What happens in the bungalow, stays in the bungalow.

Welcome to Portugal! Our day started out bright and early on the first train out of Barcelona to the airport at 5:30am...which was a little rough for some, to say the least. Let´s just say that boarding an airplane while still drunk from the night before, is the best way to be sure to sleep the entire plane ride. We landed in Lisboa (Lisbon) and headed straight for our bungalow.

Yes, bungalow. As we were a group of five it turned out to be a lot cheaper to get a little love shack, aka  bungalow, for the weekend.We were basically camping...we had a stove, a sink, knives, which made the trip even cheaper since we were able to cook our own food. The only downside about the beloved bungalow is that it was about a 20 minute bus ride outside of the city. So, we headed into the city to do a little sightseeing and pick up some pasta, olive oil, garlic and bread. We also found some cards, which was a godsend.We spent the night eating delicious food and eating card games.

We woke up birhgt and early on Saturday and decided to take a red bus tour of Lisboa. I have come to the conclusion, that although I hate being a tourist and sticking out as an American, a red bus tour, any type of bus tour for that matter, is the easiest, quickest and overall cheapest way to see a city. So, we paid our 20€ for our two day passes and hopped on the bus.

(bull fighting arena; in Portugal, it is illegal to kill a bull in the stadium)

(there was a slight breeze that day)

(this cathedral was built by some king of Portugal as a promise to his queen. the queen made her king promise that if she produced a heir to the thrown, he would build her a cathedral. personally, a cathedral would be the last thing i would have wanted my king to build me)

(from left to right: Samantha, Mattie, Tracey)

(the pepper monastary)

We got off the bus at the end of the route and decided to grab some pasteries, use the bathroom and walk around a little bit. We stumbled upon the ONLY horizontal elevator in all of Lisboa...it was so hard to believe that not only was it the only one, but that there was such a thing as a vertical elevator. We have pictures of the plaque to prove it. 

We rode the elevator up to the top and were able to see the entire city, as well as the river. The city had a crazy resemblance to Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Unfortunately, after waiting for over an hour to hop back on a red bus, a little smart car pulled up, from the bus company, to tell us that there won´t be any more buses for the rest of the day due to the weather. So we then started to wander. We stumbled upon the modern museum, or something like that. Among the artifacts inside, was a Dyson vaccuum from 1990. Now I feel old.

(inside the modern museum; famous during the 70s?)

During the only bus trip that we took that morning, we had marked off which places we wanted to actually get off the bus and go to. So, we tried to figure out the bus schedule and headed to the Pepper Monastary. Samantha´s host mom said that she should definitely go there, so we did. Cathedral/church/religious building #14, we found Vasco, a famous european explorer, and of course we took pictures. This was kinda/sort of a big deal.

Our next stop was getting across the river to the giant Jesus statue. After numerous buses, trams, asking people in broken portuguese/spanish we gave up. We were so beaten down that we needed a night of expensive dining at the Hard Rock Cafe, and we went to town. Margaritas were requited.

We called it a night, retreated to the bungalow and fell asleep well before 11pm. 

We started the next morning, bright and early again, and hopped on a red bus. We did the other route offered by the red bus and were able to see a lot of the city.

We drove by the milenium boardwalk...or something like that.

(the train station)

(the zoo)

Determined, we headed out to get to Jesus. The night before, we asked reception how to get to the Jesus. There were ZERO buses that go to the Jesus. Good to know. After one bus, one boat and another bus, we FINALLY made it to Jesus. The only problem was that it was pouring rain. We were running, jumping, shielding the rain, there was so way to get away from it.

(golden gate bridge, much?)

(finally, the Jesus; throughout the semester we have been on a da vinvi clue hunt, it all started out at the Sagrada Familia and has continued since then. #11)

(Lisa was upset about the rain)

It took us two days to make it to the Jesus and we were there for less than 20 minutes. Womp, womp, womp.

Our next stop was the aquarium...but not before we got some lunch. Being the rich college students that we are, we headed to McDonald´s and Burger King.

(Tracey won a free burger!)

To the aquarium we went. The Lisboa aquarium is the biggest aquarium in all of Europe. How could we miss out on this?

It was great! We got a big discount on our entrance tickets and there were not only fish, but penguins!

The aquarium is built around a giant fish tank that has sharks, fishes and other type of sea life found in the mediteranean.

The penguin room had 43 penguins and it even had a list of all of their names!

(Joe)

(we were all a little confused about Anastazio)

(please, no photos)

We cooked some delicious veggies and dipped some cheap bread in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and spent the night watching the olympics. Our flight left early Monday morning and we were back in Barcelona by noon.