In Lisbon

I got into Lisbon yesterday after about a five hour train ride. All I can say is, it's different. Right after I got in, I headed down the Metro to go to my hostel and someone tried to pick my pocket. I felt a hand in it and swiped it away.

Fortunately, the guy didn't get anything as I have a pocket within the pocket of those pants that zips shut. I put my wallet and passport in that. I turned around and glared at the guy but all I wanted to do was throw his sorry ass onto the train tracks, or at the very least break his hand off. He looked like he thought I was going to do something, but there really wasn't much I could do as I was loaded down with luggage.

Apparently pickpocketing is a big problem in Lisbon as a guy at the hostel had his camera stolen yesterday. I guess you just never know, but I´m glad I had those pants on.

As for everything else, it's going great. The people at the hostel here are as friendly as I've met anywhere. We all dinner together, a home cooked meal at the hostel, and then went out. Altogether there was about 12 of us. It was a lot of fun.

Today I took the opportunity to do something pretty unique. One of the world's biggest races, the Dakar Rally started in Lisbon this morning. The race goes through Portugal and Spain, and then the cars, trucks and motorcycles are ferried over to Morocco where they go through the Sahara and wind their way to Dakar, Senegal. I've read about it before, so it was a lot of fun to see it in person.

After that I toured through Lisbon and hit a few of the sites. Except for the pickpocketing attempt, it's been a fun visit so far. Tomorrow is my last day though, so everything I want to do, I'd better pack in then.