Justin's Journey

After my hike at the Mount Monadnock last Sunday, I felt that the travel bug is hitting on me. Especially, Andrew, in blue shirt, was hanging out with me that Sunday afternoon. He has traveled extensively in Europe (can speak 10 languages – smart guy?) and shared lots of good stories about Portugal. So, Sunday evening, I booked the flight to Portugal forth following Wednesday!

Following Andrew’s suggestion, I planned to visit 4 locations in Portugal over the week-long vacation. I didn’t realized that I would need to drive a manual car in Portugal. Another friend Mark (in red) came over on Monday night to give me a driving lesson by explaining how it works. We went to two car dealerships to “test drive” two cars as my real practice on the road. I felt more comfortable but the real test will be driving in Portugal. It will be my first time driving in Europe. You can tell Mark felt relief (and fortunately alive?) after the test drive. Thank you very much, Mark!

I used my airlines mileages to book the flights. I treated myself with the business class this time. Swiss Airlines are just great. The seat was very comfortable and the service was excellent. They served very good food and treat you like a king. This is also the first time I got to sleep in the airplane with my body completely laying straight down. What an experience!

I arrived in Lisbon right after 2pm. I picked up my luggage and checked into to the hotel at Eurostars at Hotel Das Letras. It’s much better than I thought. The room is clean and comfortable. The location is off from the busy street. The service is very good. After a short rest in the room, I went out to explore the city by foot, and looked for a place for dinner.

The streets here are a bit narrow, curving, and hilly. It’s very interesting to walk on the cobbler stones and look at old and new and old and new buildings. There is a feeling of rusty walking around. Some tiles outside of the building are really beautiful. The economy here is not doing well. You can sense the concern when you walk around here and see the people who live here. Regardless, people here are pretty friendly. With the 90sF temperature, people are pretty patient.

I found a restaurant down the hill from the hotel – Ribadouro. It’s about trying new things, right? I got Goose Barnacles, white whelk, and a huge tiger shrimp. They were all very tasty. It’s my first meal in Portugal.

I was saving enough of time to go to Campo Pequeno. I found out when the taxi driver took me from the airport to the hotel that there was a bull filing hating tonight! I took the Metro and rode to the station. The building hosting the bullfighting is an unusual building. I have never seen anything like this. And the Portugal bullfighting is completely hardcore. The horseman does the most of the fighting. A group of 8 people then came out to wrestle the bull by hands and bodies. That’s the craziest things I have ever seen! I sat next to a guy who came with his daughter. He was a bullfighter before. You can tell he is a tough guy but he was very helpful of explaining how the fight works. There is a lot of honoring, respect, and tradition during the flight. The live band played the music according to the stage of the fight. The 8 men wrestle the bull down were just insane. The man next to me also has two friends sitting behind, also bullfighters. They suggested I should do it since the lead of the 8 men crew tends to be trim and slim. I answered: I am not that crazy. 🙂 It’s an amazing experience. The horsemen did an incredible job of riding the horses and fighting the bull at the same time. They could also do all kinds of tricks to entertain the crowd – walking the horses side-way, backward, making a circle after an attack, all in parallel with the fight.The Portugal bullfighting doesn’t kill the bull, which shows the respect to the bull. Oh, to bring the bulk out of the rink, they would bring up a herd of female cows. So the bull will follow them outside of the rink. It’s really amazing how they figure out things like this! The fight started at 9:30pm and continued until 12:15am. People stay late here. When I walked by some bars, people are gathering on the street, drinking and talking. It’s part of the culture.

This was a fun day to start my trip in Portugal. I will get a good rest and explore more in Lisbon!