And I, I took the one less traveled by...: Portugal!

This weekend I got the chance to go to the lovely city of Lisbon, Portugal! I was excited to make it out of Spain and experience another countries culture. Our whole ISA group took a bus from Sevilla to Lisbon, which was about 6 hours. And not only did we get to cross the Portuguese border but we also got to cross time zones! Instead of being 5 hours ahead (only until this Sunday since Spain has yet to have daylight savings time) I was only 4 hours ahead of the United States! When we arrived in Portugal, sometime around 2pm, we had some time to get to our hotel room and unpack before we had to meet back downstairs to begin exploring the city! We then all piled in the bus and made our way to visit a castle! The castle was on top of a hill and the views from the look out point of the castle were amazinggg and I could see the whole city of Lisbon. After touring the castle we meandered our way through the downhill streets of Lisbon, touring the different neighborhoods. Afterwards we were free for dinner! Me and 5 of some of my friends decided to look for a good restaurant, in particular, one that had Lisbon's famous codfish on the menu. Lisbon is known for their wonderful seafood and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try some fresh seafood! We found a quaint little restaurant tucked into a corner, checked the menu, and decided to stop for dinner. Almost everyone at our table ended up choosing grilled codfish and potatoes from the menu. And after trying my food I realized that I liked the codfish, however, the tiny bones throughout the fish weren't that appetizing. But I'm glad I tried the famous codfish and would probably get it again! After dinner, my friends and I just roamed the streets, looking in store windows, and taking in the culture. As we made our way closer to our hotel we noticed a small pastry shop that we wanted to stop in. We all wanted to try some Portuguese pastries and that was probably the best shop to stop in. They had a wide variety of all kinds of cookies, cakes, custards, and sweets. I decided to try these flower shaped cookies with strawberry jelly in the middle and after one bite I was in heaven. They were wonderfullll and I'll definitely be on the lookout for something similar in the U.S.! We then made our way back to the hotel and decided to just take it easy the rest of the night. I explored the hotel a little more, finding the pool and gym, and then chatted with a friend in the hotel lounge before calling it a night. The second day in Portugal, Saturday, we had a panoramic tour of Lisbon and a cathedral visit on the schedule. We went to the cathedral first and it was pretty impressive. I didn't like it as much as the cathedral in Sevilla but it had a pretty central courtyard in the monastery and the architecture was very pretty as well. The group followed up the cathedral tour with the panoramic tour, stopping at different sites along the way. We made our way along the riverbank, stopping at the Torro, which used to be a fort for Lisbon, back in the day. While at the fort, it was pretty to see the bridge to Lisbon, which looks a lot like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and because the day was overcast and windy, all the sailboats were out and about along the river! After the mini panoramic tour we had some free time for the rest of the day. Ginny, Megan, and I decided to eat lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Lisbon because one, we all were missing American food, and two, Ginny and her family always go to the Hard Rock Cafe in all the countries they visit and of course we had to stop and get some memorabilia! I ordered a classic hamburger at the Hard Rock and it was beyond amazing. I didn't realize how much I had missed American food! We had a wonderful lunch and then stopped at the same pastry shop again to grab some more sweets and made our way back to the hotel. We were beyond tired. We all ended up sleeping wayy longer than we thought and woke up after the sun had already gone down. Being that we had eaten such a massive lunch, none of us were really hungry enough to go out and eat dinner so we ate our sweets and cookies for dinner :) I know, it sounds so healthy haha! And then all of us watched "10 Things I Hate About You" on Megan's laptop. We got up the next morning, ate breakfast, and then the whole group loaded the buses for another 6 hour ride back home. It was fun to see Portugal and I can't wait to go back again in April when I go to Lagos, Portugal for the beaches! The Portuguese people were sooo friendly and surprisingly, although I hardly knew any Portuguese, most of them spoke very good English! It turned out to be a great weekend :)