Portugal Trip Part 5 - Lagos

When you last left me I had deftly outwitted the Casino Lisboa and was boarding my train for Lagos. I was delighted to find that I had been assigned the only seat in the car that didn't have a seat next to it, and I settled in. At one of the stops in suburban Lisbon, one of the passengers who got on stood next to me for a second and said something in Portuguese, which I obviously didn't understand. I assumed he was saying that I was in his seat, but I was sure I wasn't so I rummaged through my stuff to get my ticket out and showed it to him. He looked at it for a minute and said "Ah, cinco" and then walked away. Turns out he only wanted to know what car of the train we were in, since my seat was also the closest one to the door he boarded through. This story seemed funnier to me when it happened than it does typing it up, but seriously that guy had to wait like 30 seconds for the answer to a simple question. Oops.
This train was very modern, and a digital display informed me that we reached 220 kilometers per hour at one point of the journey. A few hours later I changed trains in Tunes, which is a tiny little town that probably only exists because it's where two railway lines cross, and the difference between my new train and the previous one couldn't have been more stark (starker?). That doesn't mean that it was a crappy train, it was just completely wood paneled inside with brown leather benches in pairs facing each other. My second train ride took about 50 minutes through what was probably gorgeous scenery if it hadn't been so dark, and I got to Lagos train station after 10 PM. The walk to the hostel was pretty far but luckily they had 24 hour reception so I got checked in and was placed in a 4 bed room by myself, since there were only three other people staying there. I pretty much just went right to bed, and the next morning I got up around 9 to go look for some breakfast.
Unfortunately the highly recommended breakfast place was closed for vacation (where do you go on vacation when you live in the Algarve?), but in looking another place I did happen to catch a few of the sights around town. I guess I should have started off by telling you guys a little bit about Lagos. It's in the Algarve, which is the southernmost region of Portugal and a very popular vacation destination for people from northern Europe. Lagos is known for the rock formations along its beaches, which is mainly why I chose to visit it and not Albufeira or Faro. In the Portuguese Age of Discovery it was one of the major embarkation ports for voyages to Africa, the Indies, and Brazil (another was Belém, we've been there!), and the first slave market on European soil was established in Lagos in 1444.

Just in case you forgot where I was

My hostel, The Monkey House

Cool fountain on the rooftop terrace at the hostel

View of Lagos from the terrace, for some reason I wasn't expecting all the buildings to be white

I made friends with Rafiki, the hostel cat

Main gate into the partially preserved city walls

Some crazy statue from the 70's of a spaceman/anime character in one of the plazas, pretty out of place with the feel of the rest of the town.

Cool building covered with green tiles on another plaza

The Igreja de Santo António, famous for it's intricately decorated interior. Unfortunately, as you can see from the photo, it was closed when I was passing by.

After having a few pastries and some orange juice near the spaceman statue I headed back to the hostel and changed into my bathing suit before setting off towards the beach. Yes, it was November and although the temperature was very comfortable in the 60's I was sure the water would be freezing, but I hadn't come all the way to the Algarve to not swim in the ocean! I spent at least three hours, probably more, walking along the pathways that follow the coast around Lagos and taking tons of pictures until my batteries died and I went for a quick dip on a secluded beach. As I anticipated, the water was freezing, and it also had started to drizzle, so I didn't even wet my hair and trekked back to town to get a late lunch.

The closest beach to town

I FOUND A SPANISH GOLD DOUBLOON!!

Oh wait, it's just a 20 euro cent coin

Looking out to sea

Inter-beach tunnel

I don't know what's out on that rock, but apparently it was worth building a bridge to

High up on a cliff over the beach I eventually went swimming (wading) at

Back in town I found a place to get a hamburger and some beer, then went back to the hostel because the rain was picking up. I spent a few hours on the internet and watching satellite TV before I decided I was hungry again and headed out to a traditional Portuguese restaurant I had seen earlier in the day. I bought a Newsweek on the way there so I could have something to read while I ate alone. I ordered the "Fisherman's Cod", which turned out to be exactly the same thing as the cod dish I had eaten in Porto, but no matter, I just made sure not to eat the bones this time. As I was taking pictures of my food to eventually show my dad I heard the British couple at the other table talking about me, so I looked up and waved to them to let them know I understood English. We got into a conversation and it turns out the husband is a mining executive who has worked for pretty much every big company in the industry, and they were in town to buy a condo. They invited me over to their table and we chatted for over an hour, and then they paid for my meal despite my protests. I got the guy's email and cell number but I am still working on turning this chance encounter into a job somewhere.

The infamous picture that got me noticed by my future friends Graham and Pauline

After dinner I went back to the hostel and read the Newsweek that I had ended up not needing at dinner, then went to bed. The next morning I got up a little late and checked out of The Monkey House, then walked around Lagos some more, following the suggested walking route on a map I had picked up at the tourist office. My train back to Lisbon via Tunes left at 3 but I was back at the train station before 2 because other than the beach there really isn't all that much to do in Lagos.

The Slave Market; much smaller than I expected, but I guess that's a good thing?

Prince Henry the Navigator, who we also saw on the Monument to the Discoveries in Belém

Lagos is a pretty quiet place in the winter

The esplanade along the river Bensafrim, one of the major pedestrian walkways in Lagos. I imagine in the summer this place is crawling with people.

Once I got back to Lisbon I checked into my new hostel. I didn't stay in the same one I had stayed in earlier because during the booking I reasoned that if that hostel ended up sucking I would want to switch it up. Turns out my original Lisbon hostel was the best one I have stayed in so far. Oh well. Since it was only around 7 PM I caught a train out to the nearby town of Estoril, which is a beach community where many members of the European monarchy have lived in exile throughout the years. Oh and it's also the home of the largest casino in Europe, but that's totally not why I went there . . . This casino was a popular stomping ground for spies and unsavory characters during World War II and inspired Ian Fleming's (the dude who created James Bond, but you guys are smart, you knew that) Casino Royale.

The railway platform, in the rain

If you were going to the largest casino in Europe, you'd think the main entrance would be the one with the fountains. You'd be wrong though.

Hmm, this looks promising

As you can imagine, I wasn't allowed to take any pictures inside the casino, but events of note included winning 50 euros at the blackjack table, getting yelled at in Portuguese by one of my fellow players for taking a card when I apparently wasn't supposed to, and trying to tell the Russian girl who was tending bar how to make a Soco and lime using the simplest English words possible, even though I didn't know how to make one myself. Slightly drunk off my glass of straight Southern Comfort with a bit of lime juice mixed in, I boarded the train back to Lisbon 43 euros richer and very pleased with my utter dominance in Portuguese casinos. Tomorrow (in the past, probably not actually tomorrow but hey, who knows) I'm off to Sintra.

Lentejas!

I don't really feel like writing about Lagos right now so I'm gonna share Amparo's recipe for lentils. Maybe this dish is called Spanish Lentils or Lentejas al Amparo, but we just call them lentejas. So feel free to try this recipe, but they might come out very badly because Amparo doesn't go by a recipe when she makes them, and my extensive Spanish vocabulary doesn't really extend into cooking terms, so I did a lot of smiling and nodding while she explained it to me. She also makes these in her "express pot" which the internet told me was a pressure cooker (it looks like a big pot but the lid locks down on it) so if you have one of those all the better.

Ingredients:
300 grams of lentils (about 10.5 ounces)
1 medium sized onion
5 cloves of garlic
1 laurel leaf
2 carrots
olive oil
half spoonful of paprika (no I don't know what size spoon, I guess if you like paprika use a bigger spoon)

Put the lentils, whole onion (peeled!), 3 cloves of garlic, the laurel leaf, and the carrots in the pot. If you are using a pressure cooker, fill it with cold water to just above the solid ingredients (for a normal pot, twice the height of the solids). Then throw in a "chorro" of olive oil, which apparently from watching her do it means a quick pour in a circle around the outside edge of the pot (a splash? but more I think . . .) Bring it to boil and then turn the heat back down so it simmers, and cover it. This needs to cook until the lentils are soft, and if you are using a normal pot and the water gets low you need to add some more, because the lentils soak up the water. I don't know how long that part takes because I wasn't watching, but probably at least a half an hour (though if you burn your lentils I won't be responsible).
Once the lentils and other veggies are soft, put the pot on low heat and fish out the onion, garlic, and carrots and crush them with a fork, then put them back in. In a frying pan, brown the other two cloves of garlic with some olive oil or butter and however much paprika you decided to use. Then dump that in with the lentils and add salt (to taste, I assume, I have no numbers on this either). Finally let that cook 15 more minutes on low heat.
Hopefully what you ended up with is not too liquidy, it should look kind of goopy with clearly visible little lentils in it. I took some pictures of my last lentils meal for you to compare with, but I don't know how well they came out or how they truly convey the lentility of this dish. It's not really a soup, but it's not solid either, it's just lentejas. I prefer mine with a lot of bread (like a baguette, but with a harder exterior, though I guess a baguette would work too), and I think that's a general consensus among the Spaniards too. Enjoy?



Photo unrelated, but I totally rocked this picture of a horse today while walking on Monte Naranco:

"What are you lookin' at?"

Portugal Trip Part 4 - Lisbon

Well I know it's been quite a while since I've written anything on here, but I have had some stuff going of for most of that time, namely a 46 page paper about the Spanish Civil War and a two week trans-European train adventure. But before I can tell you about that I have to finish up my Portugal trip. When we left off I had just arrived in Lisbon, and the following two days were dedicated to exploring that city and it's immediate surroundings. The first day I had planned to head out to Belém for the morning, an area to the west of Lisbon on the shore of the river where there are a few historic buildings and a famous monument or two. Before I set off that way I noticed on my map that there was a scenic overlook really close to my hostel, so I decided to check that out first.

As in Porto, some of the streets in Lisbon are actually staircases

The view from the scenic overlook. Normally this would be a view of the river, with that statue of Jesus on a hill on the other side. Hmm, maybe now isn't a good time to go to those riverside monuments . . .

In light of the heavy fog covering the river I revised my plans and headed to the Castelo de São Jorge (Castle of St. George) that's prominently situated on top of a hill in the middle of town. It's been an important part of Lisbon since the Arabic times, when it was one of their last holdouts, and it was also a residence of the Portuguese kings. On my way up the hill I also stopped by the Cathedral of Lisbon, which as you may remember is called the Sé de Lisboa.

I saw these guys repairing the sidewalks and came to the conclusion that this is the worst job in the world. I'm sure you can think of a worse one, though, but seriously, think of the tedium.

Sé de Lisboa

Arqueological dig in the middle of the cloisters of the Cathedral. There is evidence of Arab houses and Roman sewers and roads.

Detail of the stained glass window. Which Apostle was it that had a dragon in his drink, again?

I expected the climb up to the castle to be a lot more strenuous, given the number of tourist-laden trolleys I saw passing me on the way up, but it was actually fairly easy. I spent a lot of time at the castle because there was a lot to explore, and I didn't want to leave any path untrodden. The views of the city were amazing, and I ate lunch on one of the ancient ramparts during a break from wandering.

Map of the Castelo de São Jorge; if you can't see it remember you can click it to make it larger. If you're interested, that is.

My lunchtime view. The Baixa neighborhood is in the foreground and the area where my hostel was located is on the hill behind it.

Peacock vs. Cat for a piece of pasta, an epic showdown for the ages. (winner: Peacock)

The castle inside the castle, this was the oldest part of the compound.

Precarious stairs to get up to the ramparts.

In the afternoon after leaving the castle I walked back down the hill through the Alfama neighborhood, which according to my guidebook was very scenic. It didn't do much for me, just a bunch of narrow roads that's easy to get lost in, but I guess it did have a very old-world feel. I went back in the direction of the hostel because I planned to check out the Museo du Chiado, a museum of modern art near the hostel, but this meant I would have to climb back up another hill. OR DID IT?

The Santa Justa elevator, built in 1902 by an apprentice of Gustav Eiffel to help lazy Lisboans avoid climbing this particular hill.

View of the Castelo de São Jorge from the Santa Justa elevator.

Unfortunately, the Museo du Chiado was closed that day, so I went back to the hostel to regroup and talk on skype for a little while. Later that night I took a tram out to Belém to photograph the monuments that I would be visiting the next day by night, then got some kebab at the most confusing mall in the world. There were escalators that led to the middle of stores and apparently 6 floors, although only 4 of them were accessible by said escalators. I finally escaped when I found the stairs, but it got a little hairy for a second there. Anyway, here's the Torre de Belém.

Torre de Belém, I'll tell you what this is later

My first stop the next morning was the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Hieronymites Monastery), one of the greatest examples of Manueline architecture typical of the Portuguese Age of Discovery.

It's also enormous.

Tomb of Vasco da Gama in the monastery chapel.

Hallway in the cloisters of the monastery.

The central patio of the cloisters.

The chapter house, where the monks had all their monk meetings.

Seriously, this place is huge. The closest part is actually the National Arqueology Museum, but I didn't know that until I got there so my schedule didn't include time to check it out.

Right across from the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, on the waterfront, is the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, the Monument to the Discoveries. You've probably seen this before, as it's a pretty famous landmark of Lisbon, but if you're like me you didn't realize how gigantic it actually is. Hmm, this is kind of starting to be a theme.

Padrão dos Descobrimentos

Detail of the monument, notice how puny the people standing right next to it look.

And from the back it looks like a cross.

View from the top, looking east. We've seen this bridge before (hint: it was shrouded in fog)

View of the monastery and the plaza in front of it

Looking to the west, and I see my next destination: The Torre de Belém (Belém Tower)

The Torre de Belém was built to protect the harbor of Lisbon and was originally much further offshore, but then they extended the shoreline to create more land and now it's not very isolated at all.

The Torre de Belém also exemplifies the Manueline style, which is characterized by elaborate details. I can't see how this statue had much military function, but it's pretty.

The balcony of the tower.

I call this composition "The Portuguese Military: Past and Present"

Keeping watch over Lisbon.

The view from the Torre de Belém out to sea.

I was in Belém until about 3 in the afternoon, and I had to catch a train at 6:30 to go down to the Algarve region, so I spent the interval packing up my things and checking out the hostel, then exploring the area around the train station. And guess what I found over there?

Oh man, I definitely don't like casinos!

I walked into the Casino Lisboa with 20 euros telling myself I would double it at blackjack and then walk out, and that's exactly what I did. I used my new found wealth to buy some prepackaged pasta dinner and boarded the train for Lagos, feeling pretty sly. I'll try to update you guys about that pretty soon.