My 5-day trip to Lisbon

Olá, everyone! The reason why I say hello in Portuguese today is that I need to tell you about my memorable 5-day trip to Lisbon. I’ve just returned, so as you can imagine, I am still in this euphoric mood so I don’t know where to begin. But let’s take one thing at a time.
Due to my parent’s... let’s call it ironically mistake, you couldn’t see me in Graz at this year’s Easter. Instead of having a traditional Austrian Osterjause with the entire family, which I love by the way, the four of us were staying in sunny Portugal having fish and port. As I’ve only been at the coast last year with my Spanish host family for a couple of days, I had no idea what Lisbon would be like. However, I imagined it kind of similar to Spain. Now, I actually can’t explain why. Probably because both Portugal and Spain form the Iberian Peninsula and have loads in common, such as history, climate, food etc. Besides, Portugal is the smaller one and I think people tend to expect that the smaller country is the same as its larger neighbour. For example, when I was abroad telling people German is my mother tongue, I used to be automatically considered as German. I know that Austria is a dot on the world map, but it is a fact that it is not Germany… Anyway, let’s get back to Lisbon. I arrived without having any expectations so I was even more amazed by this interesting place which seemed to be a cultural meeting place.
The first thing I can remember is that I noticed many Africans and Latinos. I hadn’t been aware of the fact that people from former colonies had moved to Lisbon. And of course, they brought their music, food and language with them. A friend of mine who has a boyfriend in Lisbon told me that in his quarter there is a Brazilian hairdresser and that he loves to go to African restaurants. I particularly enjoyed listening to a group from Cape Verde playing chilly music and dancing. We were sitting nearby and taking in the wonderful view over the city accompanied by music on a warm sunny spring day.

I felt like lolloping up and down the hills of San Francisco as the trams look confusingly similar to those in Lisbon. At first, we couldn’t await to take a tour with line 28, the most famous one, but unfortunately it was stuffed with people so that we weren’t able to move, not to mention to take any photos.  Soon, we came to the conclusion that it was truly an off-putting tourist attraction and made off as fast as we could.
I have to admit that one second I thought that the river Tejo was already the Atlantic. I think I have never seen any wider estuary mouth before. But I was even more confused when I made out the Christo Rei statue on the other side of the river. Was I in Río de Janeiro then? 

Another highlight of the holidays was the trip to Sintra, a small town nearby Lisbon. As we got out of the train, we found ourselves stationed in front of imposing Arabian palaces rising above treetops.

 And because of being so close to the ocean, we wanted to see it too, of course. So, we took the bus and arrived at the coast within 20 minutes. After having reached the most western spot of European mainland, we were overwhelmed by cliffs and the deep blue sea. And guess what we found in the next town we were visiting? There were pubs everywhere!
As you can see, Lisbon and its surroundings offer so much to be discovered and I can’t remember passing one day in boredom. I learned that Portugal is definitely not even similar to Spain and I will never forget this!
I loved the days in Lisbon not only because it was another enriching experience, but also because it is so relaxing for me to spend quality time with my family. And how can you do this better than travelling abroad?
Did this post make you curious about Lisbon and what else Portugal has to offer? Have you ever been to Portugal and did you like it as much as I do? I would love to talk to someone who had already been there to share experiences.