I was unsure of what we would do on Sunday in Portugal and I was thrilled to death when we were told that we could go to church and also visit the Lisbon Temple that was right next to the church. It was the most I felt at home the entire trip! Its so refreshing that the church is true everywhere and that the spirit is the same. I had to wear head phones during sacrament but even without it, the spirit was tangible.
I love that they had the Portugal flag flying there.
The best part of this day was after church a cute lady followed us out and talked to Carter in Portuguese for about 20 min. To watch him communicate and laugh and respond in a language I'd never heard him speak just made my heart swell! The lady told us a lot of her family isn't active but she travels to go church with the ones who are and then attends her own ward. It was a tiny branch of maybe 40 members, and we doubled their sacrament meeting that day! It was such a great experience!
After church we walked around what felt like a farmers market. We found lunch on our own and we were promised to have the BEST pastel de nata...I've heard of them and tried a few at hotels but wasn't really impressed. But these ones, were quite tasty! The organizers of the tour paid for us all to have the best of the best pastry to be found in Lisbon.
The day then took a turn....We were all hot and tired and exhausted from playing at the beaches and it was day 6 of lots of busy busy travel and we had to stand in line to another monastery with the most boring tour guide who was too smart for her own good. This is the Jeronimos Monastery. Again, it was beautiful and the explorer Vasco da Gama was entombed here. I totally remember studying about him in school.
The tour guide took us back outside into the 100 degree day and wanted us to stand on a map in the cement while she told all the history of Portugal. Oh. my. goodness....it was long and hot....kids and adults were fading fast. Cheeks were turning pink and water was running low. To get the lady to stop talking we really just all had to walk away from her. Rude, I know, but seriously lady, its so hot and these are kids who can't stand and listen to history for an hour!
We sought shade in this large statue.... I never really caught what it was for, I was just glad for the shade. She made us do one last thing and pose like these statues. I had no idea what was going on, but it did turn out cute.
A castle sits atop the hill here.
We couldn't say goodbye to this tour guide fast enough! We were so done with her and I think she was done with us. Glad you're smart lady, but save it for someone else or learn to keep it short and sweet sister! Especially for teens! We learned that all tour guides are not created equal. But I do feel we lucked out for the most part with great guides!
A castle sits atop the hill here.
We loaded the bus and we were never so grateful for AC on the bus! Oh it felt heavenly. As we recovered we drove and past the soccer stadium where Cristiano Ronaldo has played!
We stopped at the famous Lisboa sign. (Americans say Lisbon, locals say Lisboa - the s is more of a sh soud).
Then we were dropped off in the busiest shopping area of down town Lisbon. You could shop for days and it was quite nerve racking trying to keep track of where we'd been and where we were going! We only had an hour to explore too so it was fast and furious.
Notice the mini Chirstis like the one in Brazil.
This is the Vasco da Gama bridge
A very unique cable designed bridge that is 10 miles long.
We ended the night with dinner in a tavern that was very warm! We had pork chops and roasted potatoes and onions. We drank Frubble which is like orange fanta and had a brownie for dessert. It was really yummy! Some of them weren't all the way done....but we still ate them. We were so glad to lay down and go to bed!
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