Portugual

Sorry this took so long to update (midterms!), but I went to Lisbon, Portugual 2 weekends ago. It was such a pretty city, very tropical. Lisbon has similiar architecture to the rest of  Europe, but the weather and greenery reminded me a little of Costa Rica.  My friend and I were on an early flight together before the rest of the group came later, and the taxi ride was an experience. The hostel's website said that the ride shouldn't cost more than 6 to 7 euro, but the driver wanted to charge us 18 euro!! We were obviously americans, but I think what did us in was that we were speaking Spanish to the driver, which we didn't know at the time, but that is seen as very rude in Portugual. We ended up only forking over 10 euro, but lesson learned: don't be afraid to bargain with the taxi drivers, and always, always check the meter. The meter when we stopped only said 7.50 euro, but then the driver charged us 2 euro more per bag. At least it wasn't an 18 euro trip!
Our hostel was very cool when we got there and it was fun to meet and get to know other travelers, some who were in the same study abroad program as me. They gave us free breakfast and cooked us a huge meal at night. They then took us out to the bars. In Portugual, you go to the bars to get your drink, but then you go outside and hangout in the streets. So much fun!
The next day was our big tour day, and we saw a monastery, and then next door we went to get lunch at the famous pastry shop. Because of this one little pastry shop (now huge and serves real food too), a pastry called pastrie de Belem (I think that's the name) spread all over Portugual and then Europe. It was amazing, especially for me the sweet tooth! It had a very flaky thin crust (think baklava thin and crunchy) and filled with some kind of sweet filling. I don't know what it was, but it might have been a light cheese/jelly-like filling. Whatever it was, it was good! We then tried to go to the San Jorge's Castillo (Saint George's castle) but we got a little lost and of course, it started to rain. We walked in the rain for a bit, and when we finally found the castle, it was closing early because of the rain. We went back to the hostel to hangout and wait for dinner. The next morning, my friend and I were on the same early flight, so we got up early and went to the castle. It had great views! It was cool walking around in a real castle, my first since I've been in Europe. We also a lot of wild turkeys and a peacock just hanging out on castle walls! After seeing the castle for an hour or so, we left so we could catch our flight. I was so happy to finally be walking downhill too! Lisbon was built on top of 7 mountains, so lots of steep hills to climb just walking around the city.
That's all for now. Wish me luck on my midterms this week, and then I'm off to Paris right after!