumption but when in Lisbon right!  I'm not the biggest seafood consumer but our friends that travel all over the world said that the fish, outside of the pureed parts, was some of the best fish they had ever tasted.

Baked Salmon

Lobster Crepe

Elevadore up the hill

On our last day in Lisbon, the wife, or course, wanted to trek up another hill, the highest in Lisbon, to see the Sao Jorge Castle.  It's actually pretty amazing that after 800 years, this Moorish castle is still standing and it has great views of Lisbon.  But this hike, was brutal, up stairs, and steep hills and unmarked streets and roads.

It's scary up here!

Smile

Lisbon was a great trip.  Yet another country steeped in tradition with architectural and cultural influences from Africa to France to the early Roman and Greeks but the best part of the trip was seeing our dear friends and catching up with a cute Pink Baby.

Next up....FOUR WEEKS OF NON-STOP TRAVEL....Brussels to Munich to Barcelona to Pamplona to Chicago to Cape Cod to Glen Arbor and finally back to Zurich.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that the blogging may take a hiatus but I'll be sure to try to remember it all and share.