Lisbon with a sports fan

Last weekend I again visited the Massa household.

Sónia, an avid Benfica fan, took me to see the Portugal/Poland game on Saturday, which was really fun. The Benfica stadium is brand new and really nice, although they do not allow alcohol at any of the games, which Sónia convinced me was a good thing. The place was filled with Poles but they were mostly confined to the top section. It was quite a sight. The statue is of Eusébio, one of the best Portuguese players in history. It was here where my ticket was liberated from my pocket, only to be found 5 minutes later under the feet of a crowd of crazed fans, close one.

The requisite Cristiano Ronaldo montage (this is for you, Josh!):

On Sunday we had a little time for some sight seeing around Lisbon, stuff we had missed the last time. A really nice local beach on the way up the coast to Cascais.

The Jerónimos monastery built around 1450 (this had one of the most well done historical exhibits I have ever seen - a time line that wrapped around an entire room listing important, and not so important, corresponding events for the monastery, Portugal and the world). The Monastery is also the burial place for Vasco do Gamma who established the trade route b/t Portugal and India.

The Cristo Rei statue on the opposite side of Tagus River which had a very stuffy elevator that went up to the top, well almost to the top, and then you had to walk up 3 flights of stairs on the narrowest staircase I have ever been on. Did I mention how many Poles there were in Lisbon that weekend. These guys are generally huge and we found our way timidly squeezing our way past what seemed like the entire second tier futbol team on the way up.