Day Trippin

Our leader from Trek, Luke arrived in Portugal for our mid-term retreat this past Wednesday. For the last few days we have been able to show Luke around Lisbon and show him some of the ministries we have been involved in thus far. Today we did an afternoon trip into the area of Belem and downtown Lisbon.

The Mosteiro dos Jeronimos

The Discovery Monument

This bridge (The Ponte 25 de Abril), reminds me of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco. The statue at the end of the bridge is the Cristo Rei statue (the Jesus statue)

The Torre de Belem

This tower was built as a fortress in 1515. This became a symbol of Portugal's great era of expansion.

The architecture is amazing though.

Gotta love the sight of a Starbucks in Belem. It was the last of the Starbucks in Portugal I had yet to visit. Today, I checked it off of my list. Success!

Belem is well known for their amazing Pastel de Belem. It's a phyllo pastry crust with a creamy custard like middle. You sprinkle cinnamon sugar and icing sugar over top and it is absolutely delicious - especially when you get them still warm! This is a very Portuguese pastry.

After spending a few hours in Belem, we caught the train and headed into downtown Lisbon. We were unaware of a protest going on in some of the main squares today, so we unfortunately were not able to show Luke a ton of the downtown, but I think we still had a good time.

Due to the protest, the Po-Po were everywhere and completely decked out in their swat gear.

We ended off the evening with an amazing meal at Jose and Paula's. Paula is an incredible cook and made us a very Portuguese seafood dish with shrimp, clams, prawns and a delicious kind of fish - sorry I can't remember the name of the dish or the fish. Regardless, we left with our stomachs completely satisfied and full. We fed so well when at Jose and Paula's. Plus, we just really enjoy their company. We are very blessed to work alongside them here.

And of course, no evening at the Arrais home is complete without some "Just Dance" on the Wii. Unfortunately their 6 year old daughter Debora was unable to join us tonight - she's usually our excuse to play, but Rachael, Aleah and I busted out our dance moves without Debora's company. I called this working off the meal we had just consumed.

New Sites + Good Company + Delicious Food 

= A Very Awesome Day!