Showing posts with label traveling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label traveling. Show all posts

Friday, December 29, 2017

Travel Diary: Lisbon part #5


Hi everyone! This is my second to last post about Lisbon! I'm taking you on my foodie tour as well as to the Carmo Convent. It's right in the center of Lisbon, not far away from Bairro Alto (the neighbourhood with loads of bars and restaurants) and it's gorgeous! 

I started my day by having some tapas! I ate prawns in garlic (which a friend recommended to have) and a white sangria. After I filled my tummy, I started walking and ended up at the Carmo Convent. This convent has been partially destroyed and was never rebuilt. It's quite impressive to see and I can only imagine what it must have looked like before the earthquake.


The inside of the convent is not that big but there are loads of things to see. There were even a couple of mummies!




After visiting the Carmo Convent, I went out for food with a local girl I met at the Hard Rock Café! We went for sushi and on the way there, the mall was beautifully lit up - too pretty not to take a picture!


That night I had the most amazing sushi I have ever had in my life - I never thought I'd have to go to Portugal for that, hah!
We had sushi with kiwi, marshmellows and even strawberries! What an experience!


I had a blast that night and made some new friends!


I'll see you soon for the last part of my Travel Diaries! 
Keep safe!

Friday, December 15, 2017

Travel Diary: Lisbon part #4

Happy Fri-yay!
We're beginning to reach the end of our Lisbon Travel Diaries. Two more posts and then that's done too! Even though it hasn't been that long ago, I still enjoy looking back. Going on a holiday on my own is something that I have never done before but it was such a cool experiment and I have learned so much from it.

Just like in the last post I wrote on Lisbon, I'm taking you back to Sintra. Sintra is 45 minutes away from Lisbon by train and it has the most beautiful castles. This post focusses on Pena Palace - which is unlike any castle or building you've ever seen. I feel like the Pena Palace looks like something that a kid could have drawn: the design and the colours are so extraordinary!
 

It's really hard to get a picture from a good angle because there are so many people walking by, so many angles, so many different things you want to capture and just so little space on the little screen that you're holding.


This is what the palace looks like when you walk up. As you can see it has many different levels and the first thing that probably gets your attention is the bright yellow.

 

The beautiful entrance with many gremlins on the walls and different kinds of beautiful textures.


This picture right here must be one of my favourites. You can see the beautiful yellow part as well as the red part of the castle (which was closed down for renovations, unfortunately) and you can tell how high up this castle was built. From here, you could see the Moorish castle as well.
Oh and that skyline!
 
 

Are we in Hogwarts?


Inside the castle you could see a vanity, showers, bathrooms, bedrooms, lounges (...) from former kings - and different generations.
It was so beautiful and I can only imagine how luxurious it must have been! 


After that trip, we went to a local wine shop where we had some Ginja (a cherry liquor that you drink out of a chocolate cup) and some local beers.


That's it for today! Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Travel Diary: Lisbon part #3


Hi! Welcome back to my blog! 
For those of you who can't get enough of my Travel Diaries, I've got good news! I have some more pictures for you today.

This one focusses on a part of my day trip to Sintra. Sintra is about 45 minutes away from the center of Lisbon and it's absolutely gorgeous. There are castles everywhere and it's no surprise that this is the most visited location in Portugal.

Quinta Da Regaleira is the first castle I visited and I've got many pictures to show you so... Let's go! 


This first castle we visited was not even from a king. It was from a very wealthy trader. It's called "Quinta Da Regaleira" and this is what a real life Disney castle would look like. The first few seconds I saw it, I really couldn't believe it looked like this. So, so beautiful!

 

 You could walk hours in this place. It's so beautiful and surrounded by a lot of green. There are many levels to go on and many secret passage ways.


One of the most fascinating things I saw here was this well. It was believed that the trader was a member of the Freemasons. If you wanted to become a member too, there was one challenge for you. That challenge was to go into this well at night and find your way out of it by following underground ways. This wasn't very dangerous but it was more symbolic.


After visiting the first castle we went to grab a bite at a local restaurant. This was so yumm! Rice with goat cheese quiche. And you know what? The goat cheese didn't even taste like goat cheese. Normally I'm not a fan, but apparently they have very nice goats in Alentejo, where this goat cheese comes from.

They also had "green wine" which wasn't really green, but it was a very sweet white wine. And it costs next to nothing! 
This was so nice because it was so hot outside that we could sit in our T-shirts without being cold. In November!
 

Although I didn't get to go inside the Moorish Castle, we did get to see it from a few different points of view. This castle made me think of the Chinese wall!


I hope you've enjoyed this post! Keep reading the next few parts for more on my Lisbon adventure! 
Have a really good day! 

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Travel Diary: Lisbon part #1

Goodmorning and welcome back! As you may have noticed, I've been absent for a little while.
This month I decided to go solo traveling for the very first time.

I went to Lisbon, Portugal on my own for a week and although I missed my boyfriend (who was sweet enough to let me go), I came back with tons of happy memories!
I'm not your typical travel blog but if you've been around for a while, you might have noticed that I like a dash of travel and lifestyle sometimes. So here it is. Lisbon, part 1. I do have to add that all the pictures you'll be seeing are taken with my phone camera - maybe the quality is a little less, but I didn't want to get robbed so brought as little as I could on this trip! Safety first, guys!


Right after I got off the airplane and checked into my accommodation, I decided to go and explore a little bit. I wanted to go see a garden close to my hotel, but it was closed for renovation. So I went ahead and walked a bit further - up to Bairro Alto.

Bairro Alto is the area with a very nice nightlife. There's bars and restaurants everywhere and at night it's the perfect place to go party. During the day it's calmer, but not less nice!



Since I arrived so early, I had all day to explore. The next spot I went to visit was the Rossio Square and all the shops around it, before continuing to Castelo De Sao Jorge.
Lisbon has so many castles and palaces! It's crazy! 


On my way to Castelo De Sao Jorge.... Grafitti everywhere! Some very good pieces! And it's not just here, it's in the trainstations and outside of the city of Lisbon as well. Some true artists live here!

 

As you can see, my first day was a very nice one and I got to explore a lot! Keep reading - I still have more to come up! 

 


Thanks for taking the time to read my blog on Sunday! I hope you enjoyed this post!