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!

A Hot Mess

2:31, 2:32, 2:33PM.  The minutes just keep dragging on and on as my uneasiness, to get on the plane, grows.  At the insistence of my mom, my family and I left our house three hours before the boarding time.  Like any mother, who’s child was moving across the seas for four months, mine entered freak out mode hours before leaving the home. 

“Don’t forget the extra Advil dad brought.” “Are you sure you took enough pairs of socks?” “Why did you leave these packs of M&Ms behind? Take them, they don’t feed you on the airplanes, I know.” OH MOM. I couldn’t help but laugh at mom’s panic attack which was totally justified.

After a tearful goodbye with my parents and grandparents I made my way through the long, twisty walkways at O’Hare.  Hoping to get access to free wi-fi to make some last minute phone calls, I quickly grabbed the seat closest to a wall outlet.  To my dismay, I was prompted to pay for internet access. Thanks O’Hare. Instead, I ventured off to make new friends with whom I shared a long, sleepless eight hour flight to Madrid.

[After landing in Madrid]

Most of us CIEE students had a 45 minute difference between landing in Madrid and having our connecting flight take off to Seville.  As my luck would have it, I wasn’t given an express checkout pass to cut the customs line.  All of a sudden, my Spanish kicked in. I started begging and pleading the security officer to let me cut the line so I could make my flight which was already boarding.   My travel mates went ahead, trying to stall as much as possible, as I found a way to maneuver myself through the maze of blue cloth-tape to the front of the line.

With 18 minutes left until take off, a group of six of us ran through the elongated corridors of Madrid International Airport.  Accidentally taking the elevators to the wrong floor, we had to back trace our steps hauling our heavy carry-ons up a flight of stairs. No, the airport did NOT have a functioning escalator going upwards.  With the help of an attendant, we were pointed in the right direction only to sprint to our gate within the last few seconds of it closing (a total Amazing Race moment), as the annoyed flight attendant blared “La llamada final para el vuelo a Sevilla.”  I bet she was thinking “Stupid Americans.”

A quick 90 second shuttle bus ride got us to our flight, on which we were greeted by multiple, irritated middle-aged business men staring at their watches as if they had some important meeting to get to.  The man I happened to sit next to asked who we were and what caused our delay, frustration in his tone. 

Bottom line: we made it to Seville. I am sitting in my luxurious hotel room writing this blog after a long day of eating, walking and exploration.  This place is unreal, nothing like I’ve seen before.  I mentioned to my roommate that the calles (streets) y edificios (buildings) of the city seem as if they belong on the set of a Bourne Identity movie.  Beautiful, breathtaking…I could go on and on about how gorgeous Seville is. 

Tomorrow will be filled with a full 12 hour orientation with a tour of the University and el Centro, a placement interview with CIEE staff, topped off with tapas and a Flamenco show. I suspect the lot of us will venture out to find the hippest discoteca. I’ll keep you posted on our findings.  Until then, enjoy a few pictures from my adventures today!