When I Say Yes Hostel, You Say YES!

My favourite part about traveling is the actual travel itself.  I love to be in cars, on trains and trams and especially on planes.  Not buses so much.  Europe is great because I don't have the opportunity to take the train anywhere at home (the lrt doesn't count) and I really love to ride those rails.  Know what I don't love?  Train bathrooms.  Windy rail lines provide some really thrilling trips to the WC, but "thrilling" is not something that I have ever felt to be missing with that particular activity.

Madrid to Lisbon provided me with my first overnight train experience!  No beefy men allowed on that journey!  Yikes, we sure were packed into a very small space.  It turned out to be surprisingly pleasant and I even had a decent sleep thanks to a combination of factors: a bed that didn't cave in the middle, a lack of noisy Italians/Americans, and the rocking of the train which I think kept Larissa up.  It was still not quite the same as spending the night in a real bed though, and we were not looking forward to spending the entire day on our feet before being able to check into our hostel in Lisbon.  However, the Yes hostel took us by surprise from the start and the delights kept rolling for the duration of our stay.  We were let into our rooms at 8am and then welcomed to join the free breakfast right away, helpful Pedro gave us endless suggestions for what to do, see and eat in Lisbon, and then we met Isabella...  Sweet, sweet Isabella.  This kitchen sorceress comes to the hostel every night to cook a feast for the guests who sign up- and you'd be a fool not to sign up.  The first night we dined on vegetable and leek soup, puri puri chicken, and a sort of whipped cream dessert.  The second night was roasted chestnuts, chestnut soup, bacalhau (a traditional cod dish) and cheesecake.  I don't even like cod, and I was scraping the plate clean.  Maybe it has something to do with the fish being cooked in whipping cream... 

Not Impressed



Custard Tarts = Bombdiggity



As for Lisbon itself, part of our time in the city involved convincing our young, eager traveling tag-along, Will, to purchase a second pair of pants before we made our escape from his company.  This fellow is about 2 days away from being accompanied by a dirt cloud that would rival Pig-Pen's.  We also had an entertaining ride on one of the city's historic trams; more of a rollercoaster ride really, thanks to the steep hills and quick turns.  At one point, we rounded a corner to face a car followed by a tram headed straight for us on the same line.  After a good deal of yelling in Portuguese back and forth and (I assume) swearing, we backed our tram up a ways until we could let the other pass.  One day, we took a tram to Belem to see a monastery and a tower, which were two of the only things that I've recognized in Spain and Portugal from my last trip.  More importantly, Belem is where we tried custard tarts.  If I was staying longer in Lisbon, I would get fat on these custard tarts.  As it is, my fattening up will be left to my old standards: magnums, hob nobs, fanta and anything baked.  Anyway, Lisbon was a good enough city, turned into a great one thanks to amazing food and an A+ hostel.