Do not pour water on the floor....

Lisbon is amazing. It reminds me so much of San Francisco it's weird. There is a golden gate bridge, and I do mean a near exact replica, the whole city is incredibly hilly and cable cars are zipping everywhere. If San Francisco had an illegitimate half sister, it would be Lisbon. It made me feel very at home, except everyone kept insisting on speaking Portuguese to me, go figure. I arrived on a Friday, with no reservation of course, and soon (by soon, I mean after an exhausting 3 hour hike around the city with a 20 kilo pack strapped to my back) found there were no hostel beds in the city, at all. I ended up in this crappy pension run by a woman who spoke NO English, tried to rip me off, not once but twice (big ups to the lovely Lisbon Lounge worker who sorted that little mess for me), and had signs posted all over warning you not to pour water on the floor. Is this really an ever present problem, guests who pour water on the floor? But after this little snafu I happily settled in for 3 days in what has quickly become one of my favorite European cities. Then night life is amazing, totally unpretentious fun. The Barrio alto, a neighborhood atop the hills that looks kind of empty and nondescript during the day, throws open its doors and the streets fill with kids clutching 1 or 2 Euro drinks that are served in plastic cups, so that you can take them from bar to bar. Everyone is so chilled out, the local girls are dressed in jeans and t-shirts, a nice change of pace from the de riguer baby hooker gear sported in almost every other major European city, and everyone is having a great time. How much do I love it that my hostel is right in the middle of it all. It also happens to be within 50 meters of the miradour de Santa Catarina. This is a little park like overlook thing that everyone gathers to have a few beers and watch the sunset. Kids, old people, hippies, tourists, students. Everyone just sort of sits down and has a drink while the sun slowly descends behind the bridge and disappears into the river. It really is a truly lovely sight.....doesn't hurt that the beer is really cheap too....