Portugal- Days 2 & 3

Portugal- Day 2

Saturday morning we got up and had our first big breakfast of the trip, courtesy of the hotel. We felt spoiled to be able to have something besides toast. Okay, so the scrambled eggs were runny and there wasn't a ton of selecton, but to us it seemed like name brand goods when you are used to the off brand. We rode the bus about an hour to go to the Barrio de Belem where we saw the Monasterio de Los Jeronimos. Next we saw the Torre de Belem which is right on the ocean. We also saw the Monumento de los Navegantes which is also on the water. One of the coolest things we saw was called the Boca del Infierno or The Mouth of Hell. This is a cliff right on the coast where it's basically a bowl made of rock. It gets its name from the sounds the waves make during storms when they crash into the rocks. Apparently it sounds like screaming coming from the soals in Hell. It was actually quite gorgeous despite the name. Our last scheduled stop of the day was: the beach! We went to the beach of Cascais and enjoyed some rays and waded in the water which was still a tad chilly. It was nice for a while until the wind really started to pick up and the sand was blowing everywhere and getting in our faces. Needless to stay, I am still finding sand in places it shouldn't be.

We went back to the hotel and showered before going out to find a place to eat dinner. All the other girls wanted to ride the metro to a new part of town that we hadn't been to yet to eat, so we all went. After walking a little after we got off the metro, some of us didn't feel like it was a safe part of town, so half of us got back on the metro to hopefully find a place near our hotel to eat. It wasn't worth being in a strange part of town at night. So we got back by our hotel but couldn't find any place to eat. We walked and walked looking for something, but found nothing open except for a McDonald's. I never eat at McDonald's at home, but being since it was the only option, it had to do. It didn't even taste half bad. The McDonalds' here are always packed with people, and they look very trendy and modern inside. Nothing like back home.

Portugal- Day 3

Sunday, we just stopped in a couple of small towns that were on our way back to Salamanca. First off was Obidos, a cute little town that had a medieval section and typical little streets. It was fun to walk around for a little while. The next stop was in Batalha to visit the Monastery there. This was sort of interesting because now the cloister part of it is used for military purposes. I saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and I watched the ceremony of the changing of the guards. It was especially interesting since I remember seeing the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the U.S. Arlington Cemetary.