Portugal Ch.2: Lazing in Lisbon

Hola Lovers!!

Or should I say, "Bonjour!" This is chapter 2 of my trip to Portugal.

I left something out of my last post about Porto! After dinner and ice cream, we returned to our hostel and got ready for bed. We were staying in a room of 4 but so far we hadn't seen our roommates. We'd guessed that it was a guy and a girl because one of the beds was not made and sort of messy, and the other one was made and rather neat. As we were journaling, our roomies came in. It was in fact a guy and a girl. After a brief introduction I realized that we had made the wrong conclusion. They were both very talkative and outgoing, but I decided we were wrong based on two things.

A) The girl was put together and even had a cardigan on, but in a devil-may-care way. She talked about only getting 2 hours of sleep before her flight that morning because she'd been out until 6 am in Barcelona (where she's studying abroad).

B) The guy was gay. And I'm not stereotyping here. He was very put together in a neat way and a tad more polite. (Not that she was rude! She just abandoned the formalities in meeting new people..which was actually really refreshing.)

We chatted with them for awhile. Both are juniors at Middlebury in Vermont. When I heard this I almost jumped up and shouted with joy. You see, Middlebury is the birthplace of college quidditch. They started it a few years ago and college quidditch has grown immensly. Maybe I'll do a post on college quidditch sometime soon and explain how it works. Anyway, to me they might as well have told me they went to Hogwarts. I didn't hesitate to convey to them the sheer joy of being in their presence. They agreed with me and thought the quidditch team at Middlebury was really cool. We talked with them for awhile until they left to find a bar or a club. Before they walked out we asked which bed belonged to which person, and I was right. He had the neat bed and she had the messy one.

The next morning we caught a 3 and a half our train to Lisbon. We almost got off at the wrong stop in some random little town because we couldn't understand the announcements for each station and there was no schedule or list of stops to reference. Eventually a middle aged man picked up on our panic and he told us the Lisbon stop was next, but we wanted the second Lisbon stop because it was in the city center.

The tourism office at the train station was closed. I called the hostel to find out where to go, and he told us to take a bus. We found the right bus and thankfully got off at the right stop (there was no sign to indicate which stop it was) and eventually found our hostel. Our hostel was SWEET. When we got there an older couple was trying to make a reservation, but there were no vacancies. It's always weird when people over 30 are in a hostel, but they are always there. I don't want to be in hostels after 30, let me tell you. But they are fun now! There are always tons of people my age, and lots of solo travelers doing the "around the world" vacation that so many 28 year olds do after their "I'm done with grad school/my job sucks" crisis. These people are anxious to meet others and plan activities during the time that their itineraries overlap. Also, lots of hostels are really cool looking and most of the ones I've stayed in are very clean, super trendy, and have a very helpful staff. I took some pictures of this one. I forgot to take a picture of the lounge, but there was a huge tv in the wall playing CNN and below it was a queen size bed with a sign that read: "Make Love, Not War."

On the wall in the staircase (each floor had a different graphic):

On the wall on my floor between the showers and the rooms:
My room. Notice that there are 3 bunk beds lined up in a row, and the bottom beds have a curtain for privacy:
The key for this hostel looked like a coiled key-chain that goes around your wrist, and it had a tiny circle, the shape of a watch face that was an electronic key. That circle opened the front door, the room door, and your specific under-bed drawer by placing it on an electronic sensor. The under-bed drawers were big enough to fit my suitcase and still have extra space. So cool!!

Each bed had its own reading light, a tiny shelf, and an outlet. The only main light in the room was the backlight to the gray cityscape on the wall. So turning on the light doesn't disturb everyone because it isn't a strong light.

Peep this bathroom sign:
After checking out the hostel we wandered through a market at the main plaza and then sat by the sea shore for awhile.

This mass of fish was very mysterious. They were all swimming toward a lowered wall and not making much progress. Seagulls were dipping down attempting to pick one up but these fish were way too big for them. A friend from Northwestern who saw my this picture on my facebook told me that the fish were doing the same thing when he was in Lisbon last year...

Thus ends chapter 2!

To be continued...

Hillary