The Sé Cathedral

This cathedral is one of if not the most famous in all of Lisbon. It is situated on the steep, windy, cobblestone hill that leads up to the Saint George Castle. Due to the fact that parts of it have been destroyed over the years from various earthquakes, it has been remodeled in different eras of Portuguese history, and therefore bears resemblances of different architectural styles.The most visible is the Romanesque aspect that is the front of the Cathedral, which I thought was absolutely beautiful. As you can see in the pictures it is a massive building, I'm glad I got to see and experience it. When Camilia came we went to a really good, traditional Portuguese restaurant close to the cathedral where we enjoyed some of Portugal's famous bacalhau (cod fish). We also took a neat picture of a long row of beautiful Portuguese buildings, all painted in different colors.

Ancient Roman Theater and Museum

As most of Europe, the area of Portugal was a part of the Roman empire many years ago. I was able to see remnants of that as we visited a Roman theater that was discovered a long time ago. It was interesting to see the architecture that was used for the theater as well as the statues that adorned it. They now use the theater to perform different theatrical acts from time to time and as open for the public to see.

Aljube Political Prison

Portugal was ruled by a dictatorship called the Estado Novo regime from 1933 to 1974. It was started by Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, who was the ruler of Portugal from 1932 until 1968. The ditadura militar (military dictatorship). The regime's main goal was to retain all of the empire's that it had gained over the years. The regime was extremely harsh to its citizens, and used a secret police to stay in control and retain its power. It was through this secret police that they took away civil liberties and rights, and put fear into the hearts of all Portuguese citizens except for those on their side. If anyone was heard speaking against the dictatorship, they would be arrested and put in jails like the Aljube political prison that we visited. These people had no rights, and could be held there for as long as the corrupt government deemed necessary. The police had many spies in the country, and these spies would alert officials if anyone was speaking against the regime and they would be arrested without any questions asked. For this reason, nobody trusted anyone else and everybody was afraid. The treatment in a prison like this was cruel. For years they would be subjected to poor food and facilities, few visits from family, and harsh torture methods including beatings, as well as having to stay standing and not sleep for days on end (there was a man who stayed there who didn't sleep for a total of 19 days). On April 25,
1974, the Estado Novo regime was overthrown in the Carnation Revolution by a military group called the Armed Forces Movement. I really enjoyed learning about this prison as well as this sad era in Portuguese history. Included in the following pictures are the cells that the prisoners stayed in, records and file cabinets of the members of the secret police, a picture of April 25th when they revolted against the regime (the broke into the building and threw out all of the files), a picture of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, and pictures of the many victims of the regime that lost their lives during the military dictatorship. There are some aspects of the Portuguese lifestyle that evidently stem from this era, including the fact that many Portuguese people still don't have a lot of confidence or trust in those around them.

Bull Fight!

I had the amazing opportunity of being able to go to an old-fashioned bull fight with my friends Derek and Kevin. It was definitely a new experience, and much different than what I was expecting. The bull fight was in an incredible stadium called Campo Pequeno. It is an old arena that looks like a Russian castle. It is a closed arena, so it got pretty hot in there and everyone around me was smoking so I smelt pretty horrible by the end of it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. They started the fight with some ceremonies where a lot of people on horses and carriages came riding out and greeting the crowd and the dignitaries. After the ceremonies, the action was on! There are three main parts of the fight. The first part is a man riding around on a horse, sticking spears into the back of the horse. He tries to put the spear in the bull, and then run away from him on his horse. This is the most gruesome part of the event, because the bull does bleed a decent amount when the spears are in him. The second part of the fight is the part that everybody sees in movies, when the bullfighter holds the red carpet in the air and the bull rushes after him but misses. It is interesting, because the bull actually does do that thing where he drags his feet in the dirt before he attacks that you always see in cartoons (I didn't see any smoke come out of his ears, but I was sitting pretty high up). The final part was the most unexpected for me, but easily the most exciting. They finish things off by having a man walk up right in front of the bull wearing a red shirt. He walks kind of funny, somewhat teasing the bull and shaking his hips. He screams loudly, and the bull rushes him! He hits him harder than I have ever seen a man get hit before. The man has a group of other men similarly dressed behind him that all try to grab the bull and get him to relax. If they don't succeed in this however, the bull pretty much just runs everybody over and stomps on them. And if they don't get it on the first time, they try again until they get it right. I was blown away the first time I saw them do this, and every subsequent time I was on the edge of my seat to see what would happen. These guys would really get beat up too, there jackets and pants would get ripped, they would get bruised and their faces would get bloody. They were also covered in blood from  the blood that was on the bull as they tried to wrestle it to get it to settle down. After this event, the horse rider and the guy that got beat up walk around the arena catching flowers from the audience. My first bull fight was quite the cultural and enjoyable experience to say the least!