Hey guys. Sorry i have been so behind with the blogs, a little bit of trouble involving my phone, water and a toilet bowl has held me back. Will try and catch up as soon as I can so expect to read a lot in the next couple of days.

Day 67, 68 & 69

Lisbon, the city of castles, tarts and pubs was a great place to spend 3 days in Portugal. After a 4 hour bus ride down from Porto, we climbed yet another hill to our place and met Aidan and Zac again after a long 2 day break. As we hadnt had breakfast or lunch that day due to the long trip, we headed straight out taken to a local gem that Aidan and Zac had discovered the day before. Egg and Steak, dessert, drinks and a coffee all for less than a maccas meal.

From there we still werent full and headed towards Belem, a town famous for their Portugese Tarts. They were definately famous for a reason. These custard filled tarts brought happiness with every bite. Topped with icing sugar and cinnamon, it was too hard to stop at one. We even heard that staff there had to sign a non disclosure agreement because the recipe was such a closely guarded secret.

Heading home early, we chilled for a bit before grabbing some dinner and drinks, preparing ourselves for the pub crawl later that night. All psyched up and ready to go we took a slow stroll down the massive hill to meet the group, however when we arrived, there was noone to be found. Searching the area up and down for a good half an hour we eventually gave up, only to be told later, it started down the road from out hostel, not down the hill.

So we had a little pub crawl of our own, hopping from place to place along the tiny cobblestone streets packed with people. It was crazy to think that these same places were absolutely dead during the day. We grabbed some XXL drinks (they only came in L, XL or XXL) played some playstation in the one pub, messed around with the DJ equipment and had a good walk around. Whilst all the pubs close at 2, our night didnt end there as we headed back to out place to find majority of the hostel still awake. Chilling with Serbian, French, Austrian, German and Italian peeps, the night went on for a bit longer, however by 4, we were all dead and called it for the night.

Day 2 started early as we were forced up at about 11 as we had to change rooms in the hostel. Whilst we all wanted to go straight back to bed in our new room, we were told they wouldnt be ready until 3. So we started the day then, heading into town, stumbling across some couches in front of a fountain (So very Friends like). We sat on them, jumped on them and even started a bit of a pillow fight but very quickly security (yes these couches had armed security) were on us and we were asked to leave.

To Sintra we went, a town famous for its Shrek like castles, magical forests and awesome palaces. After a 40 minute train ride and a 10 minutes bus, we were standing in front of a Moorish castle and boy did it have an awesome view. Many steps were climbed, many photos were taken and we even ran into people from St Ives, that happen to live next door Jon Rothenberg. Man it is a small world.

From there, another bus, this time to the Palace which looked like it had come out of a fairy tale. Sculptures everywhere, amazingly detailed tiled walls and to top it all off it was surrounded by a magical forest. After getting ourselves lost in the forest, we found trees bent over to form archways, pools with little castles in them and a black swan that seemed to follow us as we walked. I think we named him something, cant really remember.

Very tired at this stage, we headed back and somehow conjured up the energy to make a homecooked meal. Peri Peri and Soy Sauce Chicken, it tasted awesome. We didnt exactly plan for this combination, but when you are looking for sauces in a free cupboard of a hostel you do what you can.

We farewelled Zaccy G and Aid, this time for a bit longer than 2 days and began our night with drinks at the hostel. People from everywhere joined us, making for some very colourful albeit hard to understand conversations. We made our way out with a bunch of them and once again explored the streets. Whilst the bars werent amazing, there were people everywhere and we kinda just followed groups as the night went on. This made for another late night and we walked in well past 2.

Our final day in Lisbon started with a really late sleep in, as we knew we had little to do. The three of us walked out of our room after lunchtime, headed down the hill attempting to find some form of entertainement. Exploring alleyways, shopping centres and even the oldest bookshop in the world, we eventually found ourselves in the central square, walking through some markets.

Thats when the rain kicked in and we moved inside, making our way to the biggest shopping centre in the area. However, it wasnt long before we were over that and back home, a bit over Lisbon. Whilst there were plans made to head out that night to a different area of town, we ended up just hanging around the hostel with everyone, making it a relatively early one. The most exciting event of the night was me breaking my phone through means of toilet, leaving me devastated ever since. Will hopefully have it back up and running soon.