September 17th, 2016

Day 3-4

Yesterday, I overindulged in the feast for the senses. The day started sensibly, exploring the neighborhoods of Lisbon. Never have I climbed so many stairs! We discovered intriguing murals, hidden shady parks with fountains, secret alleys with tiny, mysterious doorways into ancient buildings, a cafe where we ordered by pointing, and then translated the menu board afterwards to see what we were eating.
Back at our room on the fourth floor (no elevator, stairs with more rise than tread), we thought about resting but decided to take the metro back to the airport to rescue the bag that didn't make the transfer.
I pretty much unraveled when we headed back out for dinner. We were swept up in surging crowds, pounding music, strobe lights and honking cars as downtown became one big throbbing Vogue Fashion Festival. I had to retreat, and call it a day.
A decent night's sleep, and we were ready to stuff our backpacks and leave our suitcase behind once again. We hiked through the city for about an hour to the bus, which took us to Santiago de Cacem, where we checked out castle ruins, found a cobbler to tighten our pole tips, and noshed on fried pockets of, um, stuff, at a local cervejaria. Back on a bus, beneath a full moon, we are now headed to Odeciexe, where we will stay several nights between day hikes.