14 - 17 April 2017

The last few days were awesome. I spend my time with Daan, Eva, Bas, Katja and Kees in Lissabon, or Lisboa in Portugese.

On Friday I cycled only 2 km from the hostel where I stayed last night to the apartment they had rented for the weekend. I had to wait a little bit longer as I expected, because Daan had made a mistake with the Portuguese time (it's an hour earlier here than in the Netherlands). But we found each other and gave a big hug. So nice to see each other again! We left our luggage at the apartment and went for a walk through the city. We ate and drank something at a terrace and had a good time together. We also visited the botanical gardens, the elevator designed by Gustave Eiffel and the big square close to the water, where we visited a terrace again and ate some tapas. After a little bit more walking we went to the restaurant As Velhas. Portugese waiters can learn a lot about how to serve people in a restaurant, but the food was very nice!

The next day we had a good breakfast with bread, scrambled eggs, local Pastéis de Nata and strawberries. We went for a walk through the city again, with more terrace visits and we went to the bakery where they make the best chocolate pie of the world. Tasted good! At the end of the afternoon we went to the Time Out Market where we drank Sangria and enjoyed tapas. We drank some more Sangria and stayed at the market to have dinner with hamburger and fries.

On Sunday it was the first day of Easter, so we had a Surprise egg with breakfast. Almost like home, but these ones weren't hidden ;p. With the metro we went to the centre of Lisbon again and walked around a little bit. Of course we did some drinks and tapas too. And we went to the LX Factory, where you can visit shops, restaurants and street art. For dinner we took the bus to the Time Out Market, but we were to late to find a spot to sit down, so we enjoyed dinner at the restaurant upstairs.

The last day Daan and I got the breakfast at the supermarket and after we ate most of it, it was time to pack everything back in. That took more time than I had expect. I cycled to Santa Apolonia, while the others took the metro. From there we walked through the small streets to the top of the hill, where the castle stood. We walked around and enjoyed the best view of Lissabon. After a Radler we walked down again and did one last drink on the terrace close to the station. After that it was time to say goodbye. Everybody got a hug and Daan a last kiss. Then it was time for me to cycle on. I wanted to take the bridge, but after a few tries, a guy told me, it was not possible to cross the bridge by bike, so I took the boat to the other side of the bay. There I followed a bicycle path and when the sun went down, I found a place for my tent under some trees. I cycled 30 km that day. I cooked pasta for dinner and was completely alone again.