Dates – March 26th – 28th 2005
March 28th was a national holiday in France. At first, we didn’t have any plans and were going to spend the weekend in Paris but, at the last minute, we decided to book a trip to Lisbon for the weekend. We flew Air France and stayed at the Le Meridian just a few minutes by taxi or metro from the old city center, Rossio.
We arrived in Lisbon on Saturday afternoon. After quickly checking into our hotel, we immediately made our way to the city center, Rossio. We walked around the Baixa area and then took tram 28 (and old, wooden tram left around mostly for nostalgic tourists; it reminded me of the wild mouse rollercoaster ride at Playland in Vancouver) up to the Alfama quarter. The Alfama quarter is high on a hill overlooking the Atlantic ocean and the city of Lisbon itself. Here, there are some wonderful, windy cobblestone streets with trams dangerously careening up and down them. We spent some time sitting at a small café with magnificent views.
On Saturday evening, we took a taxi (extremely cheap in Lisbon, by the way) down to the Docas area. This is a modern area by the waterfront with a thriving nightlife and great (although pricey) restaurants. Here, we had fish soup, bacalau (salted cod) and some very fresh mangoes from Brazil.
On Sunday, we spent the day in the Belem area (along the waterfront) and saw the Torre de Belem, Monumento dos Descobrimentos (Monument of the Discoveries) and the Jeronumos Monastery. It was a nice sunny day, so it was nice to spend some time in the fresh air of the waterfront region. On Sunday evening, we spent our time in the Oceanaria district on the south eastern edge side of Lisbon. This area was the site of Expo 98 and is made up of brand new centers and a large, modern shopping mall.
March 29, 2005
March 20, 2005
Normandy and Brittany
Mont Saint Michel
Originally uploaded by SaurabhA.
In March 2005, while Aliya was in town, we decided to take a road trip out to Brittany and Normandy over the weekend. So we rented a little car called a Modus, by Renault, packed it up, and hit the autoroute in hopes of finding our way to Mount Saint Michel, Saint Malo and Dinan.
The french countryside was absolutely beautiful. There were little villages and farms all the way to Saint Malo and, as luck would have it, the weather was gorgeous (25 degrees Celsius - in the middle of March nonetheless).
Our first stop was Mount Saint Michel. You really have to see this site to truly grasp just how amazing it is. Basically, it is a mountain with a walled town on top; all of which sits out in the English Channel. When the tide is in, the whole mountain and town are surrounded by the Sea. When the tide is out, everything is surrounded by sandy plains.
Our second stop was Saint Malo which is also a walled city on the English Channel. We spent the night here at a quaint little hotel with very friendly and helpful owners. We spent our time in Saint Malo enjoying the beautiful coastal scenery while walking around (and sitting on) the wall that surrounds the city. This was one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. To sum it up in one sentence, Saint Malo is what you'd get if you mixed an old medieval town with the climate and environment of a coastal resort.
On our way home the next day, we stopped by another walled city called Dinan. Again, this quaint little town had a character of its own, with winding stone roads, a beautiful port and bridge. We had lunch here (crepes and seafood) and relaxed on a patio in the sunshine before heading back for Paris.