Our IES group went to Portugal last weekend. It was a VERY rushed trip - we went to six cities in three days and probably spent about 15 hours on the bus - but it was still a blast.
Our first stop: Coimbra, an old university town (sort of the Portuguese version of Salamanca). It was a GORGEOUS day (75 degrees or so), and the city was beautiful!
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| The old part of town |
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| Park where we had a picnic lunch |
We toured some of the old university buildings. The Baroque library looked straight out of Beauty and the Beast! Apparently they have bats that live in the library to eat insects that might destroy the ancient books, though... creepy.
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We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so I stole this one off
the internet |
We made our way down the coast to Lisbon, stopping at Batalha to see the monastery - absolutely gorgeous. It was wonderful to get off the hot bus!
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They started building it in 1386 and finished in the 1500s - Europe
is soooooo old! |
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Lots of gorgeous stained glass inside... reminded me of the
children's book The Cathedral Mouse! |
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| The courtyard |
My favorite city that we visited was Sintra. Really, you only need to see this photo to understand why:
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"I must just observe that the village of Sintra is the most beautiful
in the world." -Lord Byron |
We explored the palace and then had free time to wander through the adorable village. Here are some photos of the gorgeous houses, just to make my mom jealous.
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New life plan: learn Portuguese and then move into
this house... |
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| ...or this one |
We drove out to the coast to see La Boca do Inferno (Hell's Mouth) - great photo op!
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| Reminds me of the Washington coast! |
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| Add caption |
Before heading back to Lisbon, we stopped in Cascais for lunch. Unfortunately, it started raining before we could enjoy the beach :(
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| The whole gang in Cascais |
We really didn't spend enough time in Lisbon - we saw a few sites and explored the city center, but there was so much more to see! I didn't like Lisbon as much as I thought I would - really pretty, but also kind of dirty and sketchy. I haven't felt so unsafe in any other European city. A guy on a bike tried to steal our purses and then followed us around... creepy. But anyway, here are some photos (of the architecture, not the pickpockets!!):
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| Remind you of a certain bridge in California...? |
On our last day, we stopped at the Basilica in Fátima, a Catholic pilgrimage site. In 1917 the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared to three shepherd children, and the Catholic church has officially deemed the apparitions "worthy of belief." Not going to lie - this all means absolutely nothing to me. But I had a good time with my fellow atheists/agnostics. This picture pretty much sums up how we entertained ourselves:
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| Acting out the apparition of Mary |
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| The Basilica |
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Religious tourism! There were sooooooo many stalls selling Our
Lady of Fátima trinkets |
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Catholics walk on their knees to the Basilica - some came prepared
and wore kneepads! |
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