To Lisboa, Sinatra and Back

Apologies in advance for this being a longer post than most…I blame having a 4-day weekend to explore the world. All of the cities in the Andalusia province had Monday off to celebrate El Dia de Andalucía, the day when Andalusia’s State of Autonomy referendum was passed in 1980.  So, while the Spaniards rejoiced their freedom, my girlfriends and I packed up our bags and bussed off to Lisboa, Portugal.

Our journey began at 11:45PM Thursday night. We took an overnight bus from Sevilla to Lisboa, hoping to save a few hours of sleeping in a hostel and gaining a few hours of exploring the city.  But as always, even the best laid plans…fail.

For starters, JL and I got stuck sitting in front of four very chatty and excited Asians (no disrespect, some of my best friends are Asian) who felt the need to talk the entire bus ride (some 6 hours).  On top of that, our lovely bus driver made abrupt stops every half hour (or so it seemed) and we would open our eyes to a brightly lit bus. Ugh. Eventually we made it to Lisboa, before we had expected (Portugal is an hour behind Spain, FYI) and began evaluating the metro system.   Instincts told KT and me that the metro system would be just like that of Madrid. Sike, we needed help figuring this one out.

I walked around looking for an attendant but only found a pastry shop worker and asked him in Spanish how to get to the location we needed.  I know it was 6AM, and I wasn’t fully awake, but the words coming out of the man’s mouth were definitely NOT making sense, as if he were speaking a foreign language. Oh wait, he was…Portuguese. (Insert face palm here) I had totally forgotten that I was outside of Spain (for the first time) and that Spanish was not the first language spoken here. Luckily, Spanish and Portuguese are close enough that the man was able to use a few similar sounding words to point me in the right direction.

Tickets bought, correct metro line boarded and we were on our way to station Jardim Zoologico (roughly translated to Zoo Garden from Portuguese).  A half hour later we were at Hostel Home, probably one of the best hostels I’ve stayed at yet.  Unfortunately, our six person room wasn’t ready when we arrived, so we crashed on Home’s couches. Epic. An hour later we were settled into our room.  Half of us showered while the other half slept a little more to regain energy for the day ahead us.

The following is summary of our three days in Portugal:

Day 1: Lisboa, Portugal

·         Visited Plaza de Comercio and the Atlantic Ocean (yes we were at the end of Europe again, this time on the western side)

·         Hiked up the biggest hill known to mankind to visit Catedral Se and Castelo Sao Jorge (Castle of St. George)

·         Ate at a “famous” pizzeria that MF found in her handbook (except it ended up be the wrong place…we discovered this two days later, oops)

·         I had the opportunity to attend Friday Jamatkhana (religious services) at the Lisbon Ismaili Center

This last bullet deserves a little more detailed explanation.  I took the metro from our hostel (all alone!) to the stop closest to Jamatkhana and then asked randoms on the street to point me in the right direction. I would say the words Muslim, Ismaili, Mosque and right away their eyes would light up. “It’s big with lots of trees and flowers” “Oh yes, I know that beautiful building” were some of the responses I received from the Portuguese as I made my way to the Center.  I literally let out the biggest sigh of relief when I saw an Ismaili lady in her Shalwar Kamiz (traditional Indian clothing) sitting outside of the parking lot with what looked like Chai for the volunteers (I could be totally off though).  She said “Ya Ali Madad” to me and I knew I was home. Best feeling ever.  I walked into Jamatkhana and had my jaw hit the floor.  Taking a quick 360, I noticed the panels behind me had the 99 names of Allah inscribed in Cubic writing (a geometric form of writing…the closest to perfection) and a beautiful water walkway leading up to a fountain in the Char Bhag (four gardens).  I finally found the stairs that led me upstairs to the prayer hall.  I felt hundreds of eyes staring at me, obviously I had somehow given away that I was foreigner, despite my best efforts to dress similarly to the Portugal Jamat.

I felt blessed to be part of Jamati Ceremonies for the second Friday in a row.  I felt an inexplicable feeling the whole time I was at the Center.  At that moment, I wished my mom and sister were sitting on either side of me so I could whisper to them how awesome I thought the ceiling looked, or how cool the chandeliers were.  Hopefully, there will be a time to do that in the near future. 

After services, I found the lady I had been in email contact with for two weeks.  She took me around the Ismaili Center for an abbreviated tour of the building.  Having been to the Alhambra in Granada, I recognized many similarities in the architectural style and patterns.  ZS mentioned that the Alhambra was used as inspiration for this Center.  At the tour’s conclusion, ZS insisted that I have dinner with her family, as her husband was returning back from a business trip in Brussels, Belgium, that night.  We drove to the biggest mall in all of Lisboa and waited for him in a very nice restaurant (the mall reminded me of the seven story mall I visited in Dubai, UAE…so BIG!). MS joined us and the family and I had great discussions about Spain/Portugal culture, the United States and business school (don’t worry Kelley, I made sure to make you look really good).

Post dinner, MS and ZS took me to the first floor of the mall, which was really weird since we had parked the car in the parking garage.  They led me into a store called Sacoor Brothers, which to my surprise, was founded and owned by the family. Uh, jaw dropping moment once again.  MS said something in Portuguese to the lady behind the counter and she quickly ran into the back room and came out with what seemed like a hundred business professional shirts in my size. “Pick one” MS said, “It’s tradition for my family to bring our guests to our stores and send them home with a gift.” So thoughtful of the family.  I quickly picked a shirt with the help of the couple’s daughter, Sarah, and we left the high end fashion store for home (check out the store’s website at Sacoor.com). 

Day 2: Sintra (aka: Sinatra according to VT), Portugal

·         Took a train from Lisboa to Sintra for a day trip

·         Endured the most nauseating bus ride up what seemed like Mt. Everest

·         Visited the Palacio de Pena which was also situated on top of said Mt. Everest-like hill

·         Had my camera die during the tour of this Palace L

·         Ate traditional Portuguese food and dessert at a local café

·         Explored the town of Sintra and went souvenir shopping

·         Returned back Lisboa for the best Cod-Fish Dinner Ever (the national dish of Portugal)

·         Saw the best of Lisboa at Night

Day 3: Lisboa’s Beach-Like Weather

·         Visited the Santa Justa Elevator (famous for its architecture styles and height)

·         Enjoyed the Sunday morning outdoor Arts and Crafts Market

·         Tanned for hours in the HOT Lisboa Sun

·         Chowed down some McDonalds (In Europe, it’s considered quality…don’t judge!)

·         Saw a man levitate (he’s the holder of the Guinness Book of World Records title for longest time of Standing Still in Air – 15 Hours)

·         Headed home

JL, MF, VT, KT, AJ and I had a very successful weekend in Portugal. It was a great “international” experience for me and I would highly recommend visiting the country to anyone who has not yet been.

Next on this Globe Trotter’s Agenda: PARIS, France in FOUR Days!

Madrid: Mishaps and Magical Moments

This past weekend, I spent 54 lovely hours in the city of Madrid.  The capital of Spain, Madrid felt like a cross between Chicago and New York. But first…my interesting journey to Madrid.

Originally, KT and I had booked our bus tickets, leaving from Sevilla, for 6PM Thursday night.  Unfortunately, a mandatory Internship event forced us to change our bus time to the next available: 11PM. As horrible as that journey may sound, KT and I made it through the six hour bus ride very easily. We slept like babies, at least I did…KT had a very annoying bus buddy who was interested in learning more about our Madrid plans. Creepy.

We finally made it to the Madrid Bus station at 5:15AM.  After freshening up, KT and I wasted time observing other travelers, as we waited for the city Metro’s to start running at 6AM.  At 5:55AM, we bought our tickets and entered the tunnel, making sure that our hostel directions corresponded with the colorful maps at the station. 

We had a plan of action: grab the grey line, get off at the first stop and then switch onto the baby blue line and get off at the major stop (aka: Sol or the “Time Square” of Madrid).

But even the best laid plans fail.

KT’s creepy bus buddy jumped onto our Metro car just as the doors were closing.  Once again, he struck up conversation with KT, asking her where she was going and staying.  Flustered and wanting to get as far away as possible from this man, KT and I got off the Metro and then proceeded to get on the wrong line, taking us in the opposite direction of our destination. Some thirty minutes later, we found our way onto the right line and to the right stop.  Once out of the station, we climbed out onto what can only be described as a quiet, dark Time Square-esqe center – La Puerta del Sol.  We quickly found our hostel, rung the doorbell until an angry owner woke up, got our room and took a nap so we could start off the day recharged.

All of Friday, we explored the East side of town (or at least it was the East side on the map we had): El Jardin del Buen Retiro, Puerta de Alcala and Plaza de Cibeles were first on the list.  It was a great day for outdoor sightseeing as the sun was beaming all day. We also had a chance to enjoy El Museo del Prado, home to one of Europe’s best art collection.  For someone who’s artwork can’t get anymore complicated than stick figures, I have come to appreciate various artistic styles, taking an interest in learning more about the inspiration and history behind an artist’s work.

After long day of walking and enriching our minds, we grabbed a very delicious (but pricy) lunch in la Plaza Puerta de Sol. Grilled fish, fried chicken smothered in soy sauce, mussels, olives and luscious Mousse de Naranja (Orange flavored cake) were quickly consumed between the two of us. We left for our hostel to rest up for a night out in the town.

Since it was a Friday, I had arranged plans to attend religious services at Madrid’s Ismaili place of Worship.  A total of twelve people (including me) were in attendance for Friday ceremonies.  Our prayers were recited in Arabic (as always) but most of the other rites and rituals were done in SPANISH! Total cool! I was so stunned because I had grown up participating in these activities in my parents’ native tongues: Urdu, Hindi and Gujrati. 

Afterwards, the family offered me sweets and began telling me about their small community of forty Ismailis.  I asked them questions about why they had settled in Spain (instead of the US, Canada or England where there are large immigrant Ismaili diasporas).  One answer led to another question which led to a story, and then another and another and another.  By the time I looked at my phone, it was close to midnight! I had had a great time with the family and definitely learned a lot about my religious history that night.

Hungry like none other, a friend and I found a local tapas bar to grab a quick dinner before getting on the last metro for the night.  I ordered Tortilla Espanola (a very basic tapa) and Zumo de Naranja Natural (freshly squeezed OJ) for the both of us. We had a chance to catch up and discuss our experiences in our respective study abroad programs. 

The next day (Saturday) I spent exploring the west side of town (or so on the map), with my best friend, while KT met up with her roommates from IU who are currently studying abroad in Madrid. We visited Plaza Mayor, el Catedral de la Almudena, el Palacio Real, Plaza de Oriente, Plaza de España and el Templo de Debod (Egyptian ruins gifted to Spain by Egypt!!!).  All that sightseeing finally led us to Calle Gran Via (Madrid's Michigan Ave).  We stopped by a Chinese Restaurant (yes Chinese) for some long-desired Asian cuisine.  We spent the rest of the day shopping for hip European apparel, taking advantage of the last week of Rebajas (sales) in Spain. 

A sad goodbye and a few promises to plan future trips later, we were off our separate ways.  I arrived back at my hostel and was greeted by KT.  We packed up, had a great night out and went to bed at a decent hour in order to catch our 11AM bus back to Sevilla, the next morning.

Six hours later, I was back at home sweet Sevilla.  I’m still in the process of unpacking and sorting dirty clothes from reusable ones (laundry is done every two weeks at my homestay).  Though I am still a bit tired from the long bus ride home, I am in trip planning mode again!!!

Next stop on this Globe Trotter’s Itinerary: LISBON, PORTUGAL! (T-Minus TWO Days!)