Lisbon!

Went to Lisbon last month just before Christmas to beat the holiday crowd... and to escape the cold and for a much needed break from work...

I tagged along the trip without even knowing the flight times or what we were supposed to do in Lisbon... but... luckily dear Bin Bin and Chong did some research so we were not completely lost!

Our first stop was the Belem area where the oldest and the most famous Portuguese egg tarts were sold... The bakery was established since 1837 and supposedly sells about 10,000 egg tarts a day... in addition to egg tarts, they also have an extensive collection of Port wine (a type of sweet Portuguese dessert wine)... the verdict: with more than 170 years of refining the recipe, all I can say is that it's the best Portuguese egg tarts that I've ever eaten! Yum yum yum...

We walked around the area of Belem, which is called the historical heart and soul of Portugal since Belem's natural harbour made it the starting point for many voyages of exploration.

Their version of the Golden Gate bridge... think it's supposed to be designed by the same architect and hence, the sister bridge of the one at San Francisco...

And a stroll down the memory lane... of those days when I used to memorise all the facts for my history exams on the Malaysian history... The first expedition to Malacca by the Portuguese was way back in 1509 but they failed to conquer Malacca initially... it was only when Alfonso de Albuquerque came in 1511 that the Portuguese finally managed to make Malacca one of their overseas colonies and gave us the "A Famosa" which is still standing in Malacca today!

And us, trying to mimic the poses on the Monumento a los Descubrimientos (i.e. the Discoveries Monument), the riverside monument built to commemorate the death of Prince Henry, the navigator... what a group of posers! :P

One is not enough... so the guys had to pose for more! hahaha...

And ooooh.... a little xiao bai... lost in the city... I miss my little dog, xiao bai... where are you???

The famous Belem Tower...

which is supposedly a UNESCO World Heritage building...

A walk through the gardens near the Tower with its many monuments, all relating to travel and exploration...


And oooh... my first ever live football match in my 25 years of existence... hahahah

The match was between Belem and Benfica... but..er... being a complete dummy when it comes to football... I hope I at least got the names of the teams right! :P

Turns out... the match was really quite boring without much action... and in fact... the crowd was a lot more interesting than the match itself! The Benfica fans were cheering for the full 90 minutes non-stop and they even have fancy red lights and smoke to show their support!

And Benfica, the supposedly favourites and much better team... lost 0-1 to Belem!

The next day, we headed for the Sintra area... dubbed as the Glorious Eden and was the summer residence of the kings of Portugal and of the Moorish lords of Lisbon. It is meant to be a romantic getaway and another UNESCO World Heritage Site (hmm.. another one?)

The love birds... aawww... sweet...


Our first stop... the Moorish Castle... since we're all young at hearts (and in mind, of course)... we decided to climb the stone pathway which leads us around the ruins of the castle... kinda reminds me of the Great Wall of China! hahaha...

And how can we forget to take a photo to prove that we did climb all the way to the top...which has excellent views over the Sintra hills and the Sintra national park...


And our next stop... the Pena National Palace... the colorful dream-like palace built by a German noble man for his Portuguese wife...

This time though... we resorted to taking the tram instead of trekking through the hills to get to the top... hahaha... I guess age has caught up! :P

Once we had enough of ancient castles, palaces and parks... we headed back to civilisation and for the "real world"....

The casino and shopping! Hahaha... the guys went to the Casino Lisboa to try their luck at the tables... while Bin Bin and I hit the Vasco da Gama shopping mall! Have to say that I really miss having late-night shopping... this particular shopping mall opens till 12 mid-night! yeay!

Since the guys carried my tripod around town the whole day, KT Yeo insisted we all have to take a few night shots to reward him for his efforts... so here we are... a random night shot near our hostel...

And oh... some pictures of Portuguese food... all I have to say is that EGGS feature prominently in their dishes... and somehow, unintentionally... I ate 7 EGGS IN A DAY! Gosh....

I must also mention our hostel... it has to be one of the best hostels that I've ever stayed in throughout all my backpacking trips around Europe...


For a start, the rooms were quite spacious... the bathrooms were also clean... they provided us with individual lockers, bed linen, internet access, various card and board games and even towels free of charge! But the icing of the cake... they had someone cooking hot breakfast (scramble eggs and toasts) for us and cleaning up after us in the morning!

No wonder it was awarded the NO. 1 HOSTEL WORLDWIDE for October 2007. If you do happen to travel to Lisbon, I strongly recommend this hostel!

As usual... we always end up not sleeping when we should have done so... we spent our last night in Lisbon drinking and talking till the wee hours of the morning!

Oh well... nothing new there... regardless of where we are...