Four Cities in Four Days: Madrid, Lisbon, Cascais, Carcavelos

Our trip to Lisbon did not go as planned. The overnight train from Sevilla was booked, so we made adjustments. The next available train was 24 hours later. There were only three seats left on the bus, with 9 passengers eager to get to Lisbon. We considered renting a car. I really wanted to drive stick through Europe, but the 500 euro charge for taking a car across borders deterred us. To my delight, we decided to take a train to Madrid for the afternoon, and a bus overnight to Lisbon from there. I watched the movie Gravity in Spanish on the train ride to Madrid. I look forward to watching it again in English to see if I missed anything.

We were only in Madrid for a few hours. Within my first hour in Madrid, I wound up in the police station. Believe it or not, I wasn't there for committing a crime. Jenny had her credit card eaten by the ATM machine in the train station and I joined her to attempt to translate. The officers were very helpful but were unable to retrieve her card. Poor Jenny was without her credit card for the last few days of our break. She was a good sport however, and since she was the only one of us who had been to Madrid before, she showed us around a bit. Under Jenny's direction, we wandered our way to Madrid's main square, Plaza Mayor. It was there that we settled in for our last Spanish meal.

Justine, Trip, Taylor, and I treated ourselves to paella and sangria. While we ate, FC Barcelona fans flooded the plaza for a rally in support of the team prior to their big Champions League match versus Atletico Madrid that night. The fans chanted for hours as we enjoyed our meal. With time to kill before our bus, we made a stop at a Churreria for Madrid's finest churros. They were divine. As the sun set, we boarded the bus and arrived in Lisbon at six in the morning as the sun rose.

With only one day in Lisbon, we made the most of it. Our first stop was São Jorge Castle. The castle offered a beautiful view of the city of Lisbon and the Tagus River. Armed with cannons, it once stood on the hill to defend the city.

Our group split up after the visit to the castle. Part of the group visited the aquarium while Jenny, Dana, Madison, Carolyn and I made a trip to the city and Belem. The girls and I enjoyed a lovely lunch by the Praça do Comércio (Commerce Plaza) and then hopped on a tram to Belem. After five minutes on the tram, we had moved about one hundred feet. Realizing that it would take us at least an hour reach Belem by tram, we got on a high speed train instead, and arrived within fifteen minutes.

Belem is a beautiful part of the city of Lisbon, located on the water. Home to multiple museums and monuments, Belem is a must see. Most prominent are the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, a monument celebrating the Portuguese Age of Discovery and the Belém Tower. Thanks to the encouragement of Madison, connoisseur of everything sweet, I tried Pastel de Nada (also known as Pastéis de Belém) for the first time. This delicious pastry tart, served warm with a coat of cinnamon and powdered sugar is heavenly.

Following a beautiful day along the river with good company we had a wonderful Portuguese dinner and went to bed early knowing we would be going to the beach the next morning.

We made our way to Cascais, about 40 minutes from Lisbon by train first thing Friday morning. Once settled in we rented bikes near our hostel and took them to the beach. We spent our day relaxing on our beach, playing paddleball, and frisbee. Our last few days were incredibly relaxing. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and spent the evening at an Irish Pub. Upon returning from the pub, I was facetimed in for the Virginia Tech Soulstice Concert at the Lyric in Blacksburg. With the help of Maddie Potter, Taylor Cugini, Austin Tatum, and Patrick Acker I enjoyed the Rock N' Soul of my favorite a capella group. If you missed their concert, check it out here:

We spent Saturday at a different beach, this time in Carcavelos, about 20 minutes by train from where we were staying in Cascais. Since surfing conditions were less than ideal, we spend our afternoon playing wiffleball and reminiscing on our time in Europe. We decided to take advantage of the grill at our hostel and had a cookout for dinner. We stopped at a grocery store on our way back from the beach and everyone made a dish. I found mango-curry tofu and a smoked tofu and made mini sandwiches. They were delicious, if I may say so myself. The cookout was a blast. We ended our evening on the beach, and laughed the night away.

We woke up Sunday morning in disbelief that our final trip was coming to an end. We spent our afternoon on the beach before a delicious all you can eat sushi lunch. Around 4pm we made our way to the airport. We arrived a few hours before our 10pm flight. If all went well, we were set to arrive in Milan at 1:20am with plenty of time to catch the final bus to Lugano at 1:50am. Instead our flight was delayed 25 minutes giving us only five minutes to make our bus upon arriving in Milan.

We arrived and sprinted through the Milan airport to catch the bus. We ran to the bus in time, only to find out the entire bus was reserved for the students of the Lugano Center for the Arts. We were forced to spend the night in the airport until the next bus at 5:50am. We did just that.

We finally arrived in Lugano around 7:30am. I took a short snooze before our meeting for our final project.

My final two weeks in Lugano are wrapping up. Stay tuned for the final days of fun! Ciao!

Feeling Sevilla

We arrived in Sevilla around 10pm on Sunday and enjoyed traditional Spanish tapas for dinner. Prices were low, with each plate costing less than 1.50 euro and each beer only 0.40 euro. Along the way I found a shop with soft serve ice cream. To my delight it was their grand opening, and all ice cream was free for the day as part of a promotion!

Dinner in Spain starts late. 10pm is generally the earliest time dinner is served. With consistently high temperatures, siesta's are particularly important in Sevilla. Restaurants stop serving meals or shut down from around 2pm until dinner time in order to eliminate the heat from the ovens. After a tasty dinner, we returned to our hostel. Taylor and I sat down for a game of chess before bed and ended up playing until 2am!

On Monday, we woke up to meet Carolyn Remmey, one of Madison's best friends, and my friend since Hokie Camp. Carolyn is studying abroad in Sevilla and kindly showed us around the city. We started at the Alcázar de Seville, a palace reminiscent of Versailles. The grounds were overwhelming. There was so much to see. The gardens appear to be incredibly difficult to main. While dozens of gardeners were hard at work, one of the main attractions within the grounds was a peacock that was screaming at the top of its lungs.

A girl and her sister taking photos for her quinceañera at Alcázar de Seville.

Our next stop was the Plaza de España. The plaza was built in 1929 within la Parque de María Luisa for the World's Fair. It is now home to government buildings. A few scenes from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace were filmed here as well.

Carolyn took us downtown for tapas. This was one of my favorite meals of the ten day break. I enjoyed Spanish peppers, patatas bravas, fried zucchini, and tinto de verano. Tinto de verano is a delicious mix of red wine and sparkling lemonade.

As with most cities we visited, Sevilla offers an attraction with a panoramic view of the city. The Metropol Parasol is a strange building located in the middle of town said to resemble a mushroom from aerial view. The building was completed in 2011 and claims to be the largest wooden structure in the world. We took the elevator to the top and saw Sevilla in all its beauty.

Metropol Parasol

The Crew (from Left): Me, Dana, Trip, Jenny, Justine, Taylor

Taylor and I went to the bus station to purchase tickets for our trip to Gibraltar while the rest of the gang made their way to the river. We planned to meet back up in an hour and a half, but Taylor and I managed to return to our meeting point within thirty minutes. Knowing that the others were laying out along the river, we decided to rent a paddle boat instead of walking across to meet them. With a pitcher of sangria by our side, we floated down the river. As expected we spotted them about a quarter of a mile down the river as we paddled along. They were shocked. As we pulled up to the shore, Trip jumped on and we met the girls back at the dock. Dana joined our boat, and we all enjoyed an evening on the river.

Paddle boating with Taylor and Trip

It is evident that the people of Sevilla are very proud of their city. Everywhere in the town the motto "NO8DO" is displayed. The motto means "It (Sevilla) Has Not Abandoned Me."

We had an early dinner by Spanish standards and were in bed before midnight for our early morning bus ride to Gibraltar. Hasta luego!