It’s about 2am local time and we’re on the overnight train from Lisbon to Madrid. We should be pulling into Madrid at roughly 9 am. The train isn’t full so we’re able to stretch out a bit.

Lisbon was an amazing and underrated city. For some reason it was the city we were most excited about visiting — maybe because we had NO knowledge of what to expect. Aside from the food, which I have to say was average, it definitely ranks in my top 5 favorite cities in the world. For those scoring at home, my favs are 1) New York 2) London 3) Lisbon 4) San Francisco 5) Clifton, NJ

I’m not really into seafood, and that’s what dominated most menus in Portugal. Lots of salted cod, sole, etc. Not really bad, but not my favorite.

I may have mentioned this before, but we stayed at a B&B called Zuzabed. It was owned by a guy named Luis. He was born in Mozambique but raised in Portugal. When we mentioned we lived outside Newark, he said “like near Ferry Street?”

He helped us out a ton while we were there and even insisted on giving us a ride in his car to the train station tonight — so we didn’t need to carry our bags across town. Good stuff.

So we’re pretty excited about meeting up with Josh tomorrow. For those who don’t know, Josh is our friend from Montclair. He’s a fellow slacker who also quit his job and has been traveling through Europe since August 1. We plan to travel with him through France, England and Denmark. He also speaks fluent German so that should help us in none of these countries.

OK, I’m going to try and get some sleep in this here chair. Talk to you from Spain later on.

Check em out here.

I know, we’ve been posting a lot on this thing, but it’s just so convenient with the free wifi — and these late-night espressos are keeping me up.

Had breakfast this morning with some folks from New Zealand. Good people. Wasn’t anticipating that we’d meet so many people along the way, so that’s been a pleasant surprise. Another surprise: Portugal is slippery. The slippery-est country I’ve been to. I’m serious. The sidewalks are all made of smooth white stone. Throw in some hills and a pair of flip flops and it gets ugly. I don’t know if it’s just us or what, but we’ve nearly wiped out on a few hills. It sounds stupid, I know, but it’s true.

Anyway, we went to the beach today in a town called Estoril — about a half hour by train. Old guys in Speedos, girls with armpit hair …the works. Everything you’d expect from a European beach.

Back in Lisboa, we stumbled upon the Portugal-Finland Euro 2008 qualifier in a cafe. Drank Super Bock and watched the second half of the match (they drew 1-1) and the first half of France-Italy. The Portuguese were pretty mellow. They just stared at the screen and didn’t say much. I was actually the loudest guy there. Imagine that. I tried to get a few chants going — to no avail.

So we slid back down the hill on the sidewalk to our room where I sit now, typing words to you, my friends and loved ones.

We’re off to Barcelona tomorrow. Not sure how to get there or where we’re staying. But Josh Cheatham will be there and the sidewalks will not be slippery. Adeus. (I only had one Super Bock. I did.)

From the window in our room in the Chiado quarter of Lisbon, we can see the Castelo de Sao Jorge on the hilltop a couple of miles away. It’s visible from various places in this city because of the many hills. These hills contribute to the beautful landscape, but they also make walking quite trechorous, Each time you turn a corner, you’re faced with a decision: Up or down? Which muscle gets the workout? We invariably choose up, thinking of how much easier it’ll be to backtrack. Somehow, we always end up walking uphill both ways. How does this happen?

I’m not sure we had a ‘typical’ Lisboa breakfast this morning, but it was home made by our host Luis and much appreciated: Eggs, ham, fresh bread, fresh squeezed OJ and really great espresso. (Side note for Christian: Coffee here is real smooth and strong. It’s basically espresso … they drink it with milk, so it gives it a nice latte-type taste). After spending some time talking to a young couple from England (also guests here at the B&B), we were off for another full day. (Another silly side note: the Brits didn’t think we were American. They didn’t even speak English to us right away … not sure what they thought we were, but I think that works to our advantage a bit?)

We got our train pass and took a cable car, mostly because it was right infront of us and we didn’t really have a plan. So we hopped on and rode it to the end. We got off and wandered around and area called Estrela. We were joined by an older German couple, who were on holiday in Portugal for 3 weeks. They were suprised that we thought we could attempt Europe in only one month, but they were still kind to offer their home in Frankfurt to us if we were traveling through!

After wandering aimlessly for a bit, we took another tram to Belem. This was a lovely area…it was very touristy, maybe a bit like Battery Park, lots of monuments and parks, but of course these momuments are from the 1400’s so it’s way more worth it! Of course, to my delight, Belem is also known for it’s pastry! There is one famous pastry that is aptly named ‘Pateis de Belem’, it’s a real flakey crust with custard inside which tastes a bit like creme brule. They come six in a long box, of course we didn’t want to offend and just get two, so we got a whole box and took to the park to relax and eat. It’s 5:30 now and we’re back in our room resting a bit before we journey out for some dinner. More later…

Greetings from sunny (and hot) Lisboa. We arrived here this morning at 9am after a rather uncomfortable six hour flight with an hour or so of delays in sunny Newark. We didn’t get much sleep on the plane, so the Mrs is conked out on the bed here in our room. Me? I’ll sleep when I get home.

We met a nice older Portuguese couple in the boarding area in Newark and spent most of the hour delay talking about restaurants and sights that they thought we’d like. He told me I had to stop at a cafe outside the Rossio (the main square in Lisboa) and have a shot of Ginginha, Not sure what it is, but he said if I could still walk afterwards there were nice restaurants on the same street. So, I’ll probably pass on that. (No I won’t.)

We’re staying in a place called Zuzabed — a bed and breakfast on a hill filled with restaurants. All the windows in the room are open and it smells like my old apartment in Montclair — food smells from restaurants, not bachelor pad smells. We’ve got free WIFI in the room, too, so it’s all good.

So, we’ll crash for a bit more in the room here and then go out and explore a bit and find a good place to eat dinner. I’ve already taken some photos so I hope to get ‘em on Flickr soon enough. This place is a photographer’s dream. Beautiful architecture, tiles, colors, etc. Interestingly, it’s also covered in graffiti.

OK, I’m gonna go see if my euro power converter works and try to charge this thing. More later.

Adeus (I think that’s goodbye, Heck, I’ve only been here for 8 hours…)