It's Getting Hotter than Mustafar in Here: Adventures as Anakin Skywalker on Tinder

On the afternoon of July 12, 2016, I logged into Facebook and was greeted with tragedy. What came to an end was an adventure, an experience, a beautiful few months of living in the head of a famous character. Facebook had removed my Anakin Skywalker parody account.

Let's set the mood a little (Because this is the only thing I could come up with when I searched "sexy Star Wars music.")

The Idea and the Force Awaken
The account's life began back in January. I have never been on an official date, so I felt like trying to find a first date off the internet was kinda cheap and I didn't feel comfortable showing pictures of myself to strangers on the internet. Still, the dating app Tinder interested me. I know several people who use it and have a lot of fun with it, a few who have gotten dates from it, and I even have a friend who found a girlfriend there. I was curious about what it was like and wanted a way to check it out without risking my dignity and facing the blunt truth of how attractive I actually am.

I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan and over Winter break, just before I created the account, my friends and I waded through 2 1/2 grueling hours of Episode II, so that was fresh on my mind at the time. I love terrible movies, so for as awful as some of the moments in the prequels (Episodes I-III) are, I love them for their cheesiness. Every time I go to the beach, I have to recite the "I don't like sand" line (for the uninitiated, watch the video to the left), probably annoying anybody I'm with, and I have an ironic appreciation of crappy George Lucas creations such as Jar-Jar, midichlorians, and pod racing. This, combined with my desire to check out Tinder inspired me to create an account for prequels-era Anakin Skywalker, where I could refer to Mr. Lucas's wonderful creations to my heart's desire.

Because you're required to have a Facebook to use Tinder, I set up an account for Anakin. This isn't illegal unless someone can prove it did them legal harm (which it didn't), though it does violate Facebook's policies. The website's algorithms recognize fictional character names and prevent you from creating a profile for "Anakin Skywalker," so I went by "Anakin Skywålker." This was totally fine because the algorithms didn't pick up an exact match and on Tinder, the first name would still look the same. I filled in a few goofy details and added myself and a couple close friends who knew about my idea. I added a few photos to fill in the Tinder profile and thought I'd leave it at that for the time being (more on my Facebook profile later). Here's what the basic Tinder profile looked like:

*Jedi hand motion* You WILL swipe right
How Tinder works, for those of you who don't know, is it presents you with a profile like the one I created (but with a real person's first name and pictures) that you can swipe right (like) or left (dislike) on. If you and another person swipe right on each other, you match and the app sets up a chat.

I initially started using Tinder as if I were using it myself, swiping right on girls who seemed fun and interesting and left on those who didn't and kept the age range to 18-25 and the distance to 10 miles from my location. After a couple days, I reminded myself that I was on Tinder for the sake of an elaborate joke and not to find a date, so I started swiping right on everybody and relaxed the age and distance settings. You're allowed something like 50 likes per 12 hours unless you pay, so what I'd do is spend a minute or two of solid right swiping until I ran out and then let the matches flow through until I could swipe again.

Without further ado, here's some things I learned while on Tinder:

It's best to just start a conversation with a simple, "Hi, I'm Anakin. Nice to meet you" than anything else. People liked jokes, but the conversations never went on as long if I opened with them. I'd like to think this is solid dating advice whether or not you're pretending to be Anakin Skywalker.

Dating Tip: Midichlorians are not a good conversation starter

I tried to speak in only dialogue from the movie, but found out this was pretty difficult. I know the movies pretty well, but not that well, and I often had to skim the quotes page on IMDb for lines that didn't always work. I stopped pretty early on after realizing this was way too much work. I did manage a couple times though:

Sand was always a coarse and rough and irritating topic. It got everywhere.

I cannot flirt, even as a fictional character.

You meet some unsavory people

Quite a few girls had a crush on Hayden Christiansen when they were younger. If only his acting skills were as good as his looks, amiright?

Staying in character wasn't too hard, but it meant having to be creative. While Anakin Skywalker is a well-established character, there are a lot of gaps to fill in. For example, one of the first matches I got asked me about life as a padawan, so I had to come up with what I thought Jedi school would be like and what sort of thing Anakin would be learning in the time he's offscreen.

This led me to develop a character within a character, and over the course of several conversations, I began to establish Anakin's opinions on Jedi life, the different planets he visited, the other Jedi, and the prequels-era galaxy. While I was still Anakin Skywalker, I definitely developed my own voice within the framework the movies had given me.

Other running jokes I developed included:

• Anakin is a pod racing junkie with season tickets. I offered to take several matches to Tatooine to see a race
• Trying really hard to hide his relationship with Padmé but failing horribly
• Affectionately calling Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine, "Palpy"
• In the movies, Anakin is upset that the council wouldn't make him a Jedi master, so I ran with that and made him really petty and paranoid, suspecting that insignificant things like tripping over Yoda were costing him his promotion.
• Courscant's smog problem (I'm from LA, so I know a thing or two about smog)

The hardest part about staying in character was keeping things consistent. Anakin changes from a whiney little boy to a whiney young Jedi padawan to the whiney, evil Darth Vader in the course of three movies. That's a lot of different characters to cover within the character. While I was aiming for an Episode II/pre-Episode III era Anakin (whiney Jedi padawan), sometimes I would be asked about turning to the dark side or or whether or not I had kept track of Luke and Leia. Star Wars is a rich franchise because of how much it follows and develops characters like Anakin, but the large scope can be hard to work with if you're trying to nail down a character.

A lot of it had to do with the flow of the conversation as well. Sometimes I thought it'd be funnier to be younger Anakin and be naïve about Palpatine and other times, I thought it was funnier to be post-Mustafar (the big, final battle in Episode 3) Darth Vader and talk to people about the Empire's hiring process and the big plans we had for the Death Star. 

The final thing I learned on Tinder was that most people get the joke and play along, but the few exceptions are the ones who make it all worthwhile.

Using Tinder was an interesting experience. At first, I felt bad judging people based on pictures and three line descriptions, but it became pretty addictive once I dealt with the fact that that's what you do when you use Tinder. It was a good time-waster and a nice companion on the toilet seat, and I really enjoyed being in the head of Anakin and creating my own version of the character. I don't know if I'd look for a date through Tinder--it didn't seem like the best environment for that--but I would definitely use it again, because once I brushed off the initial weirdness, it was a lot of fun.

While I enjoyed Tinder, the Force was also calling me to use my powers on another social media network. To be continued...

Where to Eat in Madrid

As I mentioned in my posts about Madrid, the food in the city isn't great. I didn't have a meal that blew me away in my month there, but some places were definitely better than others. That's what this list is: a list of the restaurants that rose above the mediocrity. Unfortunately, I went to all these places once, so I can't claim to know them as well as some of the places in Rome I visited several times.

Takos Al Pastor (Mexican) Calle de la Abada, 2 [Between Sol and Gran Vía]: This place generated quite the hype around the program, as I was told by a bunch of people that this was a really good restaurant. I don't know why it took me 3 weeks to finally try it, but I'm glad I did. It lived up to the hype. I ordered 2 al pastor tacos (my favorite kind, and also the restaurant's namesake dish), one cochinillo (veal, but pork), and one with potatoes, pork, and cheese. The pastor tacos were the best of the bunch. I wouldn't call them the best tacos I've ever had, but they were damn good--on a par with any above average Mexican restaurant in the US. The cochinillo was good too, though not on the level of the pastor, and I didn't care for the potato/pork/cheese taco. It was more potato and cheese and less pork than I expected and while potatoes and cheese are a great combination, I felt they didn't really work on a taco. Still, it was one of the best meals I had in Madrid. You also can't beat the value of tacos that are €1 each.

My burger & fries

Strawberry Fields (American/Burgers) Calle de Carranza, 11 [Malasaña]: I was out with a friend late at night (by American standards, not Spanish) and we stopped in this place on a whim because neither of us had eaten dinner and we were hungry. It turned out being a great experience. As you may be able to guess, the restaurant is loosely Beatles-themed and it was decorated with images from the 50s and 60s. I ordered a Philadelphia Burger, which was topped with caramelized onions and a cream cheese and oregano mix. It was really good. I wouldn't have thought of putting cream cheese on a burger, but it really worked. The onions were also really sweet and tender. The best part of the meal was the burger itself, which was cooked perfectly: really tender but not under or overcooked. It was a little pricier than some places. I think my food cost about €11, but I felt it was a reasonable price, and I'm willing to pay that if it means good food in Madrid.

Not  great picture, but this was my
shrimp burrito

Marytaco (Mexican fusion) Calle del General Díaz Porlier, 8 [Salamanca]: Worth a visit, assuming you can find it. You have to go all the way out to the center of Salamanca on the East side of town, and the restaurant itself is tucked away inside a market that has two entrances, one of which makes finding the other side difficult and confused me for a solid 15 minutes (granted I was a little sleep-deprived that day). The restaurant is no more than a counter and two small tables. Tripadvisor said they were known for their shrimp burritos, so that's what I got. The man pulled the shell off some shrimp and rolled them in a burrito with the other ingredients and stuck the burrito under a heat press--kind of like a panini maker to warm up. As I waited I was treated to what is now going to become the unique thing I bring to parties: tortilla chips drizzled with teriyaki sauce. You wouldn't necessarily think to combine the two, but it was delicious. The burrito itself was good as well. Not the best burrito I've ever had, but a good one. It was nice and spicy too, which is a quality most European food lacks. It was also a pretty good value at €7. This was another place I wanted to visit again, but didn't get the chance.

The paella place at the Mercado de San Miguel (Spanish) Plaza de San Miguel [Close to Plaza Mayor]: The Mercado de San Miguel is a fun visit if you're in Madrid. Yes it's touristy, but it's still enjoyable. A lot of the food is overpriced, but the paella place offers a decent sized portion for a good price: €4 for a tapa and €7 for a ración, or a plate. I hate to say it, but this was the only paella I got in Spain, but I've had it elsewhere so I have something to compare it to in terms of quality. It was really tasty and makes a great lunch in a pinch. They give you several different types of paella to choose from too, though I only had the chorizo/chicken one because that's what I'm used to and I'm not a big fan of seafood.

La Campana (Sandwiches) Calle de Botoneras, 6 [Right next to Plaza Mayor]: This and the Paella place were the only two places on this list I visited more than once. It's not the easiest place to find, tucked away on one of the many side streets by Plaza Mayor, but it's worth seeking out. For only €2.70, you get a bocadillo (a sandwich with French roll-type bread) with your choice of meat. The calamari bocadillo, which is what they're known for, was delicious. The meat was nicely fried so it was crispy, but with enough actual meat in the center to make it still feel like you were eating calamari and not just a fried something. I also had the sausage bocadillo, which was really tasty as well. My only complaint with this place is that the bocadillos are really plain: it's just bread and meat without any spices, sauces, or vegetables. The meat is delicious and good enough to carry the sandwich on its own, but I wonder what it could have been if they had used more spices or ingredients. Still, at only €2.70, it's really good food, an unbeatable value, and one of the few takeout places in Madrid, so it's perfect if you're out exploring.

This is a half portion

Melo's (Sandwiches/Fried things) Calle del Ave María, 44 [Lavapiés]: Melo's serves the type of food that you can feel clogging your arteries as you're eating it. It's so good it doesn't matter though. Just sit back and enjoy the egregious grease and calorie count. Melo's is famous for its Zapatillo sandwich, which is 3-4 layers of pork and thick Galician cheese bookended by two pieces of soft, buttery toast. Bring friends if you go. The half portion is only €6, but don't let that fool you into thinking you're not getting much food. The half is freaking gigantic and even with my big appetite, I was barely able to finish it, but it was really good. Like La Campana, it's a bit bland, but the ingredients they use are good enough to carry the sandwich and it made for one of the better meals I had in Madrid. Just be warned that you will probably have to stand and eat it, as the restaurant barely has any seating and it can get really busy at peak times.

Miscellanous Dessert Places:

Mistura Calle de Augusto
Figueroa, 5 [Huertas]: Organic
gelato place I stumbled across
 while wandering in Madrid. The
 ice cream is a little pricey for
how much you get, but it was
delicious.

Chocolat (Breakfast/Dessert) Calle Santa María, 30 [Huertas]: One of the Madrileño specialties is chocolate con churros, which is exactly what it sounds like: churros and hot, thick dipping chocolate. It's eaten either as a dessert or as breakfast (Spaniards eat really sweet breakfasts apparently). One of the best places to get it is Chocolat. For €3.50, you get 4 big churros and a cup of chocolate to dip them in. It's hard to go wrong with this combination, and it's one of the few foods that actually originated in Madrid. Definitely worth trying if you're visiting Madrid.

La Mallorquina Calle Mayor, 2 [next to
Puerta del Sol]: Touristy and always
busy, but the chocolate croissant I had
was delicious. I wish I had gone back.

La Romana Paseo de la Habana, 27
[near Real Madrid's stadium]: It's a
ways out of the center of town, but
the ice cream is excellent. Some of
the best I've had since leaving Rome.

So eat away! But go to the South for really good Spanish cooking.

Madrid: Better Late than Never

Sorry, Madrid. I like you now

It took me a really long time to board the "Madrid is awesome" train, but I finally made it. Enjoying the city didn't come easy, but it wasn't its fault.

Gray weather = sad weather = unmotivated Noah

As I mentioned in the last Madrid post, exploring the city was harder because my apartment and the study center were far away from anything interesting, so I really had to carve out some time and plan ahead if I wanted to go exploring. Madrid is spread out and thus not very walkable so I really can't wander much. I also still had Rome hangover (which I'm now going to describe as culture shock), so I got frustrated with Madrid initially because it wasn't Rome.

Finally, I was depressed during some of my time in Madrid, mostly during the first couple weeks. The insane pace of the program and drop in quality and amount of sleep finally caught up to me. Combine that with gray, rainy weather (which already makes me depressed) and it made it hard to get out, get excited about things, and put in the effort exploring Madrid requires. Naturally, this contributed pretty heavily to how much I was enjoying myself and the city.

Once the weather warmed up and I adjusted my expectations and realized I needed to sleep more, Madrid grew on me quickly. I spent my final couple weeks in Madrid finally finding all the cool places. I'm happy I found them, but I'm sad I wasn't able to find them earlier and visit them more than once. I feel guilty leaving Madrid because I feel like I didn't really get to know the city in the same way I did Rome. Only at the end of my time there did I realize how cool the city was and I feel like there was a lot I didn't see or do because I didn't give it more of a chance early on.

Tacos from Takos Al Pastor, one of the restaurants I was
able to find in Madrid.

The biggest reason I didn't like Madrid initially is still my least favorite thing about the city: the food. It's really underwhelming. In every city I've been to, I can do some quick searches on the internet and come up with several great places to eat. Except Madrid. In Madrid, the top rated restaurants that weren't way out of my price range didn't impress me. I could tell the ingredients were quality, but my food was usually bland and unseasoned. The flavors didn't dance in my mouth and make me savor every bite and make me fall in love with life like all my favorite meals do. It wasn't necessarily bad food, it was just food--something to go in my stomach to tide over my hunger until the next meal, not a special experience. There are exceptions (I'll do a post in a few days), but they are hard to find. This was a huge letdown, especially coming off the ridiculously high standard of food in Rome. I was told Madrid was a great food town, but I can't say I agree. If you want good Spanish food, head down to Andulucía.

Thankfully, what Madrid lacks in good food it makes up for in other ways.

Parque del Oeste

The parks are my favorite thing about Madrid, hands down. For a major Metropolitan area, you wouldn't think it would have a lot of greenery, but it does. According to the internet, there are a whopping 13 parks and gardens in the city, a couple of which are Central Park-sized. Parks in Madrid were a bit like churches in Rome for me: if I saw one near me on a map, I had to go see it.

Arganzuela

You can get lost in the parks and in some places, it's so green and peaceful, you feel like you're miles from the city despite being less than a mile from a major street. Sometimes I'd go to a park, find a bench or a grassy area and just lay around for a bit as a de-stressor or a much-needed break from spending all afternoon walking around. Retiro Park is the most famous, but my favorites were Parque de Oeste, Arganzuela (along the river in South Madrid), and the lake area of Casa de Campo.

You know what rhymes with free? Dalí.
(From the Reina Sofia)

There tons of student discounts. Nearly every major museum or public service offers some kind of student discount. I've been able to get into a lot of the museums either for free or with at least a 50% discount by showing them that I'm a student under 25. The two major art museums, the Prado and Reina Sofia, are already worth a visit, but since they both offered free admission for students, there's no reason not to go. I saw the Prado in 4 separate trips because I didn't have anything to lose because of the free admission. The monthly public transportation pass is also only €20 for students versus the regular €55 price. It more pays for itself if you're there even for a week.

I will forever miss Madrid's metro. Oh god, it's so good. I know I already touched on this in the previous post, but I've only had one incident where it was even remotely slow. It's clean, safe, works like clockwork, and gets you everywhere. I'm going to be so sad going back to L.A., where the public transportation is none of those things. I took it everywhere. It's a godsend.

At a concert I went to. The
moment the frontman pulled
out a ukulele, I knew it was
going to be good.

Finally, Madrid is a city of doing, not of seeing. What I mean by that is the city is all about what you can do in it versus what you can see. You shouldn't go to Madrid to see the monuments and buildings. Places like the Royal Palace and Cibiles Plaza are really nice, the parks are pretty, and so forth, but the vibrant heart of Madrid lays in its bars, clubs, restaurants, and events.

Pinchos, which are like tapas but different.
I couldn't tell you the difference.

         Even the food is an event in Madrid. Tapas bars, the most popular form of restaurant in the city, are made specifically for going out with a few friends and drinking and eating the night away together.
I think that's part of the reason the food is not as good as other cities. The food is merely one part of the experience of dining out, and therefore if the service and atmosphere are good, the bar for food can be lowered because it is not the only thing people go out to a restaurant for. This also explains why there are hardly any takeout or fast food places that aren't international companies.

         All of this is important to know when visiting Madrid, and something I wish I'd known when I first got there. I spent too long waiting to find the cool sights--Madrid's answer to the Colosseum and the Vatican--that I feel like I was totally missing the point of the city.

Cibiles Plaza. I'm really proud of how good this picture looks.

Though I like other cities in Europe more, Madrid really grew on me. It's a beautiful city filled with life and culture. I definitely want to come back to Spain at some point, so I imagine I'll stop by Madrid when I do. I'd like to come back and give it a second chance and an apology, though I'd bring more friends and money than I had this time around.

So until next time, Madrid, Adiós.

A Weekend in Lisboncisco

The tales are fake cause it's not actually San Francisco.

I love San Francisco. It's a great city with many unique, unmistakable features. A few highlights are:

The hills:                                                                    
The cable cars:
            


The specialty dessert shops:                                                        

The beautiful architecture:















The gorgeous bay:

                              



The seafood:

The massive bridge connecting the two ends of the bay:

And of course, who could forget the famous, one-of-a-kind, Golden Gate Bridge:

Oh wait. Never mind. That's Lisbon, Portugal.

Lisbon is Europe's answer to San Francisco. Or, San Francisco is America's answer to Lisbon. I'm not sure which. It seems like a chicken/egg thing because while Lisbon is much older, there are a lot of modern features the two cities have in common, such as the bridge that looks too much like the Golden Gate to be a coincidence. The similarities are too uncanny to ignore. It started when I'd see something in Lisbon and think, "hey! This reminds me of San Francisco" and the similarities kept piling up over the weekend.

I didn't know that much about Lisbon or Portugal when I booked my trip there, but it was listed on some website as one of the best value cities in Europe and the flights were relatively cheap, so I decided to go for a weekend. It was great.

Here's some of my notes about the city, other than the fact that it's Europe's San Francisco:

The hill down from Barrio Alto

The hill down from my hostel

Hills, hills, and more hills: You need a topographical map to explore Lisbon. My hostel was a quarter mile from one of the trendy neighborhoods in town, Barrio Alto. What they don't tell you is that while it is a quarter mile away, that quarter mile involves going all the way down a hill and all the way up an even steeper one. "Barrio Alto" literally translates to "high neighborhood," so I'm not sure what I expected.
        Every day is leg day in Lisbon. I guarantee you will walk up at least one steep hill per day if you do the city on foot at all. It's just part of life there. It'll leave your legs extremely sore by the end of the weekend, but it's a good workout and it justifies splurging on the food.


The Portuguese can be called many things, but "good drivers" is not one of them: They're on a par with Roman drivers and possibly a bit worse. You kinda have to time it and run if you want to cross the street when there's no stoplight.

Rossio Square, where a lot of this happens

Waiters and drug dealers are aggressive: I couldn't go through Rossio Square or any other main area of town without hearing someone ask me, "hashish?" Sometimes it was just a passing whisper as I walked by, but other times guys would call me out and be like, "Hey, buddy! Hashish? Marijuana?" while walking towards me, showing a small bag of weed or a lighter in their palm. Restaurant waiters in the tourist area are also bad about this. I stopped once to glance at a menu and after realizing it was too pricey and probably not that great, I walked away and a lady came out and shouted, "Sir! Come back!" so I turned around and she said, "why don't you want to eat here??" like it was of some great offense to her. All this freaked me out at first, but by the end of the first day, I realized that Lisbon's vendors are slightly shadier versions of the people who stop and ask you if you want to donate to save the oceans or something like that. You just have to look forward and ignore them and they won't pursue you any further. It's an acquired skill. Shoutout to the gay rights activists and CALPIRG at UC Davis for preparing me for Lisbon.

Vasco da Gama's tomb in the St.
Jerome church in Belem

The Portuguese love Vasco da Gama: He was an explorer in the 16th Century who put Portugal on the map and paved the way for its large colonial empire. His remains are on display in the St. Jerome church, one of the statues in the Belem area shows him leading all the other figures out towards sea, and many roads and buildings bare his name. I have to think he is linked with national pride, something that has not always been easy to come by in Portugal, particularly in the last century.

A lot of people speak English well: I was shocked at how many people in Lisbon spoke English really well. While people do in Spain and Italy, it's usually pretty broken, but in Portugal, I'd ask someone if they spoke English and they'd understand what I was saying and respond clearly. This made getting around a lot easier, considering I knew absolutely no Portuguese coming to Lisbon. It's an interesting language. It's kinda like Spanish, but it sounds more like French when it's spoken, but it nonetheless confused the hell out of me.

The Food:
-Cervejeria Ramiro: Since it's, you know, kind of in a bay, Lisbon is known for its seafood. The specialty dish is bachalau, which is salted cod. I didn't have any because I'm not a big fan of seafood. Still, I felt like I had to eat something from the ocean while in Lisbon, so I went to a famous restaurant called Cervejaria Ramiro. I'd heard of it because travel show host Anthony Bourdain goes there in an episode where he visits Lisbon. The place is pretty easy to spot because of the long line outside. I waited about 25-30 minutes, but this seems to be the norm and part of the Ramiro experience.

Said display case of seafood I sat next to. My garlic shrimp was
the picture I used for "seafood" in the intro.

       I sat right next to a display case where they kept live seafood. A chef would occasionally come by, open the lid, and take a lobster out and take it to the kitchen to be cooked. I also heard from a fellow tourist that the restaurant has giant tanks in its basement where it breeds all the animals it cooked. This means it's extremely fresh, which is a great sign. I'd been eying the garlic shrimp (shrimp is one of the few types of seafood I like) from the moment I saw the menu earlier in the day, so that's what I ordered. It was delicious. You could definitely tell how fresh these shrimp were. They were meaty, just the right level of tenderness, and above all, smothered in garlic. If you like seafood, I feel like Ramiro is kind of a must. It's pricier than a lot of places, but not unreasonable.

The inside of the restaurant. The grill is
against the wall.

-Frangasqueira Nacional: The best meal I had in Portugal was from a place called Frangasqueira Nacional. It's a place tucked away pretty far from most of the action of the center of town on a side street, marked by only a simple banner in front. The restaurant itself is one room, divided by the counter. There are two tiny chairs, but otherwise no seating whatsoever. The other three quarters of the room contained the register, a prep station with a cutting board, and a pretty big grill that had several birds, ribs, and sausages grilling at any given time. There was one cook, who would move the birds across the grill.

Once he thought they were done, he would lift the bird off the grill with a pair of tongs and masterfully scissor it into bite sized pieces in a few quick and deliberate snips. He would then put it in the tin and brush it first with a yellow/green oil and then with a red oil before giving it to the customer. I had to wait a while because of some big orders they had, but I didn't mind because this process was mesmerizing. I ordered a mishta, or mixed plate, which had half a bird plus ribs (he gave me two extra because he said he could tell I was a nice guy) and a sausage, with a side of homemade potato chips. Lunch was a glorious feast of meat. I don't know what they do to their meat, but it was incredible. I walked away satisfied and extremely stuffed. I finished lunch about 1:30 and wasn't hungry again until around 9:00.

A pastel de nata

-Pasteis de Belem: The last notable place I went was a pastry shop called Pasteis de Belem. It's been open since the 1830s and it's where the Portuguese specialty pastry, the pastel de nata, was invented. To say a pastel de nata is a custard cup wouldn't be doing it justice, but I'm not sure how else to describe it. The sugar is burnt and caramelized on top and the surrounding pastry is so flaky and gives just enough of a crunch before it gives way to the sweet, fluffy custard center. This is another place that almost always has a line, but it moves quickly and with pastries this good and this cheap (1 euro each), it's worth it. The history behind the bakery makes the pastry even better, knowing that you are getting THE original.

-The beer: The icing on the cake of the delicious food is the fact that the Portuguese beers are really good. There are two: Super Bock and Sagres. I really liked both of them. They're your run of the mill mass-produced beers, but I felt like they were a pretty big step above the standards I've had in Italy and Spain. I think Super Bock is better, but I wouldn't complain if I had either in my glass.

The Sights:

-The Castelo de São Jorge: The castle is the best thing to do in town, if you ask me. You have to climb to the top of a really steep hill (It's Lisbon. You should be expecting this) and I think the entrance is something like 8 euro, but it's absolutely worth the money. You get a beautiful view of the bay and the city,first and foremost, and then you get to go up and climb around in a FREAKING CASTLE. How cool is that??? If you don't think climbing around in a castle and getting views of Lisbon is cool, then you're beyond lame and frankly, not someone I want to be friends with.

The St. Jerome monastery/church in Belem

-Belem: Belem is district about 4 miles from the main area of town, a 15 minute train ride away. I went to Belem expecting to spend an hour or two, but I ended up spending about 4 hours there. The two famous landmarks of the area are the Torre de Belem and the St. Jerome Monastery. The St. Jerome Monastery is a huge, gorgeous gothic-style church. I think it's more impressive from the outside, but it is also really beautiful on the inside and admission is free, so there's no reason not to go in. It's definitely up there with my favorite churches in Europe. The Torre de Belem is sort of a mix between a lighthouse and a castle. It looks like a castle, but was used to keep watch over the bay and make sure nobody unwanted came through the harbor. I didn't go in because I'm cheap, but it was still cool to look at from the outside.


-The Expo Area: I actually stumbled across this area on accident, because I wanted to go to the aquarium (it got a ton of great reviews on TripAdvisor) and while I did go to the aquarium, the Expo sights around it were even better. Apparently Lisbon hosted the World Expo some time in the 90s and this area is where it was held, so it's full of really cool, futuristic-looking buildings. It feels pretty empty (though I was there in the morning), but it's really cool to walk around.

From an Observation point in Barrio Alto

Lisbon was awesome. It was one of those cities that I just had a good feeling about before visiting, and I wasn't let down at all. I had three great days and would definitely go back next time I'm in Europe and would definitely recommend it a heartbeat. It was historical, beautiful, and full of life, food, and culture. You can't ask for much more from a city.

It's also now become a goal of mine to tell someone about my weekend in Lisbon in a vague enough way to make them think I'm talking about San Francisco.