From steep roads in Lisbon to dark alleys in Sao Paulo (days 1-5)

It was somehow a strange feeling to hit the road again and just fly away from Switzerland, leaving everything behind. Additionally, I usually don´t really realize that I´ll be gone for a long time and that every trip will change some of my attitudes and views for the rest of my life. It comes gradually...

My first stop was Lisbon. I´ve never been in Portugal yet and I heard from many people that Lisbon was a very interesting and lively city. Although it was only a short between-stop of two nights (I travelled with Portugal Airlines), I think I catched a glimpse of this town. It´s kind of a mixture between San Francisco and a common Italian city: Very steep roads, a somehow cute little streetcar, a fascinating red bridge, shabby houses, nice architecture,... - actually a great place to visit.
While strolling around, I met Shaun, a quite tattered English guy who travelled for the last 3 years, homeless, begging and playing guitar on the street. He was kind of fascinating - told me some poetry and was playing with my camera like a little child. The contrast were three Mexican girls who´s only interest was making party somewhere somehow...a traveller who exaggerated but was very open to the world and some tourists who were shortsighted of all the other things they could have seen if they would have just opened their eyes...

After a comfortable 9.5 hours-flight to Sao Paulo and several warnings beforehand how dangerous this city is, I arrived in the city where somebody is kidnapped every second day . It felt strange in the beginning, but when you stick up to the rules, not walk around in the dangerous areas and not go out after dark alone, I think it´s highly unlikely that something happens in this enormously huge city (11 million inhabitants in the city alone).

The plan now is to travel in direction of Foz do Iguaçu, where the Iguazu Falls are nearby, which are about three times as large as the Niagara Falls - looking very much forward to that - although there´s a little catch in between: the bus ride takes about 16 hours ;)

PS: You´ll find all my pictures of my trip HERE with the possibility to comment them :)

Franziska (red) and my (blue) stops on our trip around the world:


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