Lisboa!

Last weekend we headed west to meet up with some friends and check a new country off our ‘to see’ list.  We definitely made the most of our 72 hours in Lisbon – so this blog is going to be packed full of awesomeness! 

Noah and I arrived in Lisbon Thursday afternoon and cabbed it over to the rental apartment (taxi driver after I told him he turned the wrong way down the street: ‘you know it is easier when you stay at a hotel, I can find it easier.’ me: ‘but it is cheaper when I stay at an apartment’) and settled in to wait for the lady to bring us our keys. 

After about 20 minutes, the lady arrives and gives us a tour of our third floor walkup.  And yes, we needed a tour because this place was massive (spoiler for later: Noah gets lost in it).  There were two connected bedrooms that shared a bathroom, a master suite with its own bathroom, a massive terrace, living room, and modern kitchen.  We would come to find that while everything was very fancy and modern, they didn’t necessarily spend the money on the installation for the bathrooms.  In the master suite (which we claimed – sorry Stacy and Adam!), the shower floor didn’t slope to the drain.  But apart from showering in a small pool of standing water, this apartment was perfect for us. 

As Stacy and Adam still had one more night in their hotel (she was there for a conference and he joined for the weekend like us), we met up for the first of many mealtime adventures.  The key lady gave us a recommendation of a tapas restaurant in the area, so we figured we would check it out.  When we arrive, an employee tells us that they don’t serve food until 8pm (not surprised after our San Sebastian experience).  No big deal – we would go get a drink and pass the hour down the street.  We found a wine and cheese bar (Porto Wine Bar) and each had 2 rounds and lots of delicious cheese.  Once 8pm hit, we made our way back to the restaurant, only for that same employee to tell us that they are fully booked for dinner.  Wait – why couldn’t he have told us that an hour and a half earlier when we first asked for a table?  Grrrr…..

Ok – time for plan b.  We hop on the metro and head to the Baixa area – supposedly the ‘happening’ part of Lisbon.  I found a place on Trip Advisor to check out, and figured worst case scenario we could find something in this area.  Thank you Trip Advisor!  We easily got a table at Fábulas.  Three of us ordered shrimp risotto and Noah ordered a steak (though Noah and I had plans to go 50/50).  We can definitely recommend both dishes –they were Fábulas (sorry for the bad joke)! 

Not our table - but the small ones in the front of the restaurant were old sewing tables.  I thought it was cute

Since it was our first night in Lisbon and we were trying to help Adam get on the European time zone, we were not ready to end the night after dinner.  Instead we moved to Café A Brasileira’s outdoor seating and ordered a round of caipirinhas based on Noah and my recommendations.  However when we took our first sip, it was like getting slapped in the face – it was STRONG.  I doubt Stacy and Adam will ever order another one after this place, but it was a nice ‘welcome to Europe’ for Adam. 

After dinner we split up, and Noah and I headed back to the apartment.  After I got out of the shower, I found Noah passed out on the bed mid-typing on his phone.  My movement woke him up, and he left the bedroom.  I followed him into the living room, where he asked where the kitchen was.  I pointed to the kitchen where he went to get a glass of water.  After handing me the water (to take back to bed for him?), he heads back into the living room.  I asked him if he needed anything, and he told me he was looking for the bathroom.  I told him that it was back in the bedroom, which leads him to tell me that the apartment is just ‘too damn big’.  Poor sleepy Noah. 

Friday morning Noah grabbed breakfast pastries from a nearby bakery while we waited for Stacy and Adam to make their move from their hotel to the apartment. 

Once everyone was settled in and ready to start moving for the day, we all hopped on a bus towards the Jardim Botânico d'Ajuda – the oldest botanical garden in Portugal (dates back to the 18^th century).  We essentially had the entire place to ourselves, though there was a gang of peacocks roaming the grounds.  I can only imagine how beautiful this place must be in the spring!  

Yes, the peacocks were hanging out in the trees, silently judging us

After we had our fill of nature, we walked down towards the water to see the monastery ‘Mosteiro dos Jeronimos’.  Along the way Noah captured this AMAZING photo (at least I think so) of a cat and bird. 

The beauty of the building was a bit hard to appreciate with the loud noise coming from the construction going on inside. 

At this point my stomach was rumbling.  We found some delicious pita sandwiches at Pão Pão Queijo Queijo (awesome name - bread bread cheese cheese).  I know we made a few pigeons very happy with all the accidental food droppings of ours – it is hard to eat neatly while sitting on a bench.  Or at least it is for me. 

Across from the monastery is the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) – a monument on the river built to commemorate a romanticized notion of Portuguese exploration typical of the regime of Antonio de Oliveira.  To be honest, my sense of history is pretty bad, and I didn’t recognize a single name of the 33 figures listed on Wikipedia. 

At this monument is where we saw this adorable little chihuahua helping his owner panhandle.  My first reaction (as it is with all dogs) is ‘OMG A DOG I WANT TO PET IT AND LOVE IT AND SQUEEZE IT’ and of course I had Noah put money into his little bucket.  However when we passed him again on the way back (with more money because DOG), the poor little guy dropped his bucket and tried to crawl into Noah’s lap. As I watched his owner move him back on his little pedestal and put the string back in his mouth, I suddenly saw the whole thing for what it is – a sad depressed little dog forced to sit in one spot with a bucket hanging from his mouth, and I became very sad myself. 

A bit down the river is the Belém Tower – a fortified tower built in the 16^th century to defend the mouth of the Targus River.  We skipped paying the fee to go inside, and instead I watched another chihuahua sadly sit there with a bucket dangling from his mouth. 

Now seemed like a great time to scare myself shitless and take a taxi across the famous Ponte 25 de Abril bridge (I am terrified of bridges) so that we could go check out the Jesus statue on the other side of the river. 

The Christ the King (Cristo Rei) statue is based on the Rio de Janeiro Christ the Redeemer statue (I wonder how many people see both in one year like Noah).  We rode the elevator to the top for some nice views of the city, and we only had to share the space with a handful of other tourists. 

Nope - not the Golden Gate Bridge!

Now we were ready to make our dinner plan.  To avoid wandering aimlessly like the night before, we decided that we wanted either sushi or a churrascaria (a Brazilian all you can eat meat place that seem to be all over Lisbon).  We had 2 sushi places and 2 churrascarias ready to check out.  Our first choice - Restaurante 1a Sinfonia – we even tried to call for a reservation, but we kept getting a recording in Portuguese.  No worries – let’s just go there and check it out.  We hop on the metro for 2 stops and walk to the address to find the place… closed!  Noah and I had seen a sign for a Japanese restaurant just a block down, so we decide to just check it out.  Also… closed!  What is going on??  Ok – next on our list – Aron Sushi.  This is just a 4 block back the way we just came (uphill of course) and… open!  But fully booked for the night!  0-3 for our sushi places.  However Stacy and I had decided we definitely wanted sushi in Lisbon, so I thought to ask if they have a table for the following night.  Our first success!  Dinner reservations for Saturday night when they open at 7:30pm!  But what about dinner for Friday night???  Time to regroup.

Next on the list for dinner were two churrascarias I had found on Trip Advisor.  However they are not within walking distance, so we head back to the metro towards Sabor Mineiro Churrascaria.  What is the old saying – fourth time’s a charm??  In any case, we finally were able to get a table for the four of us, only an hour after we first started our search.  And it was totally worth it.  The non-meat buffet was just ok, but we were there for the meat.  And it was delicious!  It was the traditional Brazilian style where you turned your color to green to signal the waiters to bring on the meat.  Everything was cooked perfectly, seasoned great, and I think we all ate more meat than necessary.  The surprise of the evening was how delicious the grilled pineapple was.  It was so yummy, we flagged down the pineapple man and had him cut more slices for us.  Sadly I have no photos of this, because it didn’t stay on my plate long.  Instead I will share a photo that Noah took of a 'bobcat'..... riiiiight. 

The National Geographic quality photo of the 'bobcat' roaming around our apartment

We woke up Saturday to wonderful weather, so we decided to make a beeline to the Castelo de São Jorge – the castle on a hilltop overlooking the city.  After walking the various stairs and hills to the top, we were all a little overheated and tired (all the meat the night before didn’t help).  And poor Noah was wearing a wool sweater!  Side note: Noah and I both packed expecting Lisbon to be cooler than it was…  

So many steps and hills!

Everyone but Noah was quickly discouraged by the long line for tickets and the drizzle that had started, but he came to the rescue (even though he had to be the hottest) and left us to get in line.  Thank goodness he did – this place has the best views of the city!  And that drizzle soon disappeared once we entered the castle grounds.  Since we finally had clear views of the city, I went a little overboard with photos.  So enjoy! 

Noah's replacement shirt

This peacock was half white / half colorful... very beautiful.

Right as we were making our way to the exit, it started to sprinkle again.  As the last small shower moved over quickly and lightly, we figured we didn’t need to take shelter and continued making our way down from the castle.  That was a big mistake.  It steadily began to rain harder and harder, until we found ourselves stuck in the streets with huge gusts of wind and a giant downpour.  Crap!  We run to try to find some restaurant that is open that can give us shelter (and food), but it takes a few blocks before we find something.  We cram into a small fish restaurant (Restaurante Adega Triunfo) where we grab a table and examine the damage.  Our mafia-looking waiter takes our orders after saying no to Stacy and my first choices, and we dry off while we eat our fish and potato lunches. 

Even though the rain lightened up, the rest of the afternoon was met with drizzles.  We checked out a few stores where I found many Christmas presents (and a purse made out of cork for myself), and went back to the apartment to rest up before dinner. 

A Vida Portuguesa

I couldn’t wait for dinner that night, not only because it was sushi, but because we had reservations!!!  I was determined to keep our table the entire night since it was so hard to get.  We arrive at Aron Sushi at 7:30pm, and proceed to spend the next 3-4 hours eating delicious tuna and salmon sushi and drinking delicious sakerinhas (replace the alcohol in a caipirinha with sake).  Ok, it was only me drinking the sakerinhas… everyone else had beer and sake. 

We woke up on Sunday (our last day) to rain, but it quickly cleared up.  Stacy and Adam wanted to go grab breakfast at a restaurant, so Noah and I wanted to take advantage of the blue skies (since we had to leave later that day.  I had read about the Elevador da Glória – a funicular that takes you to Jardim de São Pedro de Alcântara (a park on a hilltop with nice views).  When I googled the funicular/park, I realized that it was a simple walk to the park from our apartment.  The funicular – less than a minute ride up a hill.  Why waste money to cram in with other tourists when I can easily do that walk??  Noah and I were greeted with more beautiful views of Lisbon, and Stacy and Adam met us at the park after their breakfast. 

We wanted to head back to the castle area to check out the shops again, but this time we knew to watch the sky.  As we crossed through Rossio Square, we could see the ominously dark raincloud heading our way.  When the sprinkles started, we ducked into a bakery - Casa Chinesa Pastelaria.  I finally tried the amazing pastel de nata pastry thanks to Noah looking out for me. 

Sadly the pastry is not to scale (also I took the photo back in Munich with a pastry I brought home)

When the rain stopped, we began our journey again.  About 20 minutes later, it was time to do it all over again.  This time we stumbled upon a small wine and cheese shop/café that had amazing cheese sandwiches.  I love it when places make something so simple so delicious just by using fantastic ingredients.  Noah and I even bought some of the cow cheese that was on my sandwich so we could try to recreate the meal back at home. Though when we did (last night) we figured out we did not get the cow cheese, but probably the goat. Still yummy. 

We finally make it back up to the castle hilltop to do some more souvenir and gift shopping.  At one store, the girl recognized us from the day before and insisted we do shots of Ginjinha (a Portuguese cherry liqueur) with her. 

View from the shops

Noah and I were down to our last 2 hours before we had to head back to the airport, and he had looked up a café that sold acai.  This was something he had in Brazil and had been dreaming of it ever since.  And since Brazil and Portugal are tied together, he was excited to see how the Portuguese made acai.  He ordered a large with granola and bananas, Stacy and Adam went with a small, and I went with Pão de Queijo – Brazilian cheese buns.  We took our treats back down to the Praça do Comércio (a square on the Tagus River) where I discovered I was right to order the cheese buns.  Acai is just not my thing.  But Noah was happy – even if it couldn’t hold a candle to the one he had in Brazil. 

After a whirlwind of 3 days it was time for us to say goodbye to Stacy and Adam and Lisbon.  I am definitely grateful that I can meet up with friends in Lisbon (man that sounds like I live a fascinating life… I don’t).  I also went into the trip with low expectations of the city (not sure exactly why), and left with a great impression of Lisbon.  I would highly recommend visiting this beautiful city!