What a change from the good ol' USA. I am now on the island of Mallorca, but first I want to tell you a little about Lisbon, Portugal. The Lisbon hostel was my favorite hands down. It was homey and comfortable. They also did your laundry for free which made me extremely happy. We did a walking tour of Lisboa (as they call it) and learned a lot about the city. We also learned that the city is one giant hill. I should have nice toned legs after this trip :). We ate at the hostel the first night. The hostel mom cooked: chickpea soup with spinach, codfish with cream, and mango mousse. For €8 it was an awesome deal. Those who have ever traveled en Europe know it is impossible to eat a three course meal for that cheap. We got to know people in the hostel also. After dinner, we sat around the common room. Max, a guy who worked at the hostel, played the guitar and sang. I sang along of course. Then we went to bed around 12:30. I slept like a baby. I mean, come on, we'd been up since 4:00 am.
The next day trained to Belém which is a suburb of Lisbon. We saw a beautiful monastery and the Tower of Belém. It used to be an old watch tower. Of course I spoke in my English accent and took pictures acting like I was a prisoner. Classic Ashley being American and all. You know, a girl that worked at the Lisbon hostel thought I was Italian because of my dark hair and jaw line. And in Mallorca, this woman comes up to me in a frenzy speaking Swedish. I said, "No svenska." finally she understood that I wasn't Swedish. Now that's a nationality I never thought I'd look like. Yah. AND when I sit down in restaurants, they speak to me in Spanish and speak to everyone else in English or German. So yay for looking the part!!
So back to Belém...the Tower was great until you wanted to come down from the top. There was a dark, winding staircase where hardly two people could fit. It took FOR-E-VER!! I thought I was going to have a panic attack. After that experience, we deserved a pastry.
The Pastêis de Belém are so famous, and we wanted to try them out. The restaurant looks so tiny from the outside, but it goes on forever. You can actually watch them making the pastries. There were hundreds laid out ready to serve. José, our tour guide from the previous day, said Rey sell around 60,000 a day. They are €.95 cent euro. We got one each. They are the size of small tarts, and they are served fresh out of the oven. We sprinkled cinnamon and powdered sugar on them. And then it happened...the bite heard round the world. It was the best taste I've ever experienced. The flakiness of the pastry, the perfect texture and sweetness of the custard. It was simply--perfection. I wish I could describe it better for you, but words simply can't do it justice. It almost brought me to tears (literally) thinking about the masterpiece of these pastries. The nun's who hold the secret must sleep well at night knowing they have created the most divine pastry on earth. I figure Heaven will be like this but 100x worse. How can you speak words of such beauty?
That night, we had our farewell dinner to Lisbon and to Brian and Julie's part of the trip. We decided to go to the praised cafe Sâo Bento. They ask if we want smoking or non-smoking. We say non and the waiter directs us to a small room upstairs with five tables. You see who gets priority in this country. The walls had red velvet on them, and the chairs also. It was classy and quaint. We all ordered the steak Sâo Bento which is their classic filet with a cream sauce. It came with homemade French fries. The steak was the most tender I had EVER eaten and probably the beat tasting. The cream sauce was divine. It was so good that after we finished the steak, we sopped up the cream sauce like it was gravy.
Our waiter was in his '50s, named Manuel, and was precious. He was so tiny and cute. I told him I loved him in Portuguese "Amo-te" and he said, "I love you too.". He said it in English. What a precious soul. My meal was €27.00 euro. Not bad for the best steak in Lisbon. We left, Manuel walked us to the door and gave me two kisses on the cheek. He watched us to the cab like a sweet old grandpa.
We were sad to leave Lisbon. We'd met so many friends there. But it was time to say goodbye to them and to Brian and Julie. It wad time to build my own adventure, see what I'm really made of.
And then came Mallorca...the awesome little Mediterranean island. It was 81° today with the UV rays at 9. Let me put that into perspective for you: arkansas' UV ray was 2 today. With that being said, I laid out for four hours yesterday with my German friend Natalie. She is a bronzed babe, but I had to slather in sunscreen. I still burned like a pig being roasted. I'm in pain, but it's just on my backside. Who knows how that happened. Anywho, I couldn't lay out today, and I probably won't be able to tomorrow. So much for becoming a bronzed Mediterranean goddess. Poop.
To end my very long post tonight, I will tell you a story. This story is called "The Café", and it is a very good story. You see, there was this girl. She wanted to be a Mediterranean goddess, but she was so fair skinned that she burnt badly her second day in the sun. So all she can do is eat. She feasts on gazpacho, paella, pizza, and tapas. She gets rounder and rounder. The ocean could purchase her to be a buoy. But no, she sits in the restaurants by herself and listens to the people around her. It's a melting pot of cultures and ideas and languages. She is also listening to the music in the café. Her favorite songs of the evening were: "Alone" and "Visions of Love". She wondered what their obsessions were with 80s American music. Those were the only thoughts of the day. The End."
If I dont die of second hand smoke, I'll be back on July 4. Peace and Blessings to all and to all a good night!
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I won't be held back. I won't be held down. I will lead with my faith. Hold me, release me, show me the meaning of mercy let me loose. Fly, fly, let me fly.
