Living a fairytale - Lisbon and Sintra, Portugal (cool video included)

This past weekend I traveled to Lisbon, Portugal with my friend Megan. Our trip began at the bus station February the 28th, Wednesday around 11. We arrived at the bus station about 45 minutes early, yet somehow only 5 minutes before the bus was supposed to leave we were told we needed to check in. We waited in line for 30 minutes, freaking out that we were going to miss the bus, but luckily finally got our check in numbers and boarded the bus. We were told the bus would last 7.5 hours, but we arrived in Portugal Thursday morning at 5am after only 6 hours. The bus ride was not too bad because I was able to sleep almost the whole time.

The first day in Lisbon went by in a blur due to our exhaustion. We waited at the bus station for about an hour until the metro opened and then we took 2 metros to find out hostel. As it was still very early in the morning we could not get into the hostel so we café hopped for a while. The pastries in Portugal were delicious, but at one café I locked myself in the bathroom and had to ring a bell to be saved. We then dropped our luggage at the hostel and began to explore Portugal. We bought a tram pass (it was 24 hours, but ended up working all weekend - qué bueno suerte (what good luck!)) We took a tram tour around town and then grabbed grilled cheese for lunch, which was absolutely delicious! All day we had been looking for this castle - Castillo de San Jorge. Finally we found it (after realizing we had passed the entrance 3 times already). We loved running around and pretending to be princesses in the castle! Thursday night we walked forever before finding a place to eat (other than pastry restaurants). We finally ate italian pasta and pizza and crashed in our beds around 8pm. We couldn't stay standing a single second longer!

Megan and I on the trolley

Castle chilling

Delicious grilled cheese

Lisbon skyline view

I'm a princess

Trolley tour

In a gazebo in the park

Lisbon skyline

Castle de San Jorge

Flags on the castle

Castle!!!

On Friday we went to Sintra, Portugal. Sintra is possibly my favorite place I have ever been to! It is a small town about 30 minutes train ride away from Lisbon. Sintra is full of castles and palaces tucked away in the mountain sides of Portugal! We toured el Palacio de Pena and the Monserrat Palace (we also ate more grilled cheese)! At the Palacio de Pena, we ran around taking pictures. I was actually skipping I was so happy! The Monserrat Palace was beautiful as well and we saw ruins of a cathedral and a waterfall while hiking to the Palace! Friday night we went to Barrio Alto, a downtown area of Portugal, for dinner. We had to take the elevator tram to get there. We ate at this restaurant where we listened to Fado music, the popular music of Portugal. While I can say I'm not a fan of the music, I am glad we got the opportunity to hear it!

Can't wipe the smiles off our faces!!

Pena Palace

Sintra

Signs to the palaces

Sitting in a window, in a palace, in a spiral staircase

PRINCESSES

Cathedral ruins

Monserrat Palace

On Saturday we went to a flee market in Portugal. I bought a really cool pair of earrings and an awesome pair of European pants that I can't wait to wear! We then went to a free wine tasting (how cool is that?!?). I felt so old and mature! We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the streets! Finally we made our way back to the bus station where surprisingly we left on time! This bus ride was more painful because it was sweltering hot, but we finally made it safely back to Sevilla and were relieved to fall back asleep in our apartments here! It was truly a magical trip!

Cool earrings I bought at flee market

Free wine tasting

Here is a video I made of Megan and I pretending to be princesses (the song is super romantic, but the point is the 4 words "Today was a fairytale" Those words described our lives perfectly the past weekend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMcAM_Ugy6w&feature=youtu.be