Golden Book Traveler

King of the Castle, Barrio Alto, and Meeting People from Austin1/7/2010

These last few days have been mind blowing. I´m convinced Lisbon is one of the most underrated cities in the world to visit! The seafood for one is 2nd to none.

Here is an example of what I´ve been eating.

The fish is both amazing and cheap. That meal was under 10 euros total.

Barrio Alto was a blast. We visited a few bars in the district and got a feel for Lisbon nightlife. The manager of the Rossio Hostel took it upon himself to be our tour guide for the night, which was awesome. Another +1 for Rossio Hostel.

Yesterday I took a trip to St. George´s Castle to get some spectacular views of the city, (Pics comming later). The castle is the highest structure in all of Lisbon and offers the best views of the city below. Later that day I visited the Lisbon Oceanarium to view one of Europe´s finest aquarium. I mostly enoyed the small aquariums for their rare and unique species.

In travels you will never know who you meet, which is why I was shocked to find someone here who had lived in Austin. Not only that he knew many of my friends and thought Austin was the best city in the world! Crazy stuff! I´m still a bit jet lagged and cannot sleep during normal hours. I staggered in the lounge area of my hostel at 3am to find me and the only other person in the room, the recptionist of the hostel,  talking about the Austin, TX scene. Whoda thunk!

And finally, my post would not be complete without giving props to Inside Lisbon for their outstanding Lisbon Walking Tour. The guide we had was great and the entire process lasted about 4 hours. He really helped put things in perspective and anwsered many of the why and how questions of Lisbon´s History. In addtion, there was only one other person on the tour so we were both able to learn alot in a short period of time. Highlites include viewing the narrow residential streets of Lisbon and taking shots of cherry brandy at a shop in Rossio Plaza.