9:30pm - at my guesthouse after another long day. It was pouring rain in Evora so instead of walking to the square I was lazy and had my hotel call a taxi. The station is quite small but I was able to get breakfast. There I saw a girl Maddie from Australia who was on my walking tour. we ended up having seats in the same carriage and were both going to Lisbon! We ended up chatting the hour and a half bus ride. She is quite a traveler and backpacks for many weeks at a time. lucky! She was staying at a hostel not far from me so we took the subway from Sete Rios station together and then decided to meet up for lunch at the Time Out market.
I splurged a bit on lunch and had the suckling pig and a sparkling fruit sangria, then two little toasts with ham from the black pork and olives. For dessert I had an incredible chocolate mousse that had bits of "chocolate salami" - all so delicious! I love that market so much!
Took the subway to Santa Apolonia and walked farther than I thought I was going to have to, but made it to the National Tile Museum. It goes through Portuguese tiles by century and is in some kind of old monastery/convent and has its own tile works inside. So pretty!
Instead of backtracking to the subway and changing lines twice I just took a bus to Oriente station which is fairly far out of town. There is a huge shopping mall (literally four floors) and that and the statio were designed by famous architect Calatrava. There is a big park there from a world fair type thing in 1998. I wandered around a little bit but not much to do there. Then I walked over to the Oceanario, or the aquarium. It was divided into sections for each of the oceans, around a big tank to show that at the end it is all still just one big ocean. I liked that!
Took the metro back and checked into my guesthouse since my room was not ready earlier. It is a bit like a glorified hostel but the location is perfect, it was only 50 euros, and I still have my own room. plus it is just one night.
Set out around 7 for dinner at Bonjardim, which is super touristy but open all day and famous for rotisserie chicken with piripiri sauce. 95% of the people in there ordered chicken. Delicious!
Luckily I decided to walk around a little bit because in Praca Figuera there was a whole market thing with food and handicrafts that they do on the last Saturday of every month! I bought a pair of silver and coral earrings from a woman who made them and a cork purse from a guy whose parents make all their stuff. So happy I didn't end up buying one in Evora where they all mostly looked the same! This one is more minimalist and was cheaper, but at least it was handmade by a family. Then it started to rain so I pulled out some euros (I always bring some home as a seed for my next trip!!)
Today's totals: 24,425 steps, 9.72 miles, 37 floors.
Cannot even believe my vacation is over already! Portugal is so lovely, the people are soooo kind, most speak at least a little English, it is cheaper than most of Western Europe, there are not a ton of Americans here, the food and pastries are so freaking good, and there is a ton to see and do. Do not want to go back to the real world!
The internet where I am staying is slow as molasses so there is no way I will get today's pictures posted tonight especially since the alarm is set for 4:30am (ugh) so I will make one more post with the last set of pictures from today. Thanks to the 4 or so people who followed along. Til next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment