Do you know what I always love about traveling? Discovering new authors. We went to Lisbon with our student’s association and because we were all literature students, bookstores, libraries and literary museums were always part of the program. It was in Lisbon that I discovered one of my favourite authors.

One of the highlights of visiting Lisbon, for me, was the Fundação José Saramago, the museum of Portugese author José Saramago. Saramago is probably the most famous author of Portugal as he won the Noble Prize for literature in 1998. Though I hadn’t read anything by him before I went on this trip. Still, the little museum was impressive and my fellow students were so enthusiastic about him that I had to buy one of his books right then and there. In the shop, I came across a Dutch edition of Blindness, which was too much of a coincidence to not buy it. It has been one of my favourite books ever since.

After visiting this museum, we set out for Bertrand Livreiros, which is the oldest bookstore in the world. A must-visit for every bookworm! Here I bought another book from another famous Portugese writer, namely Fernando Pessoa. To this day, I’m still currently reading the book I bought: The book of the Disquiet.

After we had satisfied our bookish needs, we set out to Castelo de São Jorge.

The castle is one of Lisbon’s highlights and it’s easy to see why. The first fortifications on this hilltop date back to the 1st century BC. It’s really cool to see these old parts of the city and it’s a wonderful castle to walk around in.

It’s been a while, and I don’t remember much from the castle (another reason to go back!) but I do remember I was impressed with the structure of the building (or what’s left of it) and that it gave us a great view over the city.

I aboslutely adored Lisbon and I really can’t wait to go back. If only for that delicious Sangria…