Portugal

I have literally just arrived home from Portugal, but for fear of forgetting anything, or worse, losing my internet connection ( a new development) I think I'll go ahead and recount this amazing weekend right now:
We stayed in the capital, Lisboa, for our first two days. At first glimpse, Lisboa seemed slightly unfriendly and daunting, but a few amigas and I decided to counter the general unfriendliness of the city by being extremely touristy: and heading to McDonald's for a quick snack. It actually proved to be quite funny and an interesting albeit small-minded cultural experience.
On Saturday most of the group who went to Lisboa (about 25 of us) decided to yet again be unabashed tourists and take a open-top tour bus around the city. I don't think we could have made a better choice. The bus went to all the important and beautiful areas of Lisboa, and gave you the opportunity to stop at a site you were interested in, and then pick the bus up later. Some chicas and I decided to stop on the shore, where we walked, took pictures, and grabbed a lunch of bocadillos con jamon y queso. It was brilliant.
The amount of beautiful, old buildings in Portugal is staggering. Decorative tiles are very popular in all of Portugal, so many of the facades of old buildings were adorned with intricate tiles, sometimes in a repeating pattern, other times in a picture. (Once I figure out how to put pictures on here, I can show examples). Even some buildings in total disrepair were more beautiful than anything i've seen in America!
Although Saturday was so fantastic, Sunday was by far my favorite part of the trip. We took an excursion to two areas, Estoril and Sintra. Estoril is on the coast, and we stopped at a gorgeous beach on an even more gorgeous day. It was warm enough for us to take our shoes off, and we galavanted and relaxed in the sand for about an hour. Apparently kite-flying is popular in Porugal, as one man proved by literally chasing us with his.
Sintra was ineffably fantastic. I'm running out of adjective and adverbs here, but It deserves a more eloquent description than I can give. Its a small, tourist town that seems rich with history and very tranquil. The buildings are incredible there. All slightly worn, crowded along hand laid cobblestone streets. It must be built into a mountain, because almost every road we turned on was an extremely steep hill. Just getting around the small town was quite a workout. Just walking around was enough for me, We even got to see two old women chatting, one from a second story window and one from the street, which seemed like the perfect thing to do in a quaint town like this. I can't wait to put up pictures of Sintra, it was magical. I can see this being the type of place you'd sell all of your posessions to live in. A simple, decadent, relaxed lifestyle.
Regardless of the amazing time we had in Porugal, it is nice to be back in Salamanca, Caroline and I missed Capilla and her ninja like speed when she cooks up delicious meals (We swear she's magic...we can never find any remnants of cooking, and yet she always has something fresh on the table), and I have to say, it is nice to hear people speak spanish again. (maybe i'm finally getting better...!)
besos, besos, besos, and mucho amor!
Lindsay