Day 3 - 5/25/2003 - The day of the bus tour
(aka over the hills and through the … Lisbon)

Temperature: 70° F = 21° C
Weather: Sunny & Windy
Location: Sintra to Lisbon

We got up this morning early (6:30 AM) (1:30 AM at home) and went to breakfast. Our hotel had an awesome assortment of food. Soft-boiled eggs, ham, fresh-cut fruit, pear juice, crepes, etc .

After breakfast, we check, out, got into the wrong taxi (another couple in the hotel was going to the airport, not the train station), and we took our cab to the train station. We were on the train in the station when I realized that I had the room key still. Hilary said, “It’s a good thing it’s only a key card, so it doesn’t matter. You have your passport, right?”

At that point, my heart stopped. It was back at the front desk of the hotel! We ran off the train with our luggage just as the train pulled out of the station. We had to take a cab back to the hotel. I ran in, threw the key card on the desk and said, “Forgot my passport!!!” They still had it and handed it over. I ran back to the cab and off to the train station we went …. again.

We got on the train and made it back to Lisbon in time to store out luggage in a train locker. (I hope it’s still there). =) They were filming a movie in the train station near the platform where the lockers were. I didn’t recognize any actors and they were speaking Portuguese, so I’m guessing we won’t be seeing it in the US.

We raced to meet our tour group because we were late after returning to the hotel for my passport. We took a cab to where we were meeting the group, and we made it there with 10 minutes to spare. We were very lucky we made it!

The tour bus went to Obidos first. It was an old fortress (or wall city). We didn’t have a lot of time to spend here, but we did pick up this journal and souvenir pen. (It’s a BIC). =)

The second place we stopped included a visit to a couple cathedrals. One had a chapel that wasn’t finished! It looked like they stopped building it right before they put the roof on it!

We were also lucky to catch the changing of the guard at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was weird seeing military in a cathedral.

After that, we went to Nazare for lunch. It was great! We had soup, salad, green wine (like white wine with a greenish tint), a native fish called “Hake,” and dessert (rice pudding with cinnamon).

We also made friends with some others on our tour who were sitting at our table. There was a young couple from PA (State college) of all places! And we met a retired Columbian pilot traveling with his son. We had conversations about Gypsies, differences and origins of language, and what kind of fish we ate! (That’s how I found out that it was called “Hake”).

After lunch, we were off to our final destination: a gift shop. It was a religious gift shop for Fatima, a tour that has been visited by the apparition of the Virgin Mary on regular occasions in the early 1900s. We bought a few things and then headed out to the Shrine of Fatima.

This was an experience. There were people walking on their knees through this beautiful town square. There were people throwing candles into a huge bonfire. I threw one in as a prayer for my family’s and friend’s health.

There was a service going on inside the basilica, so we only got a peak inside. There seemed to be different-shaped candles to be burned, too. There were foot-shaped candles and hand-shaped candles. We assumed it was for the different blessings for different ailments.

We got some ice-cream and waited for our bus. When it got there, we began our journey home. I wrote most of the journal entrée for days 1 and 2 on the bus. (This the exceptionally messy hand-writing) =)

When we got to our hotel, we decided to be adventurous and go out walking the city. It’s amazing how quiet Lisbon was for a capital city! We walked and walked, sometimes going over and over the same routes back and forth. We must have looked like locals, though, because some other Americans asked us for directions! We finally broke down and found a cab to take us to the main street of Lisbon, which was all … you guessed it … CLOSED! We went into a hotel and asked for directions to go to a restaurant for dinner.

He gave us directions, we followed them, and we found the restaurant! And we had a great meal! We took a cab back to the hotel … and passed out. It was a full day!

More pictures from Day 3:

	At this monestary, the monks would fast until they were thin enough to fit through the door on the right!
	Look at that fortification!
	This is the interior of one of the cathedrals we saw that day. The interior was really white, but the color coming off the stain glass made the whole room look pink!
	Look at that shore-line! That's the Atlantic Ocean (on the other side).
	This was the cloisture to one of the cathedrals we saw that day. All other cloisters look the same, so I didn't take any more pictures of cloisters after day 3. :)

Introduction Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10