"Flora" by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. Just got back from four days in Lisbon, Portugal. It was so much different from Seville and I loved it. In Lisbon, we traveled mostly by metro, and I have to say that I enjoy public transportation, even the freaks and creeps who come along with it. Today was the first day of our second semester here, and a halfway point for my time here in Europe.
My room is a mess from unpacking and I am still not back in school mode since getting back late in the afternoon yesterday from our trip. I was going to say that I think spring has made it to Sevilla because of all the flowers I saw yesterday, but today and the rest of this week the weather turned cold and rainy again...yuck. So today I am just going to chill and do homework for my Spanish and History classes..yuck.
What Lisbon offers:
1: a paradise for English speakers-while the language is Portuguese, they speak and understand a lot of my language, thank you Jesus-which leads to #2
2: Cristo Rei- a huge Jesus statue that mirrors the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was built to be smaller on purpose though.
3:The largest suspension bridge in Europe and the longest bridge in Europe-I crossed both on the bus. The April 25th Bridge I crossed 4 times. Any ship in the world cross under it; it is that tall.
4:Great food. I ate at a Brazilian steak house which was delicious, but probably a waste for me because I declined the many pork and beef offers. But there was also great Indian food, Chinese food, and African food to choose from. That's because those places all have close relationships with their mom-country Portugal.
5:One of the largest shopping malls in Europe: Colombo Shopping Center...yeah I went there
6:The second largest oceanarium in the world. It was built in 1998 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Vasco de Gama's voyage. I went there too, but my camera died the night before so no pictures.
7:Fun and diverse nightlife
8:Cool museums and art galleries, including the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum which is a collection of art that the man of the same name collected throughout his lifetime and when he died in the 1950's, he left it to the city of Lisbon.
I hope y'all have a great week and be safe.
-corey
The Cristo Rei. I stole this picture from the internet.
a lion statue at the Jerónimos Monastery
two randos at the Belém Tower: a fortess built to guard the city in 1515
Belém Tower of Lisbon and its minature-by the way, Belém=Bethlehem
Ponte 25 de Abril (April 25th Bridge) with Lisbon in the background. I am standing under Cristo Rei.
view of the bay 
The lion is cool. I forgot how much I love the weird sculpture that seems to be everywhere in Europe.
ReplyDeleteI think I might be a tade bit jealous. The country is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAh, don't be jealous Mom, I don't think you or dad(well especially dad) would enjoy the city life-the counrtyside, yes though. But I think he would go crazy with all the creepers around and get into some trouble.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Portuguese "discovered" Africa before the other European nations by centuries and brought back with them tons of exotic animal influences. There were four lions holding up the coffin or whatever the thing was. but all around the city there were many elephants/lions/zebras/etc.