Surprise, surprise, I find myself catching up again on our travels. I’m in Toledo, Spain now and have been here since Tuesday the 23rd, arriving by way of an overnight train from Lisbon. But, being as I didn’t ever write much about Portugal, that’s where I’ll begin before detailing the last few days in Spain.
After our first day of resting up in Lisbon and taking it easy, we spent the following day (Sunday the 21st) exploring the community of Belém which is just west of Lisbon. We visited a really cool monument – the Monument of Discoveries - dedicated to all of the Portuguese explorers (including Christopher Columbus, who sailed first for the Portuguese before being funded by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain) that juts out into the Tejo River as it opens up into the Atlantic Ocean. Nearby we visited a cool fortress, the Tower of Belém, which also sits along and in the Tejo. It was used both as a point of defense for Lisbon’s harbor as well as a ceremonial gateway to the city, and is now a huge symbol of the city. The views were great from the top as we could see the Ponte 25 de Abril (the 25th of April Bridge), the Monument of Discoveries, and the suburb of Belém.
After the two monuments on the river we decided to check out an exhibition at the Belém Cultural Center which featured four separate contemporary art exhibits in the Berardo Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art. We saw an Andy Warhol piece, lots of cool sculptures, work in architecture by Pancho Guedes (very Gaudí), and some really cool photo collections from two Spanish photographers. All in all, the museum had a great collection and the facility was really nice – we were impressed. We walked across the street and had a gander at the Maritime Museum before heading to the opposite side of Lisboa – up to the north and east to check out the Vasco da Gama Bridge and Santiago Calatrava’s beautiful architecture at the Oriente train station.
Calatrava’s work at Oriente was even more impressive than the tower in Barcelona. The atrium over the train platforms is a bidirectional arcade with glass panels resting atop – very impressive. The whole station underneath the platforms was really neat, too, with large, covered bridges stretching out to either side (one to a mall, one to a bus station). It was a really cool place, probably one of my favorite so far on the trip – check out the pictures below!
The Vasco da Gama Bridge is the longest bridge in Europe with a total length of 10.7 miles (bridge and viaducts), and the part crossing the Tejo River is spectacular – two large, x-shaped towers support the suspended part of the bridge right next to the Lisbon side of the river. Right there is also the Vasco da Gama Tower, a lattice tower that overlooks the river and the neighborhood. Unfortunately there was construction on the tower and we couldn’t go up, but we enjoyed walking through the park along the river. Anyways, it was a really cool part of the city with a lot of modern architecture and really well-planned parks and public spaces along the river.
The following day we headed to Sintra by local train, a smaller town about 45 minutes outside of Lisbon, situated very close to the Atlantic coast. We hiked up to a really awesome Moorish castle which was at one point used as defense of the region during the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. The view was spectacular looking down at the town and across to another hill where the Palacio de Pena sits like something straight out of a Disney movie – very much like Neuschwanstein in Germany. We hiked back down to the city to check out another palace (the place is full of them, apparently) called Quinta da Regaleira (the Royal Palace, I think) which had some incredible gardens – caves, waterfalls, castle-like walls and towers, and HUGE hydrangeas. From Sintra we took a bus to Cabo da Roca which is the westernmost point of Europe, making my second visit to an extremity of the continent (Tarifa being the southernmost point). The plateau plunges down into the Atlantic’s turquoise waters at big, rocky cliffs – a really beautiful place to just sit relaxing, looking out at the ocean.
From Cabo da Roca we took another bus to Cascais in order to catch the train back into Lisbon. We freshened up a bit in the hostel before heading to the train station to catch our overnight to Madrid! Lisboa was a really cool city with a totally different feel from a lot of the rest of Europe. Still cosmopolitan, it had a distinct African influence and felt almost Caribbean at times; I’m really glad that we made it a part of our itinerary.
Getting into Madrid really early we immediately caught the Metro to the bus station in order to get to Toledo. Rob spent a semester in Toledo, situated about an hour to the south and west of Madrid, for a study abroad program in 2003. As such, he still has a lot of friends here, one of which (Patricia) we’ve been staying with at her apartment in the old city. Toledo is absolutely beautiful, perched atop a hill and surrounded by the Tajo River (yes, the same river in Lisbon with a different name). The Alcazar and Cathedral reach up to the sky really gracefully, the whole city painted in shades of earthy brown with red tile roofs. We spent Tuesday relaxing in the city after the overnight train and went out for tapas and cervezas with Patri and some of her roommates and friends. Did I mention that their apartment has a roof terrace that looks out over most of the old city? An awesome place to hang out!
Wednesday was spent in Toledo walking around a lot of the little streets before going for a hike on the other side of the river in order to get a great view of the city. We made it back in time to make some dinner – very casual and late, the Spanish way – before watching the US national team beat up on the Spanish national team – needless to say that there was some tension in the living room all night! Thursday we headed to Madrid around midday to walk around and then grab some tapas with Rob’s friend Jordyn before meeting up with Vania (another friend) who flew in from Rome to spend the weekend in Toledo. There was a little bit of breakdown in communication but the three of us made it back to Toledo in time to hear the sad news that Michael Jackson had passed away. It has been really interesting to see how big an influence he had here – just about as much as at home – and it’s been the talk of the town since Thursday night.
Yesterday (Friday) the three of us went to Segovia, about 3 hours away by bus, to check out the famous aqueduct, cathedral, and Alcazar. We were only there for a few hours but were really impressed with the old city and, personally, the aqueduct. It’s one of those ancient feats of engineering that continue to impress even to today, and I’m really glad we made the trip out to see it. After Segovia, Vania, Rob, and I prepared a big dinner for all of us – Patricia, Sussy (a roommate), and Salú – which we ate up on the roof terrace. Perfect! We went out for a bit before calling it a night.
Today we’ve been laying low – Vania made tiramisu (of course, since she’s Italian), Rob and Patri have been sharing music, and I’ve had a chance to catch up on blogging! We’re going to a barbecue tonight in a suburb of Madrid, put on by a friend of Patri’s. I’ll put a bunch of photos up soon!
Cheers,
Sam
1 comments:
So good to catch up. XO
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