On our final afternoon in Lisbon, we wanted to soak up some more of the history so we headed to the cathedral. It's an impressive building with some gorgeous architecture. I love visiting churches, especially old ones. There is something so atmospheric about stepping in the footsteps of centuries of worshippers. The sense of peace and the spirit is tangible. It seems that everyone walks around in hushed reverence, whether they can put their finger on why or not.
No matter what time of day it was in Portugal, it was never long until delicious coffee and cocktails.
My not-so- little brother and I left the rest behind and rode the metro up to the botanical gardens. Louis was super excited to see the butterfly sanctuary (no, really!) and so we skipped our afternoon siesta to try and find them. Long story short, after getting lost twice, dragging our tired feet up an impossibly steep hill. We found this: a locked door.
After scouring our useless map, we found another entrance. Also locked. And guarded by a rather crazy looking, angry Portuguese man who shouted at us 'stupid' English. The whole experience was so surreal that we belly laughed our way home, disappointed to not see any butterflies but a good memory all the same. Lou's story telling certainly entertained the rest of the family at our pre-dinner drinks so there is a silver lining after all.
To cheer ourselves up and to fill our grumbling tummies, we headed across the road. Unfortunately, this dinner was the worst of our trip - most of our food was inedible. I forced down duck with a sickly honey and cinnamon sauce, honestly it was a sauce that would have been nice with ice cream but with duck and spoilt spinach, it was disgusting. Here's our hopeful smiles before the food arrived.
We couldn't leave Lisbon without tasting one of the local delicacies for ourselves. Ginjinha is a local cherry liquor sold throughout the city in these charming pocket shops. Its super sickly but was the perfect end to our Portuguese adventure. (Steve and Savannah even managed to sweet-talk us into a great deal :) )
That marks the end of our time in Portugal. The next morning we reluctantly dragged our tiny suitcases along the cobbled streets and caught the euro-bus back to the airport. After a mild panic, a mix up of plane seats and a nervous wait for standby seats, we landed back on freezing British soil and headed back to work.
Fortunately, we don't have to wait too long for our next foreign adventure - super excited to be heading to Croatia in just over two weeks!!
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