Day 3 - Lisbon

August 9
We arrived in Lisbon just after lunch and checked in to our hostel after a long and hot walk from the train station. We were spoiled a bit by the first hostel and this one was not nearly as nice, but it got the job done. We had a bed to sleep in. As soon as we checked in we got a quick bite and made our way out to the aquarium. It is the second biggest in the world and the whole thing is built around a giant tank that represents the natural ocean and has tons of different fish and plants inside. It holds the same amount of water as 4 Olympic size swimming pools. The main tank had several kinds of sharks, rays, eels, barracuda, tuna, grouper, sunfish, and tons of other weird ones that I didnt recognize. As you walked around the giant tank there were many other smaller tanks with specific kinds of plants and animals from different oceans of the world. We spent about 2 hours there. We were there for about 2 hours and then headed back to the main part of town. We headed for a cafe that is at the top of a 100 year old tower with an elevator, but we chose to walk up the hill to get there instead. The top offered some great views of the city and a couple of well deserved beers. From here we headed back down to explore the city streets. Like most old cities in Europe, Lisbon has a main part of town that is mostly pedestrian, so we walked around there a bit. We came out at the coast where there is a giant arch at the gates of some very old government buildings with a massive public square. We saw that a stage had been erected to we checked it out and found that we were in the middle of an Ocean Festival and tonight would be a free concert by Craig David. I'm not really in to Craid David but we thought it would be cool anyway. We had some time to kill so we went for a quick dinner and back to the concert. The opening band was Portuguese and while they rocked, I had no idea what they were saying. My feet and back hurt from walking all day so I was ready to hear the one Craig David song I knew and go to bed. Intro band played for an hour and a half before CD came on, played three songs and we left. I almost got my pocket picked but luckily I have deep pockets and not much in them. That night I was very ready to get off my feet and get in bed. Tomorrow, the beach!