Lisbon, Portugal

Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid-all are well known cities in Europe and major tourist destinations; however, I think one more city should be added to the list: Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon is like the “San Francisco” of Europe.  Situated where the River Tejo meets the Atlantic Ocean, cobblestone streets climb up steep hills and trolley cars wind their way through the city. The city has a really unique feel to it.

 

 

This excursion with CIEE was full of culture and interesting things to see. While touring the city, I found out that Lisbon suffered one of the biggest earthquakes in history. Practically the whole city was destroyed. But the people bounced back quickly from this casualty. From the remains of the crumbled buildings, they created the sidewalks of the new Lisbon-the same sidewalks that are in the city today. Pretty resourceful if I say so myself.

 

While in the city we visited the neighborhood of Belén, the monastery, and the castle…

 

 

 

After a quick 2 days in Lisbon, we started our journey back to Seville, but on the way we had one stop to make: Sintra.

Sintra is a town right outside of Lisbon, and it held a hidden gem that everyone should see when visiting Portugal.  Sintra’s castle was the most colorful, creative, and fun castle I have ever seen.  Just its bright colors never ceased to amaze me, then you add to that the gorgeous views of the valley and ocean below...

Great trip!