Winter Travels Part 4

The bus trip from Porto to Lisbon took 3 hours. The bus driver had the radio blasting. I actually didn't have a problem with it. But I did have a problem with him chatting on his cellphone. Isn't that illegal or something?

The friend I was supposed to stay with in Lisbon was out of town until the next day so my last couchsurfing host Gabs called her friend Hugo in Lisbon and he said I could crash at his place for a night. What a sweet place! Right downtown, big, modern, and best of all my own bedroom, for FREE!!

Hugo was an early 30's physical education teacher who loved cooking, Nine Inch Nails, and incense. He was super laid back, quiet, and very hospitable. His girlfriend Sofia was also great. I have never seen a couple so affectionate. They even held hands and crossed feet while eating dinner. In Hugo's words they are still "burning". Cute huh! That night I walked around Lisbon and luckily caught all the cities Christmas lights before they were to take them down the next day.

Here is the largest (fake) Christmas tree in Europe:

The lights did a cool show that made the bells swing.

That night Hugo and Sofia took me to some hip bars. One had cabbage ceiling lights and concrete furniture. Weird. Cool.

The next day I explored the city. Very hilly like Porto and some very different neighborhoods. A great place to take pictures. What was weird is Lisbon is the San Francisco of Europe. It has cable cars and a bridge that looks super similar to the golden gate.

Here is one of the many street ascents. You can see the castle in the back.

Even at those sidewalk cafes the beer was less than 2 euro. Portugal was beautiful AND cheap. My kind of place!

I walked around all day seeing the sights and waiting for my friend to call me about staying at his place. He never called. I called him in the evening and he said he was too busy to see me or let me crash at his place. WHAT THE F#*@!!! He said I could stay with him 2 days earlier. What do I do now. He is sooooo off the friends list.

Lukily Hugo was sympathetic and let me crash at his place again. He even cooked for me again and took me out to another sweet bar. THANKS HUGO, YOU ROCK!!!!!!!

The next day I took a train 30 minutues out of Lisbon to a nice beach town Sofia recommended.

Lots of colorful boats everywhere.

I took a couple hundred pictures that day. They comb the beaches and everything was clean. Surfers were out and the afternoon was sunny. It was around 70 degrees F but the Portugese were all bundled up. It was funny because I was walking around in a T shirt. Hugo said only tourists do that. Oh well I got to soak up the sun when I can.

You dont see beachfront castles much in the US.

That night after dinner with Hugo and Sofia we went to see a movie. The theater was on the top floor of an apartment buiding. You had to walk up the stairs past everyones front doors. Im sure they love that. The movie was a funny Turkish remake of Star Wars. Very odd but entertaining.

The next morning I was on another bus to Sevilla, Spain...

Check out more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mikerwallace