June 25 and 26- Decided To Lump These Two Days Together

As the title suggests, I decided to lump these two days together because really it feels like just one big looooong day. We left Portugal on the 24th, and we'll be in Spain on the 27th. That only gives us two days between the two countires, which means we had a LOT of work to cram into 48 hours. I had three assignments due, a movie to watch, and countless pages to read. Now, the papers are finished, but the movie and the reading? Not so much. Oh well...

Right now, it's the night of the 26th and I'm absolutely exhausted. With our crazy schedule, I haven't been keeping track of what day of the week it is. It's either what day we are in the country (like Portugal: Day 2) or what class day it is (like class day 6 or C6). We moved into a new time-zone last night, so we lost an hour. That also means that I am now eight hours ahead of all of you in Montana and nine hours ahead of all of you on the West Coast.

Basically all I've done the past two days is work at the store, eat, do homework, go to class, and sleep (not enough). The only thing worth mentioning is that we learned some interesting stuff about Bilbao today in my architectural history class. everyone keeps talking about the Guggenheim. Guggenheim this. Guggenheim that. When I was researching Bilbao a couple of months ago, I kept seeing pictures of this massive, coolly designed museum. Turns out that museum is the Guggenheim!

In a nutshell, Bilbao used to be an industrial city. After Spain became a part of the European Union, Bilbao's economy decreased dramatically because Spain no longer needed Bilbao for it's resources. The city was dying, so some urban planners got together to see what they could do to help restore the city. Their solution? The famous "starchitect" Frank Gehry designed a 228.3 million dollar museum right in the center of town. The Guggenheim alone attracts 1,000,000 visitors to Bilbao a year, and it has brought in over $100,000,000 in tax revenues. This museum single-handedly saved the city. The only reason Bilbao is even on the map is because of the Guggenheim which is arguably one of the most beautiful buildings created in modern history.

All of this fuss about the Guggenheim is called the "Bilbao Effect." Essentially, this happens when a city culturally invests in arts or museums to attract tourists to their city. I couldn't help but think of our very own Lincoln, Montana when Professor Chunko was explaining all of this to us. For those of you who don't know, some locals in town are currently working with several artists from around the world to build a sculpture park in Lincoln. The idea is the same as in we all hope that the sculptures will help draw tourists into Lincoln to help boost our economy. I think it's a fantastic idea, and I hope the sculptures will help make Lincoln a destination place in Montana.

Check out the facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sculpture-in-the-Wild/443462522429266

So tomorrow some friends and I plan to go out into the city and visit this architectural wonder. Now the Guggenheim is still a museum, so it probably has some cool stuff inside that nobody knows about because they all can't shut up about the building itself. It should be fun, and I'm very excited. Wish me luck!

June 24- Adeus Lisboa

Today I had my first SAS Field Lab. Basically, for every class we are enrolled in we have one day at one port where we have to go on a field trip with our professor and our class. For my architectural history class, the field lab happened to be on our last day in Portugal. So this morning, I got up, had breakfast, and met up with the rest of my classmates. Our tour guide gave us a "brief" (it was actually very long) lecture on the history of Lisbon. It was pretty much the same information we'd been cramming into our heads all week, so it was difficult for me to stay awake while she was talking.

Finally, we were able to leave the ship. We went to the Lisbon National Tile Museum. For those of you who don't know, the Portuguese are famous for their tiles. The tour guide took us around the museum and taught us about Portugal's tile history for the past 500 years. Not the most engaging subject, but the tiles were beautiful and fun to look at. Plus, the museum is actually in an old, renovated church from the 1600's, so that was pretty neat. At first I thought we were visiting the museum because it was a cool part of Lisbon's history, but it wasn't until the tour guide said something that I realized the connection between Lisbon's tiles and it's architecture. She explained, "The tiles are like a second skin to the buildings. Without the tiles, the buildings seem bare. The tiles were created to be a part of the city's architecture."

The Nativity Scene

Tile Panel

Typical Azul Tiles

Ceiling of the Church

After the tiles museum, we went out to the streets and waited FOREVER for our bus to pick us up (as you can tell, I was a little impatient today). We took a bus to a tube station which took us to another part of town where we had to walk along ways until we got to the restaurant we were supposed to have lunch at an hour before. The waiter sat us down very quickly and we got a bunch of free bread! My mood improved dramatically after that. We were offered either steak or fish, I obviously chose fish. The meal was strange but good. It was like a mixture of cod, hash browns and cheese all baked together. Yum! I unashamedly ate three entire rolls and nearly all of the fish mix. I was full and satisfied at that point, but there was more! They brought us out chocolate mousse AND a free shot of espresso. T'was the perfect way to end a great meal.

Of course, all I wanted to do after that was take a nap, but instead we had to start our walking tour of the city. We visited a lot of beautiful churches and learned about their architecture. It was really interesting to compare the different types of designs and styles of each church. I won't go into detail, but the one church that stood out to me the most was the Sao Domingo Church or the "Burned Out Church." It is an old, Catholic church that was built in 1241. In 1959, it was almost completely destroyed by a fire. The architect who took over its reconstruction project in the 80's decided to leave most of the damage in the inside of the building. As a result, the entire interior of the church has this very raw and powerful beauty to it. It's hard to explain.

Sao Domingo

Or the "Burned Out Church"

By far my favorite place we visited on our field lab.

We ended our field lab at the Sao Jorge castle on top of the biggest hill in Lisbon. Now the Pena Palace was definitely my favorite castle I've ever seen, but the Sao Jorge one was pretty amazing too. It looked like it had hopped out of a fairytale. The castle also had a brilliant view of the entire city below us.

At Sao Jorge Castle

Overlooking the beautiful city of Lisbon

It was beautiful, and I wish we could have spent more time there. But it was already late in the day, and I still had some souvenir shopping to do. So I set off with my new friend Reggie in search of a high-quality souvenir shop. Along the way we stopped at a little cafe/bar and decided to try some of Portugal's famous cherry liqueur called Ginja. Reggie said it was really good, so I thought I'd give it a try. To my surprise, they served it in a little, edible chocolate cup! It was amazing!! I'll freely admit that I was more excited about the miniature chocolate teacup than the actual alcohol. The Ginja was good. It just tasted like cherry cough syrup that wasn't disgusting. But the cup guys!! Look at how cute it was.

I wish all drinks could be served in a cup made out of chocolate. How good would iced-coffee be if it were served in a chocolate mug? A million times better.

Okay, done with my chocolate rant. I found my souvenirs, and we went back to the ship. Honestly, it was hard to leave Lisbon. I'm not sure I'll ever come back to Portugal, but I really hope I do. I'd love to be able to explore more of Sintra and spend some more time in Lisbon. it was a crazy couple of days, but it was very fun. I think I said this about London too, but I feel like my trip should be over. I feel like I should be going home tomorrow. It's so strange to think that I still have nine more weeks of classes and cruises and countries. I'm not sure when the reality of this is going to sink in. Maybe it never will.

June 23- Lazy Monday

I didn't do much of anything today, and it was wonderful! For the past couple of days, I've been going, going, and going from 7:00 am 'til after midnight. This morning, I decided to let myself sleep in and relax. Around 11:00 am, I headed into town on my own with my laptop to try to find some free wi-fi. I found it! I stopped at the nearby train station and settled down in a cafe for a couple of hours. I updated allll of my blog posts and uploaded allll of my pictures. I know I'm going to sound like a conceited American by saying this, but it was so nice to check facebook! It was great to see why my friends and family have been up to for the past week and a half. I'm not gonna lie, I really like the whole "no communication" thing on the ship because it really forces me to focus on school and socializing with other students, but it also kind of sucks because I can't talk to any of you lovely people!

Anyways, that was all fine and dandy. I had a fantastic lunch consisting of a tuna sandwich, vegetable soup and orange juice. I then called my mom and got to talk to her for a while which was really nice. Then I enjoyed a lovely pasteis de nata and an espresso.

Perfection

 After I got my technology fix in, I went back to the ship and did a load of laundry in the sink (which went splendidly by the way). Then I met up with  my friend Arshia, and we went to dinner on the ship together. I wish it could have been Portuguese food, but I figured I'd save some money by eating on the ship instead of going out. I told Arshia about the cafe I had gone to, and she wanted to get some free wi-fi too. So after dinner, I took her back to the same spot I was before so we could use the internet some more.

Love this girl!

That's about it for today. Oh wait! Something else cool happened. I met the other girl from Montana! Her name is Claire, and she's from Townsend. She went to school in Wyoming for two years, but she's transferring to Rocky Mountain in Billings this fall. How cool is that? We bonded over how ridiculous out-of-state people can be. Like seriously, you don't know what four-wheel drive is? Your school gets cancelled because of 1/2 inch of snow? You think a town of 40,000 people is "small"? No way sister. Come to Montana and we'll show you the true meaning of four-wheel drive, snow and small towns.

June 22- Sintra, Portugal

This morning we met up at breakfast with a pretty large group of SAS students who were headed to Sintra for the day. The group was going to go hiking in Sintra and then head to Lagos to stay the night. We told them we just wanted to join them for hiking, so we set off for the train station together. Nobody really knew where we were going, and it was a little frustrating traveling with a group of twenty people, but we got there eventually.

When we finally arrived, it was very overcast and rainy. Most the kids were wearing shorts and light hiking clothes, but I came prepared with my new raincoat (thanks Dad & Mom!). Ryan, Courtney and I banded together again to go off on our own smaller group, and we were joined by our friends Kat and Fasil (rhymes with the herb basil). It was very rainy and a long walk to the top of the mountain, but it was definitely worth it. There are several national parks and palaces in Sintra, and we went to the biggest and most beautiful one: Parque e Palacio de Pena.

Courtney, Fasil, Kat and Holly (left to right)

Sintra!

It was very wet and very rainy in the morning.

The Palace of Pena

The Palace was absolutely breathtaking.

It is placed right on top of a huge hill.
In this picture it's rainy, but you can see the entire valley from the top of the palace.

We called it the Colorful Palace because each section is painted a different color.

Ryan, Me, Courtney, Fasil and Kat

It felt like we were walking through a fairy tale.

Princess Courtney in the highest tower.

Dreamland.

 Unfortunately, Kat and Fasil had to head back to town to join the rest of the group to head to Lagos. Courtney, Ryan and I stayed behind to keep exploring the grounds. We took an hour break for lunch and coffee, and thank goodness we did! The skies completely cleared up while we were inside, and the rest of the day was sunny and beautiful.

Wet elevator selfie.

The view out into the valley was stunning!

Sex appeal at it's finest.

This cross was put on the highest hill in Sintra.
I stood on a big rock right next to it, and I could turn around in a circle and literally see everything in the entire valley.
We could see all of the forests, beaches and towns for miles around.

The Palace of Pena from afar.

My favorite!

Sintra was probably the most beautiful town I've ever visited.
I definitely want to come back some day to see more.

Overall, we probably spent more than ten hours walking around the Park and Palace of Pena. It was beautiful day spent with some wonderful people. We headed back into town and ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant while we waited for the next train to Lisbon. Tired and very footsore, we made our way from the train to the ship a little before midnight yet again.

The MV Explorer at Night

PS- We've been telling everyone that we meet that we're from Canada. Europeans like Canadians a lot more than Americans, and we thought this would be safer than telling the truth. Portugal also played the US last night in soccer. We were kind of afraid of walking through the streets so late at night, but we never had any problems. The port isn't very far away from the center of the city, and it's very easy to get to.

PS- I left my camera on the ship today, so most of these pictures were taken by Courtney (or me using her camera). Photo credits go to her!

June 21- Lisboa (aka Lisbon)

Started off the morning bright and early with Courtney and our next-door cabin neighbor (and good friend) Ryan. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the cafeteria on the ship, and headed off into a new country. I felt like I was in a dream as we stepped off of the gangplank and onto hard, solid land. Portugal was never a country I really considering visiting some day, but I am so glad I was able to have this experience. I'm also glad that I was able to have three days of my architectural history class to learn a little bit about the culture and history of Portugal before exploring its capital.

Ryan, Courtney and I decided to walk a couple of miles down the coast of Lisbon and head to some monuments we wanted to visit. We thought about taking a subway, but I'm so glad we decided to walk. We got to a see a lot of the city that we would have missed had we taken the metro. It took much longer, but it was definitely worth it.

The arch in the main city square of Lisbon.

Main street in the center of the city.

Ryan striking a pose by the lingerie model.

A Portuguese school group singing along side the road.

The Portuguese Air Force was having a drug dog demonstration for the public. 

Portugal is famous for their new-world exploration in the 1600's
As a result, they have a lot of nautical statues/decor worked into their cities.

Taking a break by the water.

We finally made it to the Tower of Belem. This is a monument we learned about in my architectural history class. It was incredible to be able to see it with my own eyes!

The Tower of Belem

Courtney and I by the Tower

We decided to get some lunch before heading on to our next destination. We ate at a little cafe that was absolutely amazing! They offered a sandwich, soup and juice combo for only 4.95 euros. T'was a wonderful deal for a healthy and substantial lunch. The guy working behind the counter was super nice, and he gave us two free pastries. (I think he liked Courtney. She's so cute and charming.)

If any of you are ever in the Belem neighborhood in Lisbon, get lunch here!

Mozzarella and tomato sandwich, pea soup, and freshly squeezed orange juice

We call him Toothy-Barista-Guy.
Thanks for the pastries Toothy-Barista-Guy!

After we were done eating, we headed to the Jeronimos Monastery. It was one of the locations that many of the SAS professors recommend all of us students visit. It was definitely worth the trip! The monastery was absolutely gorgeous. I've seen some beautiful cathedrals before, but none that were as huge as this! Several of Portugal's kings and queens were buried here too. We spent several hours just wandering around the different buildings. The whole place had a peaceful and refreshing feeling to it.

Next, we decided to slowly make our way back to the ship. Instead of following the coastline like we did to get here, we walked through the city. It's really interesting to be in a country where the main language is different from the one you know. Nearly everyone speaks English (thankfully), but almost all the signs are in Portuguese. And Portuguese is all you hear in the streets, too.

Along the way, we found a little place that served the food we had all been searching for: pasteis de natas! All of the professors told us that we had to try some pasteis de natas before we leave Lisbon. They are the trademark food here in Lisbon, and they were DELICIOUS. (Mom, we are definitely learning how to make these when I get back). They're just these little custard tarts that you put cinnamon and powdered sugar on, but they were so good!

Pasteis de Natas

We then slowly made our way through the streets and back to the general direction of the ship.

First cat we saw in Portugal. She wouldn't let us pet her though.

Extraordinarily puffy pigeon.

We finally made it back to the main street in Lisbon. We stopped at a little restaurant and had dinner. I got a shrimp salad (which I took a picture of but it won't upload). Exhausted but content, we got back to the ship a little before midnight. Overall, it was a perfect first day in Portugal.