7/21/07

Yo fui al Portugal por mi ultima excurcion. Fuimos al Lisboa, la capital de Portugal y me quede en un hostel. Lisboa fue muy impresionante con mucho monumentos y castillos. Le gente era muy pobre. La gente en la calle no fue muy amable a los americanos. Algunos veces, algo personas intentaron enganarnos con dinero. Nuestro hostel fue bueno pero la barrio no fue muy bueno. El edificios eran muy antiguos y arruinados. Ademas, la gente verdian muchas drogas en la calle.

After we perused our neighborhood we found a tour bus waiting by Lisbon's beautiful beach. Once we were on tour, we found the city had many beautiful neighborhoods. Closest to our neighborhood, was an area know for its pastry shops. The rest of the city was actually in pretty good shape. Unlike the houses in our neighborhood, many of the monuments seemed to have been remodeled. Apparently, after Lisbon's 1755 earthquake, the entire city went through major renovations. Still, despite the modern nature of Lisbon's downtown area, it was remarkable that the city retained so much historical beauty.

Later in the evening we ventured out into Lisbon's night life. We found many restaurants and bars, but for the most part it wasn't as lively as Salamanca. Then we found the city's most happening strip. It was narrow road about four blocks long with bars, café and random stores. The wandering nature of the way Lisboans partied was strikingly reminiscent of San Fermin. Although The Running of the Bulls was on a much grander scale, the Portugal's seemed to have most of their fun in the street rather than a stool. In fact the most o the bars were used as places to refill, as the filed back outside in the fresh air.