Hard Rock Cafe is a worldwide "casual dining restaurant chain", which opened its first store in London in 1971 and includes, as of early 2006, 125 branches in 39 countries. Wherever I travel I seek the towns Hard Rock Café. Why? Just because it has been a tradition of mine to have lunch or dinner at the local Hard Rock Café. Visiting Lisboa in September I had to have a meal at Hard Rock Café, Lisbon. I love walking round looking at the photos of rock stars and the guitars given to the café. I have never been disappointed with the meal I have been served. In Lisboa I had Herb Grilled Chicken Breast and Garlic Smashed Potatoes served with gravy and fresh seasonal vegetables, and I loved the meal. Hard Rock Cafe Lisbon, is offering trendy merchandise, thirst quenching drinks and great food all enjoyed in an atmosphere of high energy music and completed by Hard Rock Cafe's. Hard Rock vision is “Love all, serve all”, I`m sorry to tell you the service wasn’t as expected. But don’t let this scare you from visiting.

The hotel was really a good choose. The room was clean, the stuff very friendly and helpfull and the breakfast was really good (fruits, bred... you found whatever you wanted). Also it's located directly at a suburb station, but you also can walk easily to the city center. If I will ever come back to Lisboa, I would choose the Fenix hotel again for sure!

Beautiful flowers.....this is the area for relax and enjoy the nature...

It was late when we arrived but early enough to check out the nightlife of Lisbon and heard that Bairro alto was the place to be. At one point we were standing in the back of a crowded bar when it suddently became quiet. Then we heard the soft sounds of a guitar and a male voice starting to sing. Our first experience with Fado.
Of course we didn't understand a single word but luckily there was a Dutch guy standing next to us who lived in Lisbon and was nice enough to translate for us. A very sad but beautiful melody. And exceptional way to end our evening and begin my first visit to Portugal.

The next morning was exactly what I expected from Portugal...blue skies and a warm breeze.

First stop was to the Castle of Sao Jorge (Castle of Saint George) which is located on the highest hill of the historic part of the city. The oldest parts can be dated back to about the 6th century. It provided a great view of the city.
Leading down from the castle are small narrow streets winding through the old quarters of the city. Some of the buildings are in poor shape while others are covered with beautiful century old tiles. It was like walking though an art gallery.

Then it was time for lunch and some window shopping in Baixa (downtown). It was such a big contrast from the old quarters. This part of the city was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1755 and was one of Europe's first example in neoclassical design. Despite the wide boulevards (many pedestrians only) lined with shops and cafes, the charm of the city can be seen with the appearance of street vendors and occassional tramcars as well as the tiled facades of the boutiques. I could have spent the whole day just sitting and watching people go merrily on their way.
But I had a mission. On my list of things to see was the Tower of Belem and according to the map, it would take some time walking.
The Tower of Belem was built in the 16th century as a gateway to Lisbon and part of the defense system to the river and the Jeronimos Monastery both placed on the UNESCO world heritage list in 1983.
And it is here, close to the western portal, where one can see the tombs of Luis de Camoes (1527-1570) and Vasco da Gama (1467-1523). Being a big history buff, this was pretty exciting to me.
Dinner was in Cascais which is a coastal town about 30 km west of Lisbon and is very popular for beach goers. We took a taxi there and the train back. The train trip is inexpensive, takes about 30 minutes and probably the most convenient way to travel between the two. A 'nice to know' for the next time....and there will be a next time.

I was awakened by the rustle of bags as my sister and her friend packed away the last remnants of their adventures into their backpacks. I drifted back to sleep only to be awakened again by my little sister as she covered me in a bear hug and went on her merry way to catch the cab awaiting her presence. It wasn't until I woke up again and noticed that her bed was empty that I felt a great loss, for traveling with companions, especially your sister, is one of those precious things in life... memories with people you love.

A sunny day awaited me as did the lovely Sintra that I was unable to explore the previous day as it was closed down by the time we arrived. I traveled to the train station like an expert Lisboan, and found myself just missing the train to Sintra.. which meant that I had just enough time to enjoy one of those lovely pastries a block away from the station:) What luck!

Arriving in Sintra, I traveled through the curving cobblestone streets observing a long line in front of what looked like it was a church. It was then that I realized that they were standing in line to buy tickets for each of the relics along the way, so I stood in line and awaited my turn.. bought my tickets, and traveled to another line to wait for a bus that would transport us to the top. As we waited, I decided that it wasn't worth it to wait in line.. I could walk 8km to the top.. it was a bright day, the sun was out.. it would be a great jaunt. So, I said goodbye to the ladies thinking that they would all beat me to the top.. I found out later that the bus never came:)

When I reached the top and tried to enter the castle, it became apparent that I had not purchased the entrance to the castle, but to the garden! I looked at the man in disbelief thinking about how I would have to walk 8km down to purchase the ticket. He smiled at me, and whispered.. pasa pasa.. what a kind man! So, I entered the castle for free.. walked around the castle, but didn't enter the building as it was a 2 hour wait;) and the views around the castle, I'm sure were even better than what was inside.

I traveled on down to the park, followed some ducks and ducklings around, admired the moat surrounding a minature castle, and just rested on a bench.. UNTIL the mosquitoes became unbearable:) I headed down to my favorite crepe shop where I found myself face to face with people from my hostel who invited me to join them on their adventures to the underground caves! It was as if we were in a different world as we stepped through passageway after passageway in the complete darkness wondering if we would find an exit.

very nice city to visit a couple of days.

Wearing our jerseys, we became Ronaldo, Deco, and Figo for the day showing off our toughness by sitting on the top of a double decker bus in the midst of a icy downpour. We kept hoping that it would stop eventually, however, our hopes were dashed as it only continued to rain. We were out in the fresh air... and able to see far more than from inside, we kept telling ourselves as people pointed at us and laughed.. yes, we were the only people who stuck with staying on the top of the DD bus! We said that we would hold out until we came to the Tower of Belen not knowing that this was one of the final stops. It finally hit me how cold it was when I went to grab my camera and found that my fingers were not working as a result of being chilled to the bone:) So, we hoped off at the stop and scoured the area for a cafe that was offering soup. We found one and grabbed the soup as quickly as possible and held it in our hands until our hands started tingling .. the first signs of warmth! We sat until the warmth from the soup started to spread throughout our bodies and headed out to the madness again. This time finding buildings and savoring the heat in the building before heading on to the next and staying inside the bus instead of toughing it out on top.

We found that the Tower of Belen was FREE, and we took advantage, exploring it and playing soccer along the way.. sporting our jerseys:) As we ended our DD bus experience, we traveled back to the hostel and found that Sara's mom had arrived! We went to meet her and showed her around Lisboa, making her try the famous pasteis de nata as well as finding a hole in the wall family-run restaurant off the beaten path! Each of us had the sea bass.. passing on the sardines:) What surprised them was how the fish was served.... WHOLE.. the head and all:) One of the ladies from a different table saw my little sister struggling to eat the fish and came over to our table to show her how to slice it so as to not eat so many tiny bones. My sister gratefully accepted her advice and her help and no longer was pulling bones out of her mouth every 5 seconds:) We also became friends with the owner who was a huge futbol fan and supported Sporting! For some reason he gave us his card and helped us with a futbol schedule.. and tried to convince us to return and eat the sardines:)

We traveled to Sara's mom's hotel, got lost, had to ask a handsome Portugese police officer where the hotel was, and finally found it! We decided that hostels are the way to go as her hotel was 180 Euros and our place was 18 EU.. we had more space, free breakfast, a shower in the room.. closets.. etc. I mean, just for the Nutella, it was worth it:) I wouldn't trade our place for the world!

Heading to Portugal! One of my dreams was to go to Portugal, and I was about to make it come true:) We traveled to the airport, checked our luggage, boarded the plane, and said ADIOS to Barca and Espana and HOLA to all of the new adventures awaiting us in a place that had fewer tourists scrambling about. Arriving in the airport, we found ourselves in the land of Portugues.. not knowing Portugese, I found myself asking.. falla espanol o ingles many times, and luckily, people took pity on me and spoke to me in Spanish:) What was crazy is that we didn't need to go through customs upon exiting the baggage claim area. No one checked our passports, no one checked anything! We just walked out into the lobby and were free. We found a taxi, and he located our hostel, which was slightly hidden... but lovely! We stayed at the Oasis in Lisboa, and it is fabulous!!

As we waited for our room to be ready to live in, we explored Lisboa by foot:) We came across the crazy elevator in the midst of the downtown as well as the delicious pastry shops... and a lovely cafe, in which we sat down and enjoyed some great comida as well as put our feet up after traveling across the city for hours:) The cafe was filled with cool little nooks, books, sofas, and comfy chairs as well as great lighting and paintings by local artists like a 6 year old girl named Katharina.

Lisboa is a delight. The people are friendly, and everyone we met was helpful including a man who proceeded to walk with us so that we would "follow the tram lines" all the way to the center of town. He was insistant that we not get off the path:) We found some jerseys that we decided to wear the following day to support Portugal and pretend that we were Ronaldo, Deco, and Figo! We thought that we would be typical tourists the next day by wearing jerseys and going on the double decker bus to all of the tourist sites.

Grande Restaurante, Grande Vista sobre o rio tejo. Aconselho a qualquer um. Depois do jantar pode sempre dar um saltinho ao LUX, a melhor discoteca de Lisboa