Barbieri Hostel in Madrid – Who The Hell Gave This Place Good Reviews?!?!

At the beginning of our planning, we used hostels.com to book four hostels – one in Lisbon, one in Porto, one in Madrid, and one in Barcelona – we based our decisions on which hostel had the best reviews on this website.  While looking into Montpellier France, we realized that two people who can share one bed can book a budget hotel room for basically the same price as a hostel since hostels always charge per person/per bed!  Up until now, the hostels have been pretty awesome and we haven’t regretted our oversight on this, but Barbieri Hostel is likely going to change this and make us avoid hostels in the future!

First Time Flying Ryanair

Today we took our “free” flight to Madrid and now we can see how Ryanair manages to make a profit while charging such outstandingly low fares.  If you read the first related blog about our $0.00 fare (http://www.monkeyandrooster.com/2009/02/12/000-airfare), you might recall there was no charge for the flight itself, but 10 euros each for taxes and fees, and another 5 euros each for a passenger fee.

If the Food Doesn’t Get Better, I’m Going Home!

Last night, after a wonderful day in Porto, we decided to have dinner in the Ribeira area by the water so that we could see the Ponte D. Luis bridge at night.  The view was spectacular, but the food was a big disappointment!

Saturday in Porto

Since the breakfast included at the hostel was only toast and cereal, we headed out early today and wandered into a cafe that seemed to serve our normal idea of breakfast (eggs, toast, etc).  The language barrier came into play again so we blindly ordered by pointing at things on the menu that looked like words we sort of recognized (such as ovo, which means egg).  We ended up ordering a heart-attack breakfast (2 eggs, a hamburger patty, and a hot dog style wiener for me and 1 egg, a small steak, and french fries for Paul), but it was delicious and it kept us full for most of the day

First Day in Porto

Today we arrived in Porto and checked into the Rivoli Cinema Hostel.  I am happy to report that this hostel has a nicer bathroom, but unfortunately it’s co-ed, so now I’ll really have to be careful when getting out of the shower!  The other good thing about this hostel is that we have a private room with a “double” bed (which is really actually two single beds pushed together) and they have a washer and dryer you can use for free!  The bad thing about this hostel is there is an ant infestation in the kitchen, which makes us not want to store any food there, and there is no social atmosphere whatsoever.

Last Day in Lisbon

We decided that after a couple of days  of sightseeing, we would just take it easy today and walk around Lisbon’s Old Town and do some people watching.  We spent the morning wandering, stopping at a couple of parks along the way, and found a nice view of Lisboa at the top of the hill.  We also managed to find the way to get to the top of the elevator to Old Town by walking instead of paying for a ride up; a handy tip the guys at the hostel told us about!

Weird Hostel Experience #2

This morning I noticed a rather large family checking in (3 young girls, 2 women, and 1 man) and I thought it was strange to see an entire family at a hostel since I associate hostels with younger people who are still in school or recent graduates.  During the first dinner, we were definitely the oldest people here! 

Portuguese Tarts @ Pasties de Belem – My New Favourite Treat

We bumped into Uwe at breakfast today and found out that we were heading in the same direction - the district of Belem to check out the Jeronimos Monastery – so we traveled together again.  We went to catch the tram, but it turned out the tram to Belem was not running today so a tram driver told us we should catch bus #40 across the Plaza.

After waiting 25 minutes, we became frustrated with the bus system and decided to share a cab with another random person Paul met at the bus stop who was also going to the Monastery.  We never learned his name but he told us he’s a history professor from a college in Chicago, here on his sabbatical and he gave us a few good tips on places in the world he has traveled to.

Dinner Experience #3 in Lisbon

Sigh – when will the food start tasting better?  Tonight we went in search of a restaurant that got some good reviews on the Internet about it’s Portuguese style chicken but only to find said restaurant deserted and quite pricey.  We decided to walk around and find something busier since going to the busiest restaurant we could find for lunch had worked out well.  We ended up at a restaurant where a South-African man (possibly the owner) kindly explained the menu and there were several people eating on the patio, including one couple deeply engrossed in their make-out session!  “PDA” (Public Display of Affection) is taken to a whole new level in Europe…. (horse is impressed as he edits)

Supermarket Surprise!

Yesterday I decided to stop by the supermarket for the first time and I learned that you can buy drinks and stuff for very cheap in Portugal!  We thought that the restaurant prices here were very reasonable with most pop/water being only 1 Euro,  lunch specials for 5 Euros, and dinner entrees for around 8 Euros, but after going to the supermarket here I’ve learned that the cost of food is generally quite low in Portugal.