X-Mas Roadtrip: Lisbon and Sevilla

I know I'm a bit far behind posting this now but thought I'd review our 4-day, over 20 hour drive, X-Mas roadtrip. We went to some pretty cool places.

So for once Andrés got some days off after a Sunday game and we thought it would be nice to visit some new places we had never been. We initially wanted to go somewhere warmer and sunny like Ibiza or Las Palmas but tickets were so expensive we thought it wasn't worth it... Soooo we did what most of our friends here thought was the craziest idea, drive to the south of Spain (9 hours away). Our goal was to get to Sevilla but we would figure it out on the way. 

We are an hour and a half away from Portugal so instead of going thru Madrid (which we've seen like a thousand times) we planned to head to Lisbon and if we weren't tired enough we would continue our journey to Sevilla. We got to Lisbon in a record time of four and a half hours. Thank God for no radars on the way (or so we thought). We left at 3PM so It was pretty early when we got to Lisbon and Andrés thought we might as well continue to Sevilla but something in me made me convince him to stay. AND THANK GOD WE DID!! I would've been so mad if we missed this magical city which became one of my favorites so far. One of my other favorites is Prague.

Back to Lisbon..hehe.. The ride to Lisbon was pretty smooth. I should say it was pretty interesting though. Not just because I had to hear Andrés rap the whole way and he put me thru the "Panamericano" song like three hundred times, but because of the scenery. Back home, during Christmas time, Puerto Rico looks like a giant light bulb. People put so many lights and Christmas decorations on their houses you think either electricity is cheap and we have unlimited sources of energy or their might be a shortcut circuit pretty soon. On our drive you could tell you were passing thru the next city because the church would be the only thing lighted. Maybe it's normal here but I was kind of hoping that when we hit hit the next city I would see a giant Santa Claus and all the houses lighted with giant Christmas trees or inflatables on their rooftops. Wishful thinking though. Ohhh I must say the highways are amazing. I don't think we even had a tiny bump on the road during our whole trip. Only bad thing are the tolls. THIRTY EUROS EACH!! Guess I know why their roads are so good. ;). 

Well anyways we got to the center of Lisbon after going around in circles thru the same places because my sister thought she could remember how she got there from being there for two days like three years ago. hahaha. After we got there she did say "see I told you I remembered". Thank God for GPS's too!!

We are not picky travelers so as long as the hotel is clean and beds are nice we'll pretty much stay anywhere. First thing we did was get a hotel. After going up and down thru "Av. de Liberdade" and refusing to pay excessive amounts of money to sleep for 5 hours and leave, we found the cutest little hotel right between Louis Vuitton and Gucci. I swear it wasn't planned. I would recommend this Hotel Dom Sancho I to ANYONE. It is clean, cute, comfortable, in the main street of the center and a GREAT price (maybe 40 euros a night).

That night, as good Puerto Ricans used to US chain restaurants, we went to Hard Rock Café. Obviously not my choice after all that health reading I've been doing. Besides, when I go to a different country I want to try what they eat but "aaaaaanyways" I had some margaritas and was ready to go. 

We spent the whole day walking thru the city center. We took a cab that took us to  "Castle of Sao Jorge" up in a hill. The views here are amazing. After taking a thousand pictures of the views we walked down to the most amazing spot: Portas do Sol. It's a pretty cool bar/lounge/restaurant with more amazing views. We sat there with a bottle of champagne a few beers and some appetizers. I don't think we spent more than thirty euros on everything which made it even better. After that I could've stayed in Lisbon for the next two days and be happy. 

You'll love the views here. The architecture was kind of mediterranean to me (I've never been to the Mediterranean but that's what I think it would look like. haha). You have steep alleys, with boutique-looking homes in assorted pastels, and white, and mosaic cobblestone side walks.

Before the sun went down and after buying our X-Mas gifts we headed to Sevilla. Leaving Lisbon was pretty cool because I got to go thru the San Francisco Golden Gate bridge and see the Rio de Janerio Christ. Well not exactly but they do look like them. hehe.

We got to Sevilla by 10PM and decided to stay in Triana, which is opposite side of the river and to the city center. We didn't do much because everything was closed by the time we got there. So we ended up eating at a chinese buffet by where we were staying. I can barely remember the name of the hotel but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. Next day we moved close to the city center and we loved it. We spent the whole day walking thru the city and its little alleys. Saw the church, and were surprised by a flamenco show in the streets. We had some yummy "paella" at a restaurant and went to a flamenco show at Museo del Baile Flamenco which was amazing and the inside decoration was so cool. They had chairs and trees hanging from the roof.

Our new friend Alberto

After that we headed to the parking, got our car and started to go thru the streets to look for a hotel. We ended  up in an alley where we saw an older couple walking into a bar and thought they would be a good resource to ask for information. Two seconds later Alberto was driving with us in the car and taking us to a hotel he thought was good and would have a parking. We got our room and walked back with Alberto to the bar. Got there and realized the name of the place was "El Rincón de Alberto". Yep, the nice man who helped us was the owner of the place. People in Sevilla are the NICEST. I would live there any day!! So nice and cozy. Needless to say we ended up meeting the funniest guy and by 5 AM we were walking back to our hotel excited about the random series of events that happened. It was AMAZING!! LOVE LOVE SEVILLA!!

The next day some people in the room had a serious case of hangover so I woke up, got ready and did what I love to do..SHOP! I went to the artistry stores, which are my favorite, and got some cool stuff. And the best part was I didn't have a bodyguard in my back following my every step with the most boring face ever... You know what I'm talking about. It's either your spouse, your boyfriend, your dad. In my case were my sis and the hubby who both hate shopping!! So I enjoyed my time with myself and met them fro lunch right before heading back to Santiago. 8 hours later we were home and ready for more exciting days to come (Christmas was only two days away)!