Getting to the ocean in Lisbon

 

 Ive made it my quest that when ever I was presented with the opportunity I would try to swim in the nearest body of water. Consequently one of the main priorities of my trip to Lisbon was to be able to go in the Atlantic ocean at some point. After missing out on the first day I was finally able to convince that gang to get on the train that would take us to the coastal town of Cas Cais about 20 minutes away.

We only had a short amount of time in Cascais so we didnt have time to find the most ideal swimming beach. For the most part we just hung around the harbor area of the beautiful coastal town

Finally we decided on this beach that was further away from the oil and poison of the harbor. The Australian and I went in the water while our Texan and Connecticut friends stayed on shore guarding our stuff. The water was a little bit dirty from the harbor and the recent rain but still was great. In retrospect, it probably wasnt the best for our health, to go into the water at this time, but now Ive been in the Atlantic ocean !

We spent the thirty minute train ride back playing games and some how avoided paying for the train by using expired metro cards.. Still a mystery what the conductor was saying in Portuguese.

Upon hitting Lisbon we went to the Aquarium that everyone in Lisbon said we had to go to..

The central tank had a great collection of different fish species.

 

There were tanks around the side that had a different types of sea related animals. 

The temporary exhibit was about Sea Turtles. They had several interesting viewing mediums. One of which was a passage where the turtles swam underneath a glass floor. They had another one that I couldn't get a good picture without blinding everyone with flash, but it was a small couched room where the turtles swam above. Definitely a great place for an end of the day relaxation.

 

Riding sea turtles was how we ended that day. Ofcourse later that night we did go on a pub crawl with out hostel which was fun. Unfortunately no pictures from that :)

Next time: Sintra!