Getting Lost in the City. Literally.

We started our day walking around the Avenida da Liberdade. Known as the 35th most expensive avenue in the world (...according to wikipedia! haha), you can find boutiques of brands such as Louis Vuitton, Todd's and Burberry in the area. 

When I realized that no amount of begging would make my mom buy me anything, we decided to take the Hop On Hop Off tour instead. haha

The starting point of the tour was at Marques do Pombal. It's actually located at the top end of the Avenida de Liberdade.

There's the funny upside down sign. We asked the driver why it was like that and he said he never noticed it before. haha 

We went down at the El Corte Ingles bus stop. El Corte Ingles is a well known Spanish department store chain. :) Heaven. 

We spent such a long time there! And in our hurry to catch the bus because I wanted to see the Praca do Comercio and Praca do Rossio (the 2 great squares that were built after the 1755 great earthquake of Lisbon), we took the wrong bus line and ended up here: 

Fail. haha. 

We didn't make it to the 2 squares because we had to cut our tour short. We were rushing for dinner at Olivier Restaurante for L's dinner. By far the best meal I had during our stay at Lisbon!

I ordered the Linguine with Tiger Prawns. So good.

Free birthday cake for the birthday girl!!! :)

Olivier Restaurante

Olivier Restaurante
Rua do Alecrim, nº 23
1200 - 014 LISBOA
Phone: +351 21 342 29 16
Mobile: + 351 91 257 15 05
E-mail: restaurante@olivier.pt

Hop On-Hop Off Tour, Cape Town

Cape Town is one of the most beautiful places I've ever set my eyes on, and taking the Hop On-Hop Off Tour around the city was one of the best decisions we made during this trip.

The nearest pick up spot was the Cape Town International Convention Center, it was only 10 minutes away from our hotel so we decided to walk. There's a bus that would pick up tourists every 20 minutes and we had already decided to take the Blue Mini Peninsula Tour by the time the bus arrived.

There I am with the titos. I insisted that we stay on the top deck to better see the different sights of Cape Town. I think I left them with no choice. haha

Beautiful Cape Town.

We had to choose among the different stops for places that we really wanted to see because we only had a few hours to spare before meeting up with the rest of the group. Everyone agreed on Camps Bay, a quaint suburb lined with shops and restaurants on one side and a beach on the other.

Sitting on the white sand in the perfect beach outfit-- a pair of jeans and a cardigan. hahaha we were told that no one/hardly anyone swims on this beach because the water is freezing.

We then proceeded to the other side to check the stores, and to get a quick bite before the bus arrives to bring us to the next stop.

We didn't have enough time, and so I settled for a Nestle Crunch Bar. And OHMYGOD. South Africa has the best tasting Nestle Crunch Bar that I've ever tried. It's so creamy that it just melts in your mouth. I'm not exaggerating, I ended up buying around 15 bars to bring back home.

And then it was time to go. We saw this car parked across the bus stop, and I thought this was going to be our ride back to the convention center. hahaha

One important thing to know is that it's very cold and windy in Cape Town. I left Manila with the impression that it's always hot and sunny in South Africa. I didn't even bother to check the weather forecast. I packed a bunch of short pants and sun dresses and I was freezing the entire time!

The trees in this area are leaning that way because the winds are always so strong and they would always blow in that direction. Woops.

We didn't have enough time to check out the other spots because it was already time for lunch at Panama Jacks. They have the best seafood platters here! It is definitely a must try if you're a huge fan of fish and shrimps. YUM!