Daytrip to Sintra

Today with our new friend Uwe from Germany, whom we met at the hostel, we decided to take a train and daytrip to Sintra (about 45 min from Lisbon) because several other guests at the hostel said Sintra is a must-do day trip.  We’ve pretty much decided to rely on other people’s recommendations for what to see/do so far because we came to Europe without planning our activities so that we could have a flexible schedule.  Considering how enjoyable this daytrip was, we might want to reconsider using guidebooks and any planning in general….

Dinner Experience #2 in Lisbon

Tonight for dinner we went in search of one of Portugal’s main specialty dishes – cod fish.  The guys who work at the hostel recommended a restaurant nearby, although they didn’t know the name (it seems most businesses here are referred to by location and not names).  Luckily it wasn’t hard to find because it was right beside a “peep show” you couldn’t miss due to its blazing neon lights.

Tram Ride in Lisbon – An Interesting Experience!

For 1.40 Euros/person, I would recommend to anyone to try out a tram ride.   If for no reason other than to experience it!  Lisbon has some of the most narrow streets I’ve ever seen and I could not imagine trying to park here!  The trams travel along specific tracks alongside rows and rows of parked cars, and from what I’ve seen, if you park even an inch too far from the curb, your car will be side-swiped by the tram as it travels along!

We watched the tram driver honk and yell at several cars which were pulled over in no parking zones because they were in the way of the tram track and one of these cars had no one in it.  So after a minute of honking, the tram driver decided to keep going.  I swear you couldn’t even put a finger in the space between the tram and the side of the car but the tram managed to get by without causing any damage! Definately an eye-opening ride…!

Trying to Learn Some Portuguese

For some unknown reason, I had thought that Spanish was the prevalent language in Portugal until I got on the plane.  Boy was I wrong!  The Portuguese have a completely different language of their own, although I’m sure some of the words are derived from Spanish or vice versa because there are some similarities. 

Weird Hostel Experience #1

Being fully and totally in jet lag mode, I woke up this morning at 4:30 am and tossed and turned for a bit, then sat up thinking maybe I would get up.  I noticed someone was sleeping in the top bunk of the other bed in the room and when we went to sleep last night, that was an unoccupied bed.  I leaned over and checked the bottom bunk of our bed where Paul was sleeping, and noticed he wasn’t there, so I figured he wasn’t able to sleep in the bottom bunk and moved over to the other bed.  The room was still pitch black and the breathing pattern sounded basically the same as Paul’s  -  although it seemed odd that he would move to a bunk bed where someone else was sleeping on the bottom.

1st Dinner Experience in Lisbon

In Lisbon, Sunday is still generally a day of rest and religion, and most places are closed either all day or early, so the hostel offered a dinner option for 5 Euros.   When we checked in, the girl at the desk described it to us as including salad, fries, wine, Portuguese roasted chicken, and dessert.   Sounded great to us and it would be an opportunity to meet some other people staying at the hostel, so we decided to join.

Our Only Complaint So Far…

After a 25 min bus ride to the center of town, we checked into the Rossio Hostel and learned that, apart from the whole shared bathroom situation, a hostel can be just as nice as a hotel!  Granted, this is our first hostel experience and the Rossio is rated as one of the top hostels in the world, but we really feel like our expectations are exceeded!

The lounge is comfortable, the kitchen is nice with two fridges to store anything you decide to buy at the supermarket, there’s 3 computers with fast Internet available for you to use as well as Wi-Fi Internet if you have your own laptop, the TV room is equipped with comfy couches and  quite a big plasma TV where you can watch cable TV or DVDs, and the bedrooms here are impeccably clean.

No Coins In Lisbon?

Today we landed in Lisbon right on schedule and got through customs quickly and easily.  However,  finding change in the airport to take a bus to the hostel was unbelievably difficult!  We tried an ice cream store, a foreign exchange booth, a coffee shop, a convenience store, and 3 random strangers and no one could provide change for just 5 Euros!  Finally at a sandwich store, at the opposite end of the airport, we managed to get 1 Euro coins.

After all of that, we discovered that you actually get change from the bus driver!  Apparently in Spain they will only give you change for a 5 Euro bill, but in Portugal you can give them a 20 Euro bill and get change!  So now we know

Oh, and when in Portugal, a good place to get change is to buy a 50 Euro cent bag of roasted chestnuts from a street vendor.

Blood Donation Failure

So being a superstitious Buddhist, my mom phones me up and tells me that Paul and I should go donate blood before we leave because it’s good karma in case something happens to us when we’re away.  I think “yeah OK, sounds like a good idea” and phone up Canadian Blood Services (CBS) about a week before we’re scheduled to leave Vancouver…

Plastic, Cash or Travellers Cheques

The market for Traveller’s cheques has been in steady decline for a few years, despite the overall increase in travel. This has been caused by a number of factors, not least being the increased issuance of credit cards and debit cards, and the extent to which they are accepted abroad. Support for the use of cards and the undermining to Travellers Cheques has been further eroded by the massive growth in the worldwide ATM network. This is coupled with the perception (and fact) that travellers Cheques can be a pain to cash. Especially on weekends or the during holidays.