Easter Weekend in Lisbon

Hey again!

While it is difficult to not be home for any holiday, I particularly love spending Easter in Europe.  Four years ago I was in Spain for the holiday, and it was so nice seeing how it was celebrated, with special things such as an Easter parade.  It is definitely a different experience than in America.  At the conclusion of the Greece trip, Nora flew to Northern Ireland for a wedding while Kelsey and I explored Lisbon in Portugal.  Originally, our plans were to visit either Vienna, Austria or Prague, Czech Republic.  However, due to flight cancellations and other complications, those locations did not work out and we chose Lisbon instead.  I’m so glad that we did!

Holy Thursday was a complete travel day, with Kelsey and I arriving at our hostel in enough time to grab some dinner quick and go to bed.  We had an 8 person room in a hostel that was very centrally located in the downtown area of Baixa, and it was one of the nicest hostels have been to.  Kelsey and I were a bit pleasantly surprised when we woke up for breakfast and found that the kitchen staff was preparing fresh crepes with all different kinds of fillings!  These freshly made breakfasts (one day was scrambled eggs, the other days were crepes) were more than the basic dry cereals and assorted bread or muffins that I expect to find at hostels, and it was definitely a great start to the day every day!

Unfortunately, the forecast for the weekend in Lisbon was rain.  While it definitely did rain, it was on and off and there was plenty of nice weather in between.  On Good Friday, my umbrella in hand, Kelsey and I took a 5 hour walk around the city, soaking in all the sights.  This is the same route that the famous Tram 28 cable car does, going up and down Lisbon’s steep hills.  However, not once did we take that tram – we opted for exercise and the option to explore whatever various streets and neighborhoods we wanted.

Before I continue with the chronological story of events in Lisbon, I need to describe the character of Lisbon a bit.  In my opinion, it reminds me a lot of San Francisco in California – steep hills, cable cars, a waterfront, and even a Golden Gate Bridge look-alike.  Lisbon is mostly made of cobblestones, and is therefore slippery when it rains.  Mixed into the city are many trees and park areas that were in full bloom, as it is spring.  Additionally, there are so many pastelarias (pastry shops) in Lisbon.  You can basically find one on every corner.  While the traditional cookies and Easter breads are very delicious, I also highly recommend trying the dessert that Lisbon is known for – pastel de nata.  Basically, it is like a puff pastry with vanilla custard inside, and you can find them in nearly every pastelaria window.

Other adventures we embarked on in Lisbon included shopping in many of the tourist and scarf shops as well as visiting a castle and the surrounding area of Alfama.  The castle was pretty cool although it poured rain while we were there and most of it was outside.  Alfama is a neighborhood near the castle which is neat to walk through.  One morning Kelsey and I went to a flea market, and we also explored several churches, which were beautiful and all ready for Easter.  There are so many tiles in Lisbon too on different buildings, and that is very pretty and something different.  Even just walking up and down the main street downtown was entertaining, as there were street performers, lots of tourists and pretty buildings and sights.  In a nut shell, I was not bored in Lisbon.

While I can go on and on about this trip, I am going to conclude that travelling is as much a learning experience as it is relaxing and fun.  I highly recommend all of the travel destinations that I have been to on this trip and this year, as they are all so completely different.  On Easter Sunday, Kelsey and I checked out of our hostel and spent all day in the airport and on planes.  I crashed for the night at Kelsey’s house in Spain before making the journey back to Sussex the next day.  And with the Royal Wedding coming up this Friday, stay tuned to see what it is like to be in England on the big day!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 27th, 2011 at 10:32 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Easter Weekend in Lisbon”

1. Kelsey says:

   May 3, 2011 at 6:06 am

   The Easter bread!! Oh how I miss that!! I am soo glad this trip worked out, as well!!

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