Portugal - Lisbon pt. 2

I'm currently sitting on the bus from Lisbon to Porto which is the main northern city in Portugal. Lisbon was great however I feel the weather slapped a big 'return in summer' sticker over the lovely capital. There happens to be a crying baby aboard this bus which I feel has become a common burden to my continuing sanity during long distance transportation.

After getting my bearing of the city proper I went off to the town of Belem (emphasis on the end of the word - beLEM) which has a cool and aptly named site - the Tower of Belem. Unfortunately en route to this particular building the heavens opened above and dumped an ocean of water down upon us. I was wearing a t-shirt because I'm a moron. I then argued with the ticket man (soaking wet) saying they can't have a 'youth' discount and then not accept my youth card? Apparently there's a Lisbon specific youth card as if that's different from an all powerful INTERNATIONAL youth card. This shit has a picture and everything. Fully legit.

(There was more rain than tourist attraction)

Aside from this building we slammed down what are universally recognised as the best Portugese tarts in the world. I took some back to one of the youth hostel staff who was staying in the bunk above me to apologise for the night before when in my drunken stupor I;

A) was talking loudly at about 5:30am, and

B) I was ... not really encouraging but suggesting it wasn't a big deal if the German girl sleeping on the bed  next to me had sex with the Irish guy she lured back.

I zonked out about a half second later (i.e. not dealing with the aftermath of my actions) but the talking woke the staff member up and then she had to listen to what she later described as some 'unrhythmic' sex. She was cool though. The tarts were that good.

Last adventure in Lisbon was off to the regional Sintra. Where the royal family used to piss off to over the summer. There are palaces and gardens - all very 'regional'.

(regional)

I visited this cool garden place. MY experience was just exploring the garden and all of its nooks and crannies. This place is an invalid's worst nightmare - There are areas in these underground grottos that have absolutely no lights, high towers with tight spiralling staircases, caves that can only be accessed by walking on stepping stones, a mansion sans elevator, and so very MOIST! It had rained earlier and there are waterfalls and lakes and oh so many puddles for me to accidentally step in.

Here is the description on the brochure.

(Yeah ... THIS is what I experienced)

The palace was a bit average actually. People kept saying it's like the Cinderella castle but it was just sort of a haphazard building that, although high up on a mountain, had all the elegance of a dump truck. I got a terrible picture of me sitting between arches over the Sintra countryside. I'm getting a little better with the whole 'actually being in pictures' thing.

(Wooooooo)

I'll let you know what goes down in Porto.

 P.S Haven't really found anything like Nando's. Slightly disappointed. Did, however, eat a humorously large amount of pork at a restaurant in Sintra cooked in the 'regional' style. So very regional. I'm not usually a food picture taker but I am indulging myself these days ho ho ho.