60+ Degrees and Sunny...Then Tuesday Came

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you will already know that my mom surprised me and came to visit on Friday.  Jeff and my parents had been scheming since DECEMBER to plan this excursion. My parents and Jeff did not tell anyone, until my mom was on her way over...which I think it a pretty good kept secret! It was very sweet of them to surprise me, and I think I almost ruined it a couple times when I surprised them a few weeks ago.  Everyone who knew, kept the secret well! I am so glad she is over here for 10 days.

Reunited!

So since they had planned it so far in advance, my mom was able to join us on our trip to Lisbon, Portugal.  She came at the right time, given we only have a few big trips left! We left for Lisbon on Sunday morning. Mom got to experience the early to rise, jump in the car, and head to the airport-kind of morning.  It was a longer flight for us, a little over 2 hours, and we were in Lisbon by 12:00PM.  We jumped on the metro and headed to our hotel.  We were able to clean up, and go out to grab some lunch before completely exploring the city.  I officially had one of the worst meals since we moved here.  It wasn't bad in taste, but the pork was VERY overcooked. It was as hard as a rock! Luckily, Jeff ordered a giant dish of paella and my mom ordered pasta...so I was able to eat off of their plates a little as well.

Next, we were off to St. George's Castle.  It was quite the walk up to the area where the castle was located.  We had a great calf workout as all the roads were at an incline. We made it to the top where it had amazing views of the River Tagus, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean.  All of the buildings are so close together, that it looked as if they were all sitting on top of each other.  It was a very European feel, and reminded us of our time in Rome, despite all of the massive amounts of history.  There was not much to the castle, as it was all open and reminded us more of a fort than a castle.  Now, I remind you that we have visited some extraordinary castles (like our Edinburgh Castle visit), so our standards are set very high.  It was great being able to walk up & down the old stairs and see a new scene from each side of the castle.  We especially enjoyed the random peacocks that were walking around the area as well. And we even found a few cats!

 Right in front of the castle. It overlooks the river and all of the beautiful buildings.

 In front of the main entrance to the castle

Love this shot! The red/orange roof tops were beautiful!

After our visit to the castle, we headed down to the water's edge.  It was a beautiful view, especially to see the 25th of April Bridge, which is almost identical to the Golden Gate Bridge.  We walking along the board walk enjoying the 65 degree day.  Sorry, family/friends back home...I don't have much of a filter on my blog posts! We grabbed a famous Portuguese custard tart (or Pastel de nata) which is a must when visiting Lisbon.   As the three of us were sitting there enjoying it, we were trying to compare it to something we had already had before.  We decided it was a mix of flan, sugar creme pie, and a dab of lemon inside.  They were about the size of a cupcake.  Very tasty, and we all agreed we were shocked we didn't grab another one during our time there. Check out the Pastel de nata link for a visual, as I forgot to take a picture!

 In front of the arch that leads into a plaza area right next to the water

Down by the water (obviously)

We cleaned up, and headed out to a fantastic Portuguese restaurant, called Restaruante A Gina which was hidden back in a side street.  Right when we sat down they brought us bread, a cheese and pork spread, and fried potato peels.  We were chomping away, trying all the local appetizers.  For our main courses, Jeff tried the famous Portuguese cod, I gave pork another shot, and mom tried a chicken dish.  All were large portions with lots of potatoes, vegetables, and fantastic rice. We tried some of the house white wine, and debated on this traditional dessert that locals around us were enjoying.  We gave in, and tried the "custardy" cake that was drizzled with honey.  Pretty similar to the photo here.  I wasn't the biggest fan, but Mom and Jeff enjoyed it.

 My pork on the left and Jeff's cod on the right.

We headed out the next morning all ready to take on a full day of sight seeing, walking, and embracing the culture.  The three of us went off to explore a bridge Jeff and I learned about when visiting the Tower Bridge last month.  They had various bridges from around the world, and they were beautiful.  The Aguas Livres Aqueduct was used a long time ago to bring fresh drinking water from the mountains into the city. Unfortunately, we were unable to walk across the bridge because it was closed, but we were able to view it closely and take a few photographs. If you're reading in this in hopes to visit Lisbon, it is a must...but just go on a Tuesday.  

 The HUGE bridge. My mom and I even were able to see it from the plane.

 You can see how big it is with Jeff next to it

We got so many great pictures. It is awesome to have a third person to travel with, so we can continually rotate who is taking the picture!

We were pretty annoyed, as this was just one of many attractions that were closed on Mondays.  This made it difficult for us to plan our activities, given we flew in on Sunday and were flying out on Tuesday.  We made the best of the poor planning, and saw what we could! We walked around the city, up/down the steep roads.  We found a viewing spot to see the castle and buildings across the city.  We finally made it to a wonderful spot for lunch where Jeff and my mom enjoyed pizzas and I got a fantastic chicken sandwich.  We were off again, heading to the metro station.  We saw the ferries used for public transportation to a town called, Barrerio.  So...why not take the ferry across the river to see the other side? It was about a 15 minute ride to the other side. It was enclosed, so we weren't able to get the best pictures. But we had a great view of the bridge, Lisbon from afar, and it was fun being out on the water.

The view from the one open window on the ferry. You can see the bridge and Christ the King monument to the left.

After we arrived back on the Lisbon side,  we went to a church (no pictures allowed) and enjoyed a beautiful park. My mom was able to have her first European gelato experience.  We found this great place near the park that had an array of flavors to choose from.  My mom got strawberry & pineapple, I enjoyed raspberry & after eight (chocolate mint), and Jeff enjoyed strawberry & cheesecake.  Amazing.  It didn't seem like we checked off much from our to-do list during the day, but we covered a lot of ground walking around and just enjoying the simplicity of the city.  The night ended with some tapas, which we were able to try a few new dishes.  We even got my mom to try squid!

 They had a few swings hanging from the ceiling instead of chairs!

 We loved the tiles, although you can't see much of them in this shot. Everywhere you went the tiles on the ground were in a different pattern.

 The yellow trollies are all over the city. Both locals and tourists fill them up at every spot. 

 Giant tree in the park

We found another great viewing spot during our walk around the city.

The next morning we woke up bright and early so we could get to the sights early since we were flying out in the afternoon.  We finally rode on the famous yellow tram we had been seeing around the city.  It was about 20-25 minutes on the tram (or from what I remember).  It started to rain while we were on the tram, so by the time we got off...it was pouring.   Not only was it raining, but the temperature dropped, and we were freezing!  We grabbed our umbrellas and trucked through the rain to see the last few sights.  The Monument of Discoveries was beautiful, although we didn't appreciate it as much with the rain falling sideways and soaking us in the process.  We walked along the water side in attempts to make it to the Belem Tower.  Unfortunately, the pier ended...so we gave up. Just like that.  We walked across the street to visit the Monastery of Jeronimos instead. It opened, and we were able to walk around the grounds for an hour or so.  It was quite and pretty, but there was not much to it other than beauty.

 Monument of Discoveries...in the pouring rain.

 You can see how hard it was raining by just looking at Jeff's poor, wet jacket

Not sure if you can tell just how hard it is raining. Maybe our faces say it all...

 The rain stopped, and we headed to the monastery

 Inside the monastery

We grabbed some breakfast, and made our way back to grab our bags then head out to the airport.  When asking my mom about her time in Lisbon she said, "I enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful tiles on the streets, and I loved the desserts.  Most importantly, it was great spending time with you and Jeff."

 Somehow I forgot this picture when I published it yesterday! One of my favorites, too!

On to the next adventure...