The City of Seven Hills

Lisbon, Portugal

No flat ground or smooth surfaces here that’s for sure.  Just walking around for a short time in this city and you would be sure to burn a lot of calories hiking up the streets just to stroll down and hike up on the other side.  It did however, make for some pretty amazing views though. 

With a little help from some cast mates, we were able to find a beautiful park that was located above the city center that not only overlooked the central roundabout, but also all the way out to the sea.  It was a nice escape from all the cars and taxis into a more tranquil environment slightly removed from the inner city. 

And unlike the traditional cities that are modern in construction or all made of concrete and stone, the buildings here were made of different color and patterned tiles.  Most had unique railings to accompany the shades of pink, coral, yellow, and mint green.  This was a city that was not dull in the least and made the buildings glow even more when the sun shone upon them. 

Yes, this week was another amazing week for temperatures!  To be able to sleep with the windows open at night was a blessing and will definitely be hard to move forward into cooler temperatures for the conclusion of the tour. 

However, for now we definitely were able to soak it all in whether at the hotel or the arena, which was located along the sea.  With a bridge extending out as far as we could see, a boardwalk that stretched as far as we could walk in both directions, and small parks and garden areas in close reach, we wished there was more time to enjoy them. 

It’s no wonder why people are so friendly here; they live a beautiful place and are very lackadaisical with timeliness; the same can be said of the Brazilians.  This is because the Portuguese actually founded Brazil thinking that they founded India, just as Christopher Columbus set out to find India, but instead founded present day North America.  So the cultures and language are quite similar.

The language actually is comparable to Spanish in a sense that a majority of the words are the same.  However, the dialect and pronunciation differ slightly.

To be honest, I never in a million years thought I would be this far away from home and experiencing all these different cultures and languages.  It has been an experience of a lifetime and I am very thankful to be able to do this. 

Off to the last and final country of the Western Europe tour; France.