The week of my life that I will never forget is...my first trip to Lisbon.

Hi friends,

Finally I have been able to take some free time to write during the weekend and participate again in one of the topics that @galenkp proposes us to write a post during the weekend in the #weekend-engagement.

Among the topics proposed for the 147th edition of the weekend-engagament I have selected the following one:

Finish the line
Finish one of the below lines in a post of at least 300 words. Use the line you choose below as the title for your post.
The week of my life I will never forget is...

All those who read my blog know that three of the four weeks of the month I am away from home for work reasons traveling to different parts of the Iberian Peninsula and this includes Portugal.

I am flying to Lisbon via Barcelona.

My first trip to Lisbon started on a Sunday flying from Asturias to Lisbon and for that I had to make a stopover at Barcelona airport.

Maybe I have been in the last 10 years more than 100 times in Barcelona airport, but on this occasion, as I had started posting in Hive a few weeks ago and more specifically in the photo contests of shadows of @melinda0101000 and reflections of @olgavita I found in this airport a great niche of reflections that served me to publish some of my first posts in this community.

First days in Lisbon.

I remember that I arrived in Lisbon in the early morning and from there I went to the hotel I had booked which was the Hotel Vila Gale Opera, to which I flew a couple of weeks ago. This hotel is located on the banks of the Tagus River and when I woke up in the morning and opened the window I found myself again with an opportunity to accumulate reflection photos for the contest organized by @olgavita.

After breakfast at the hotel, I took my rental car and headed to the lab where I had to teach the training course with a bit of fear due to the fact that my English is not the best in the world, Portuguese I understand if spoken slowly and I didn't know if my students fully understood Spanish. However, when I got there I found an unbeatable situation because we understood each other in what we call "portuñol" which is a mixture of the two languages, taking advantage of the fact that I speak a dialect from the north of Spain that is 30% similar to Portuguese.

After the first day of the course and because we finished around 17:00 h I was ready to return to the hotel, but first making a stop in one of the neighborhoods that I have fallen in love with the most of all those I have visited in my life, which is the Lisbon neighborhood of Belem.

Specifically, I parked my rental car in the vicinity of the Tower of Belem, which I loved from the moment I saw it with its peculiar structure, built within the mouth of the Tagus River itself and in turn the sky gave me a very striking form of clouds in the form of meteors that reminded me of the Japanese animated series Saint Seiya with the meteors of the Zodiac Knight of Pegasus.

Next, after being in the vicinity of the Tower I headed towards another of Belem's attractions which is a large ship-shaped sculpture that is the monument of the discoveries. In this sculpture, on both sides, there are different figures of the time when Portugal sent maritime expeditions in order to discover new worlds.

And how could it be otherwise, my obsession with shadows and reflections in the vicinity of this monument were recorded in my photographic library, as you can see below.

After spending a few hours in this area of Belem taking other pictures of the lighthouse of Belem and the wind rose I went to a nearby restaurant to have a delicious baked cod for dinner. My mouth is watering now remembering that taste of the sea and so delicious.

The next day, after leaving work, I returned to the Belém area, but this time I visited the area further away from the river, which is equally or even more beautiful with the immensity of the Jerónimos convent.

At the same time, this area of Lisbon has a multitude of museums and a must visit point which is the shop/factory of the popular cream cakes of Belem. How delicious these sweets are.

I remember that the afternoon I visited this area of Belem was hot, but I could also enjoy the tranquility of the parks and green areas in a city as busy as Lisbon in summer time.

A new friend and Hiver.

As a result of my passion for Hive and photography, on the third day of the course, while the instrument I am training with was analyzing samples, I explained to Tiago (@tiago.branco) that #Hive existed, explained what it was, told him to read some initial posts and even a week later he made an account. However, he has not been active I suspect because of the high workload and the dedication he has to his family.

Even so, he was the first person to create an account on Hive after I explained to him what it was all about and although he has not been active, I am proud of him for trying to spread the word about this wonderful family.

A friend and an excellent guide

As a result of the friendship we made during the training after the end of the course I stayed a few extra days in Lisbon. Taking advantage of the fact that Tiago was not working on Saturday, he offered to be my guide around the city.

I remember that he took me near the fish market square and from there we walked along the banks of the Tagus River to an emblematic point such as the pier of the columns.

He also showed me the history of the nearby Commerce Square.

He took me to the house of the Portuguese writer Jose Saramago's.

And he challenged me to discover the various hills and viewpoints of Lisbon from which I could enjoy excellent views of this city I am in love with, including the castle of St. George, its cathedral and the mythical streetcars.

Luckily, a couple of weeks ago I made a short visit for another training in Lisbon and I was able to visit again some of these corners, as is the case of the Jerónimos. With the fortune that it was a night visit and it was even more spectacular than the first time.

So, my first week in Lisbon discovering the neighborhood of Belem, hunting reflections and shadows for my posts, gaining a new friend who even made an account in hive for my promotion of the blockchain and in turn for the very rich gastronomy, this first week in Lisbon I will never forget.

Best regards.