Princeton in Portugal: Days 7 & 8

Day 7 Photo Gallery

Saturday morning began with a walking tour of the Belem district of Lisbon, an area full of tourist attractions lining the riverfront. The first of such attractions that we visited was the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, or the monument to the discoveries. This monument is a 171-foot-tall structure featuring the statues of 33 important figures from the Discoveries period. Our visit to this monument included an elevator trip to the top which featured panoramic views of Lisbon, the surrounding country and the April 25th Bridge which looks very similar to San Francisco's Golden Gate. From here, we walked over to the Belem Tower, a landmark that has been used in a wide variety of ways as control of the region changed throughout the years. Finally, our guided tour of the region concluded in the courtyard out front of the Monastery of Jerónimos.

Our walking tour was followed by free time in the area in which groups went off to explore the different restaurants and pasty shops in the Belem district. My class found ourselves indulging the American way at Honoraro Hamburgueres Artesanais where we enjoyed delicious burgers and fries. I then set out for Santini, the famous gelato chain in the city, where I had my third helping of the trip. Others headed to Pasteis de Belem, a famous pastry shop in the area that had a line out the door, and had some famous traditional Portuguese pastries. We all met back in the courtyard and got ready for our next activity of the day.

We walked over to Casa Pia orphanage in Lisbon and were able to spend the afternoon playing soccer and hanging out with some of the children who lived there. We went through a warmup and a few technical drills with the kids before a shooting drill and a small sided scrimmage featuring several players from our team as well. The highlight of the session had to be when a girl, who was one of the most talented players on the field, lifted the ball up on to her foot, flicked it up and over Ben Martin's head and dispatched a volley into the back of Jacob Schachner's net. Tough one for the freshman class. We had a great time playing with the kids and handed out some shirts and took some pictures to always have some memories of our visit.

The final event of the day was a trip to Estádio da Luz, the site of the Portugal vs. Hungary world cup qualifying match. The game was one of the highlights of the trip for many, getting to watch some of the world's best play the game in person was an incredible experience. The game was dominated by Portugal, highlighted by two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo from outside the box, one of which came from a direct free kick. The passion of all the Portuguese supporters and the Hungarian supporters who traveled all the way to Lisbon for the match and were restrained by nets keeping them contained and away from the Portuguese produced an atmosphere like many of us have never seen before. After the game we went out for dinner at a delicious restaurant where we found ourselves criminally underdressed. Henry Martin's tiger-stripe visor and Hawaiian shirt over a Ben Wallace jersey particularly stuck out like a sore thumb with the rest of the patrons who were dressed in business casual attire. None the less, we had a fantastic last dinner in Lisbon.

The following morning started out with a huge disappointment. Coach Barlow had promised the night before that we would be able to return to the hotel restaurant for breakfast the following morning. The breakfast in the restaurant, which we were able to experience on only our first day there, was an incredible breakfast buffet with a wide variety of options that made everyone happy. Eager to return, all the players headed down together in anticipation of a great last meal there. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, Francisco, our tour guide for the week, was waiting for us at the bottom and directed us to a different room where we returned to our limited, mediocre breakfast. After breakfast we packed up and checked out of the hotel and headed to Centro Vasco de Gama, a mall where we had free time for lunch and last minute souvenir shopping. I used this free time to hop in an uber with a few teammates an head to Estádio José Alvalade, Sporting Lisbon's home stadium which we had only gotten to see from afar by looking out the bus windows. Others headed to the nearby Lisbon Oceanarium during the free time. We then got back on the bus and headed back to the airport to return to Princeton after an incredible spring break.

James Reiner '18

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Henry Martin

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