Lisboaaa Portugal

Hola!
So my family and I spent a couple days in Lisbon, Portugal before heading here to Madrid (really great so far!). It was a pretty interesting experience. First of all I´d never really heard Portuguese before...it was sort of like Spanish and Russian combined, very unique. The European culture is definitely different from American culture, it might take a little time to get fully used to it. The people in Lisbon were really friendly and helpful (except for one odd cabbie), and most spoke some English. It was cool though to pick up and try some Portuguese words out for ourselves.

When we first arrived we mostly walked around and looked at different shops. We took a tram ride (crowded and slightly uncomfortable!) to visit a site called El Castelo de Sao George, or the Castle of St. George, which was neat and historical, plus the views of the city were amazing. Lunch in a local neighborhood of fried potato skins and sandwiches was really tasty. Dinner was a bit more frustrating...we went to a strip where there were lots of restaurants and waiters kept approaching people and pestering them to eat at their restaurant. So we picked a place that had a good menu but unfortunately our food didn´t arrive until an hour later (it was tasty though). We were all a little tired and grumpy, and then someone tried to squeeze past our table but knocked over a glass of port wine onto the floor and it splashed on one of my very few sweatshirts. But aside from that night everything else went really well!
On the second day we visitied a synagogue nearby. It was built a little off the road and we had to enter through a gate. According to an older law, non-Christian places of worhip were allowed but had to be kept more secluded because Portugal was officially a Christian country. This cute little lady let us in and she didn´t know any English, but we were able to communicate in Spanish. The synagogue was really beautiful. Then we met this couple from Israel and they were so cool! I was with people who spoke English, Spanish, and Hebrew all in this synagogue in Portugal. We exchanged emails with the Israeli couple, then headed to a different part of town called Belem. We saw a humongous monastery, a museum with old royal carriages, and a famous Portuguese monument dedicated to Portuguese achievements in exploration. We also ate these super delicious pastries - custard tarts - that were flaky and creamy.

So now we´re in Madrid, and compared to Lisbon it is much more modern and crowded. Last night we went tapas hopping, and we met this waiter who was Jewish and from Morroco. He was really interesting...all in all interacting with locals has been pretty exciting. Earlier today we visited El Palacio Real, which is the royal palace where the king lives...it was so gorgeous. I would put up pictures but I´m not sure if this computer in the hostal has a usb port. And later we´re visiting the Prado museum, which is one of the biggest attractions in Spain. More updates later!