I uploaded a few photos from the last days in Madrid, without any particular theme. They are mostly from the walk I took in the western part of Madrid – going from Plaza del Sol on Gran Via.
There is also one food pic inside, which is a new thing for me.
The day before coming home – so on Saturday – I went to the Parque Warner (Warner Park) in San Martin de la Vega near Madrid.
Because a lot of people asked me how it was, and also to post a description about the different rides, I’ll try to tell here how my day went. First, the arrival from Madrid is pretty straightforward: come by metro to Atocha Renfe and you can take a short-distance train which is called Cercanias (for 5.10 euro return) on line C3 toward Aranjuez. Change in Pinto for to the C3a line and descend at Parque de Ocio. The journey takes about 40 minutes.
The entry to the park costs 35 euros (for adults), and if coming with children you should try and steal ask for a notebook of promotions given to the users of the tourist bus going around Madrid. The entry ticket also allows entering free of charge the second day, so if you really think you will enjoy it this is a thing to keep in mind.
Well, as all good things must come to an end, I also had to return back home and re-join the productive life 
Yesterday, after an inhumanely early flight, I arrived in Bucharest. My parents were waiting for me, which also meant a nice lunch was in store. Yummy!
Now, you might already have noticed there is a laaarge gap in my storytelling.
The truth is that after returning to Madrid life sped up a lot.
SO, for a taste of the posts to come, here is a short list of what i did:
While keeping in mind that I DID leave a lot of things out – stay tuned!
I was going to post some pictures which I took in the Alfama quarter, but never really got the time. Well, while waiting in Cat’s bar to go to eat, I finished to process for most of the interesting ones. You can see them in Castelo de Sao Jorge and Alfama album.
After 6 days spent in Lisbon and around I returned to Madrid. It was interesting to re-familiarize myself with the city… From the familiar metro stations – nuevos ministerios, tribunal, sol, tirso de molina…. – to the language which I definitelly understand better than Portuguese. Feels a bit like home.
The hostel in which I’m staying right now definitelly is the best I saw – I really should post some pics to do it justice. Suffice to say it is located in a building in the national patrimony (almost like a paradores), with a common area resembling a mosque cloister or hi-tech key access. Oh, and it also has a bar. And a beer vending machine (from which I had the pleasure of drinking a dark voll damm). Lovely.
Now I will go visit Thiessen Bornemisza museum, and find something to eat – as I am starving.
view of Lisbon form miradouro in Alfama
entrance to Praca do Comercio
Well, this is the last evening in Lisbon, as tomorrow at 10am I have a plane to catch back to Madrid.
All in all I must say I was very pleased with Lisbon – lovely city, I think I would come again, at one point – and continue to explore Portugal. The only thing which is harsh is the fact the most of the streets are pretty sttep – one day spent walking is very harsh on my untrained legs Next city I pick will NOT pride itself on being built on seven hills.
I had the luck to catch a lovely weather – sunny yet not unbearably warm – and so I could visit all the places I really wanted to see, while at the same time I also got lost a few times on narrow streets in Bairro Alto, Alfama, Chiado…
columns near praca do comercio
the building that is blue
I am a bit dissapointed that I did not check the night life, but I am too tired in the evenings to motivate myself to go to a club. Maybe Madrid will fill in this missing area…
And now, going to pack. Oh, and the pictures from the last 2 days will appear on the blog, I promise. Soon….
Nemo sighted at the Oceanographic in Lisbon
Today being Sunday I wanted to do something easy, and relaxing. So I went to the Oceanographic in Lisbon. You can see what interesting creatures I found beside Nemo.As tomorrow a new week begins, I hope these photos will lighten the day
Thought it might be an interesting idea to save some of the photos I took in Portugal in a black and white version.
You can see all the ‘experiments’ in Portugal in black and white album.
A lot of the subjects I photographed – old cobbled streets, trams that look very old, buildings that seem to be from the 1800′s – lend themselves vey well to black and white photography. The conversion was done in Lightroom through split toning – not something very fancy. I hope you find the results pleasant.
Jeronimos monastery, UNESCO Heritage site
Yesterday I went to Belem, which is an area at the outskirts of Lisbon. The main attractions here are the Jeronimos monastery and it’s magnificent cloister and Belem tower. Both are UNESCO Heritage sites, and were definitelyworth the visit.
You can see all the pictures in Lisbon – Belem visit album.
The whole area is full of interesting things to see – there is also Lisbon lighthouse, the monument celebrating Portuguese voyages of discovery or the Marina museum (which I didn’t get to see as I was running out of time, and I hade more plans for the day).
And so I left back to central Lisbon, more precisely to Bairro Alto. This is one of the famous quarters of Lisbon. It is full of cafes, restaurants, pubs, clubs and….lots of empty abandoned buildings.
All in all though it is a very nice area to visit. Also found a small sushi takeaway shop, where I ate a small pack. Yummy! Earlier I stopped for a Guinnes in an Irish pub, so I had a nice lunch.
Later on, when I was ready to head back to the hostel, I found a small bar overlooking the city where a lot of locals came to enjoy the sunset. Was pretty nice. I stayed for about an hour and then went home as it was getting too cold for my liking. On the wat back I found an oriental buffet (all you can eat type) which I intend to pay a long visit
Fortifications overlooking Sintra
As I promised in the last post, the Sintra pictures were next. It took a bit longer than expected, as I had to download them directly from the camera.
But now you can enjoy them. If you want to skip directly to the photos, you can find them in Sintra, fairytale town.
The way to Sintra was mostly uneventful, although I deffinitelly started to hate the guide. Of course the train does not start from the station I thought it does, so I had to change at an intermediary station. And, as a bonus, the correct station was somewhat closer to where I’m staying.
Having said that, Sintra has something magical to it. It lies in a mountain area, is surrounded by forests, and every building seems to be taken from a children-tale book.
But the town itself, nice as it may be, was not the reason why I went to Sintra.
One of the reasons was the Moorish Castle – Castel dos Muros.
Now, in order to arrive there one is supposed to take a bus. I, however, ignored the distance and just started walking. Later on I realized that between Sintra and the castle are 5km. However the hike was pretty pleasant, so the only concern I had was the time spent walking instead of visiting.
The Moorish Castle – or better put the ruins (mainly walls and towers) – is an old medieval, and later Moor castle, that at fisrt seems deceptively small. Later on I nicknamed it The Great Wall of Sintra. The area surrounded by the wall is huge! However the views were breathtaking. Also the sheer size of the fortifications give a sense of greatness.
After the castle I went to Pena Palace. This 19th century building, which incorporated a 16th century monastery, was built as a retreat for the royal familly. The style is very colorful, and almost every room has some azulejos decoration.
Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside (I hate this), so I do not have the images to show how it looks inside. You can get a pretty good idea though from the outside pictures.
Back in Sintra, I finished the day with a visit to the central palace museum. Nice building, the main attraction is also the azulejos.
At around 6pm I took a train back to Lisbon – it takes about 30 minutes – and found a buffet restaurant in Comercio area. As I was somewhat starving, this was a good thing – I really tried everything!
You can see more photos from Sintra trip in the album Sintra, fairytale town.