So it has been a while since my last post, and oh so many things have happened! For one thing, I returned to Sintra and visited Cabo da Roca, a place I recommend every single person to visit someday. Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point in mainland Europe, and boy was it worth the visit! After a long (and scenic) bus ride from Sintra, we arrived and the view was beyond anything I have ever seen. The Atlantic Ocean was smashing against the rocks at the edge of a large cliff. After 21 years of wanting to finally visit Europe, isn’t it ironic that one of my first visits is its westernmost points??
This place is truly amazing though, and the view is something I can sit and watch all day, Check it out!
And of course, I couldn’t leave Lisbon without visiting the famous Torre de Belem and without going to the beach!
Today, I arrived in Porto, Portugal’s second-biggest city and the home of Port wine. Though not as packed as Lisbon, Porto is charming in its own unique way and is famous for its six bridges crossing the Douro River. I didn’t cross the river to get the perfect view of the city today but I definitely will do that sometime in the next few days before leaving for Madrid. The architecture here is also very different than in Lisbon.
Now, I want to end this blog of mine by talking about the Lisbon and the Porto metro systems, and, inevitable, I will compare them to the STM in Montreal.
I haven’t spent much time in Porto yet so I’ll talk more about Lisbon. A few neat facts about the metros:
First off, both Lisbon and Porto (and Madrid) have metro stations at the airport. In Lisbon you literally walk right out of the airport and its about 25 minutes by metro to downtown, so convenient!
Now, these two Portuguese cities certainly understand the importance of bilingualism! Since they understand that many tourists take the metro and these tourists probably do not speak Portuguese, they announce things in ENGLISH. In Porto everything is announced in both Portuguese and English, and in Lisbon the important announcements were also made in English, such as when a line or a station was experiencing problems, etc…
Shall I remind everyone that the STM does not do this and I’ve found myself, on several occasions, translating for tourists on the Montreal metro who did not understand the messages…
Now, rush hour is very different here, and as a result the metro came every 12 minutes at around 6 PM in Lisbon, and this at a central downtown station. Comparatively, at around 9 PM the metros came twice as often. I guess it’s not necessary to have them come more frequently because the metro is never really packed and not once have I failed to get a seat.
In Lisbon changing lines is also super long. There’s a strip between one line and another line with shops, so commuters can actually shop while they’re walking from one line to the other.
The Lisbon metro is one of the most artistic in the world, up there with the Montreal metro! Cool!
Interestingly, one line in Lisbon has metro trains half the size, only 3 carts instead of six, and this is the most popular line, who knows why…
In Porto every metro train has only three carts, but the metro system here is extremely modern and high-tech, the nicest metro I’ve ever seen to be honest.
Here’s a pic of the Lisbon metro:
That’s it for today! Can’t wait to finally arrive in Madrid in a few days and meet my roommates and get to know my new school!
Studying Abroad in Madrid!! 