Lisbon, Lisbon to Madrid and Madrid

It's been a while since I've had any time off!

Lisbon was beautiful. The morning of the first day we visited the Marques de Pombal, an old street market where people sold amazing old relics and antiques. We also took the advice of the waiter from Laurentina and visited Belem for a traditional custard tart that is meant to be the best in town... it definitely was!





That night was Yvonne's hens day/night which we spent eating, street drinking, and partying at the crowded but stylish bars and clubs. Yvonne had a great time, probably because we didn't force her to wear the Australia hat after we left the hotel. We managed to end up at a 3 story club that had a pole room where I managed to get my fix for the trip!





The second day of the hens night was the Optimus Alive! festival where we saw James Bug, Tame Impala (go Freo!), Phoenix, Band of Horses, Kings of Leon, and Django Django. The whole festival was so well organised, and the Portuguese people are so polite! There was even a Heineken guy walking around with a portable beer dispenser - if that was Australia he'd have had it stolen and skulled in a minute!



It was awesome to see Tame Impala outside of Perth, Django Django played a really fun set and got the  crowd involved, but my highlight was definitely Phoenix. Thomas Mars did his come-in-to-the-crowd thing directly above us, and despite thinking I might actually die, it was amazing having him sing 1901 directly in front of us.

The day after the festival (after 3 hours of sleep) we got up to do a walking tour of the old city, Alfama, which was definitely worth it despite the millions of stairs. We caught the very steep 28 tram down which saved us the walk back but also bruised us a bit with it's rattlyness.





After a late lunch/dinner in the slanty streets of Bairro Alto, we headed to the Trainhotel to catch the overnight train from Lisbon to Madrid. It was a really fun trip! The cabins were small, but clean and comfortable, and the rocking of the train definitely made for a great sleep. Breakfast in the restaurant cabin while watching the sunrise was worth the short sleep and early start.







This morning in Madrid we've had a quick look around at Plaza Mayor, Plaza del Sol, and had a great fast-food lunch at Museo de Jambon. I just woke up from an afternoon siesta, and we're just about to get ready to head out for some tapas!