This past Thursday, I met up with my sister for a whirlwind weekend in Lisboa, Portugal. I can summarize by saying — new favorite place. Good weather, excellent food, great people. Maybe that was just the wonderful company I kept, though. 🙂

As we quickly learned, Lisbon should be nicknamed “The Land of Many, Many, Many Hills.” Our days were full of climbing, followed by lots of rewarding views.

Lisbon is also the land of many monuments, including several UNESCO World Heritage Sites. As someone who studies the UNESCO World Heritage list, I loved the opportunity to visit a couple of the bigger sights.

And when I say “big,” I mean internationally renowned, physically huge, and generally very impressive. For example, the Jerónimos Monastery…pictured here in all its detailed glory.

Of course, with so many detailed carvings, it would be impossible for us to not find a few we especially liked.

The courtyard, complete with yet more intricate details.

And the interior, featuring very detailed stained glass.

The Jerónimos Monastery is located in Belém, which gave us a great view of the Cristo Rei on the other side of the water. The sides of the water are connected by the 25 de Abril Bridge, aka the Faux Golden Gate…Folden Gate? Golden Faux?

To get a good view of the city, we took a ferry across the water to Cacilhas. From there, we could gaze back at Lisbon in all its hilly glory.

While visiting Cacilhas, we sampled the local treat of snails.

We also saw more explanation for why Lisbon is known as a colorful, artsy city. Street art and vibrant colors can be found everywhere, and Cacilhas was no exception.

Returning via ferry at night, we got yet more good views of the bridge and Cristo Rei statue.

And of course, Lisbon’s many monuments are no less impressive at night time and during the day.

We even tried to take a good selfie from the Tower of St Vincent…with varying degrees of seriousness/success.

The pics above are just a few brief snapshots of the weekend. Not pictured…the many, many more cribbage games we played. Shopping for hipster cans of tuna. Dancing to the happiest DJs ever. Meeting Sir Captain Jack Sparrow. Coffee stops, pastry shops, and seafood galore.

It was hard to say goodbye to my sis at the end of the weekend, but she’s off to more adventure and I’m headed back to school! Now I just need to bring the sunshine with me…