Lisbon
Trip Report: Slices of Portugal & Extremadura Spain
Lisbon
Of course, the flight ‘bargain’ was not a bargain. By the time we had added on the luggage costs (one 20 kg bag each) and the seat selection (no we didn’t want middle of a middle row seating) the flight was the same cost as your average European flight. However, TAP Air Portugal proven to be a decent airline. The seat spacing, the staff, the meal and the onetime departure & arrival will all keep them on my list of airlines I would fly again. Just to bring you up to date, my no fly list includes Air Transat, LOT Polish Air and Turkish Air who have all gone out of their way to abuse us during trips. Beware!
We arrived at Lisbon airport just before noon, and breezed through immigration and luggage retrieval. The airport was quite busy and we took a taxi to our apartment, texting the owner on the way for an early 2 pm check-in. I had read that taxies were cheap in Lisbon (and this proved to be the case) so we skipped the Uber option. The subway also has an easily accessible station at the airport but with my back still reminding me of the recent surgical insult, we took the easiest option.
And so then there we were. Standing in a cobbled alleyway with luggage in hand in Lisbon. The sun was shining with very pleasant temps while we waited - in vain. But a quick call to the owner revealed that international texting can be very slow so he hurried over to let us in. He actually got the text while he was greeting us so it took about half an hour to bounce around the text servers before hitting his phone. The building was a 200+ year old 6 story survivor & we were on the 3rd floor (which is European for 4th).
Funky? You bet! It was a 2 bedroom apartment that took up the whole floor of the building. But . . . The staircase was in the middle of the building so the space was . . . well, different. We were always walking in circles to find a path to the other side but we were very happy with the space. Two couples or family of 4 could easily enjoy it as well. We had 2 living rooms - both with couches, a dining area, a small bath with shower & a decent kitchen space with all of the usual suspects for meal preparation. The bed proved to be very comfortable btw and if we shut the street-side shutters it was very quiet. If we didn’t, the street revelers were audible in the wee hours - seemingly mostly drunken Brits from what we could hear.
And the real prize of this apartment? A very large and sunny west facing terrace. About 25 x 25 ft with the river and it’s bridge in plain view to the southeast shimmering in the distance. This also gave us a good view of the airport arrivals as the flight approach was over the bridge area. For much of the day it was one plane every few minutes proving how busy LIS is.
The apartment was at 29 rua Chagas. Really well located, a block from the Bica Funicular with a small and a large supermarket right around the corner and a couple of bakeries between it and the Praça Luís de Camões. The crammed tram - #28 - passed by 50 ft from our door.
The only real negative to the place was construction next door. A huge crane hung over the building immediate beside us (and occasionally over our terrace) and they were banging and sawing every day but Sunday. So a peaceful read or nap in the sun on the terrace was out.
We arrived at Lisbon airport just before noon, and breezed through immigration and luggage retrieval. The airport was quite busy and we took a taxi to our apartment, texting the owner on the way for an early 2 pm check-in. I had read that taxies were cheap in Lisbon (and this proved to be the case) so we skipped the Uber option. The subway also has an easily accessible station at the airport but with my back still reminding me of the recent surgical insult, we took the easiest option.
And so then there we were. Standing in a cobbled alleyway with luggage in hand in Lisbon. The sun was shining with very pleasant temps while we waited - in vain. But a quick call to the owner revealed that international texting can be very slow so he hurried over to let us in. He actually got the text while he was greeting us so it took about half an hour to bounce around the text servers before hitting his phone. The building was a 200+ year old 6 story survivor & we were on the 3rd floor (which is European for 4th).
Funky? You bet! It was a 2 bedroom apartment that took up the whole floor of the building. But . . . The staircase was in the middle of the building so the space was . . . well, different. We were always walking in circles to find a path to the other side but we were very happy with the space. Two couples or family of 4 could easily enjoy it as well. We had 2 living rooms - both with couches, a dining area, a small bath with shower & a decent kitchen space with all of the usual suspects for meal preparation. The bed proved to be very comfortable btw and if we shut the street-side shutters it was very quiet. If we didn’t, the street revelers were audible in the wee hours - seemingly mostly drunken Brits from what we could hear.
And the real prize of this apartment? A very large and sunny west facing terrace. About 25 x 25 ft with the river and it’s bridge in plain view to the southeast shimmering in the distance. This also gave us a good view of the airport arrivals as the flight approach was over the bridge area. For much of the day it was one plane every few minutes proving how busy LIS is.
The apartment was at 29 rua Chagas. Really well located, a block from the Bica Funicular with a small and a large supermarket right around the corner and a couple of bakeries between it and the Praça Luís de Camões. The crammed tram - #28 - passed by 50 ft from our door.
The only real negative to the place was construction next door. A huge crane hung over the building immediate beside us (and occasionally over our terrace) and they were banging and sawing every day but Sunday. So a peaceful read or nap in the sun on the terrace was out.
Lisbon and Sintra Excursion
We hit the groceries and bakeries for supplies. We weren’t getting the car until we exited Lisbon in 4 days, so we only bought our immediate needs for snacks, breakfast etc etc. We decided to do restaurant dinners and lunches since we did want to sample some local meals while in the city. Food shopping in a foreign country is always interesting. Strange products with strange packaging and in Portugal, a strange language for us. Google translate proved invaluable as did help from other shoppers who took pity on us as we blocked their path while staring blankly at the goods. The only thing we blew was my wife picked tomato sauce rather than tomato juice. And FYI, Siri doesn’t do Portuguese.
And Portuguese proved inscrutable to us. To my ear, it didn’t sound anything like a Latin- based language. It sounded Eastern European in pronunciation and other than our mangled obrigada/o we quickly gave up trying. In Lisbon, most tourist-orientated people spoke some English but this proved not to be the case in the wilds later in our trip. My barely-conversational French came in handy a few times as the ‘older generation’ often learned French as a 2nd language in school.
After our kitchen stock up, we set out, map in hand. We went down into the city center to the Praça Rossio, finding the Elevador and the pedestrian-only rua do Carmo on the way. Just aimless wandering from jet-lagged tourists. We located the train station, metro stations and I was offered some illicits from a street character. I guess it was a slow day because a mid-60s tourist is not a good mark. We kept walking, of course. The weather was mid-70s and just right. It was Thursday and we formulated our Lisbon game plan as we sauntered around. Sintra on Friday. General Lisbon on Saturday. The Gulnenkian Gallery on Sunday - but well before the free hours (after 2pm) to avoid the masses. We knew that we couldn’t avoid the masses at Sintra but I was determined to do so elsewhere as much as possible. This trip was to enjoy and relax, and not to stand in lineups for 3 weeks. We have done enough of that, and more and more we will skip sites rather than suffer. Call me an anti-tourist tourist, but there it is.
Back at the apartment (after the semi-cruel walk back up to Baixa), I used The Fork to find a nearby low stress restaurant. As we discovered, this whole neighborhood was rife with bars, restaurants and Fado shows. I had already booked a Fado place for Saturday. This is Portugal’s unique singing style, somewhat similar to the tortured flamenco singers of Sevilla that we had really enjoyed when we were there. For dinner this night, I chose Memórias 57, which was only a couple of blocks away. The service was very good, the food was great and with a 30% off entree deal through The Fork, it also didn’t break the bank. With a painful 1.7 CAN dollar to Euro difference we were very aware of costs during our trip. My wife had black pudding and goat and I had grilled octopus and sea bass. We aren’t big seafood eaters but I figured I better try some - but I did avoid the ubiquitous cod. Our waiter was happy to practice his English and it was a good way to end our 1st day.
Sintra day. We mentally prepared ourselves for the inevitable crowds but I figured that a Friday would be better than a weekend day. We got a reasonably early start and walked to the Rossio train station that we had found the day before. There was a big line up for tickets, so we went to one of the machine banks off to the side where it is was much, much shorter. The plan was to buy some Viagem cards and load them for the train and the subway with zapping for top up. This all worked - especially with help from a kindly commuter who witnessed us fighting with the machine. It does have English instructions as well as Portuguese but we still found it a bit confusing. A tip: buy your card peacefully in the afternoon or at a subway station machine the day before to avoid the morning crush. The train filled up and we were off to Sintra, chugging through the not-so-pretty suburbs.
On arrival, everybody crammed the platform to get through the exit ticket gates. The fun had started in earnest and all of these people were also heading for the bus to get to Pena. I had read that tuk-tuks were an option and I flagged one down. 5€ each which I gladly paid rather than compete for the public transit and we headed up the one way twisty road. Of course, we then had to line up at the ticket wicket or the machines at the Pena entrance to buy tickets that I should have bought online . . . Oh well. We did opt for the shuttle (3€ each) up the last steep hill to save my legs.
Pena Palace. Well. It did have charm but it was much smaller than I would have imagined. And it was one continuous tourist shuffle as the line followed the designated route through the two floors. Was this supposed to be fun? I know I sound jaded and I guess I am. It was somewhat cute but after the grandeur of other places we have seen, it was very anticlimactic. But it is one of the Lisbon area’s must-sees and its location and views were pretty spectacular. We walked down through the forest to the entrance and started toward the Moorish Castle down the road. But . . . halfway up the hill, we bailed rather than risk my back/legs during the climb around the ramparts and returned to the Pena entrance. I guess we should not have bought the combo ticket after all. We bought a sandwich lunch at the small restaurant and sat in the garden to eat this rather pitiful offering before we tuk-tuked down to the train station. Once there, we both agreed that one palace was enough for today.
On arrival, everybody crammed the platform to get through the exit ticket gates. The fun had started in earnest and all of these people were also heading for the bus to get to Pena. I had read that tuk-tuks were an option and I flagged one down. 5€ each which I gladly paid rather than compete for the public transit and we headed up the one way twisty road. Of course, we then had to line up at the ticket wicket or the machines at the Pena entrance to buy tickets that I should have bought online . . . Oh well. We did opt for the shuttle (3€ each) up the last steep hill to save my legs.
Pena Palace. Well. It did have charm but it was much smaller than I would have imagined. And it was one continuous tourist shuffle as the line followed the designated route through the two floors. Was this supposed to be fun? I know I sound jaded and I guess I am. It was somewhat cute but after the grandeur of other places we have seen, it was very anticlimactic. But it is one of the Lisbon area’s must-sees and its location and views were pretty spectacular. We walked down through the forest to the entrance and started toward the Moorish Castle down the road. But . . . halfway up the hill, we bailed rather than risk my back/legs during the climb around the ramparts and returned to the Pena entrance. I guess we should not have bought the combo ticket after all. We bought a sandwich lunch at the small restaurant and sat in the garden to eat this rather pitiful offering before we tuk-tuked down to the train station. Once there, we both agreed that one palace was enough for today.
Back in Lisbon, we did do a bit more hilly ups & downs anyway on the way to dinner that night at the tiny Café de São Bento. I had a hankering for a steak and their specialty, beef filet in a Marrare cream sauce, sounded interesting. And it was. A bottle of decent Portuguese wine also bit the dust but the real highlight of the meal was an incredible Pata Negra bellota Iberico ham appetizer. Wow. As it turned out, this was the best jamón we had on the whole trip. We had a stilted conversation with a nice woman from São Paulo, Brazil and her English-speaking son who had lived in Vancouver. On the way back from the restaurant, we hopped on #28, which at this hour was less than 1/2 full. It saved us walking up the monster hill on R. Poiais de São Bento if nothing else . . .
The next 2 days were devoted to Lisbon proper.
We had no agenda, so we walked, we shopped, went down the Elevador, experienced the nastiness of a church warden at the ancient Igreja de São Domingos and lunched at a good street cafe (Restaurante A Lota). Across the Praça dos Restauradores, we rode the Gloria funicular up to the wonderful Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcantara and after a refreshing gelato cone, we then wandered through the maze of the Baixa to our apartment. Unfortunately that night, we had to cancel the Fado due to a slight malaise from my wife – this is a change since lately it has been exclusively yours truly. We settled for a later dinner at the minuscule Restaurante BarAlto nearby. The neighbourhood was in full swing on Saturday night with partyers, restaurant touts and groups of diners all in the streets milling around. Our meal was OK but not really memorable.
The next day (Sunday), we successfully zapped our Viagem (again with kind help from a local) and took the subway up to the Gulbenkian. If you are only going to visit one museum/art gallery this is a good choice. Knowing our art limit, we skipped the modern building and sauntered through the beautiful, serene garden to the Founder’s Collection. Now, this guy had taste (and money). A little of this and a little of that with a very good smattering of art through the ages and a large room devoted to Islamic art. Put the Gulbenkian on your visit list. On the way back, everything in the area was shut, so we lunched in a so-so cafeteria and then walked down through the Parque Eduardo VII snapping shots of its classic view of Lisbon. The Lisbon Marathon had just finished and there were runners walking by proudly with their medallions.
For dinner, we ate at a small Indian restaurant next door to our apartment – the Sanskar Nepal. It was seriously yummy with friendly staff. Highly recommended.
And that was Lisbon. The next day we would pick up a Budget car at the airport and hit the road. We experienced Lisbon without the slightest hint of the pressure of the exhausting tourist must-see syndrome. This was a really nice and refreshing way to see a city. Instead of working through a checklist from a guidebook, we just enjoyed.
PS In case you might not have noticed, absolutely everything in Lisbon is up or down except for a small part of the center. Leave your dress shoes at home and wear well-supported rubber-soled shoes. My everyday runners were perfect.
The next 2 days were devoted to Lisbon proper.
We had no agenda, so we walked, we shopped, went down the Elevador, experienced the nastiness of a church warden at the ancient Igreja de São Domingos and lunched at a good street cafe (Restaurante A Lota). Across the Praça dos Restauradores, we rode the Gloria funicular up to the wonderful Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcantara and after a refreshing gelato cone, we then wandered through the maze of the Baixa to our apartment. Unfortunately that night, we had to cancel the Fado due to a slight malaise from my wife – this is a change since lately it has been exclusively yours truly. We settled for a later dinner at the minuscule Restaurante BarAlto nearby. The neighbourhood was in full swing on Saturday night with partyers, restaurant touts and groups of diners all in the streets milling around. Our meal was OK but not really memorable.
The next day (Sunday), we successfully zapped our Viagem (again with kind help from a local) and took the subway up to the Gulbenkian. If you are only going to visit one museum/art gallery this is a good choice. Knowing our art limit, we skipped the modern building and sauntered through the beautiful, serene garden to the Founder’s Collection. Now, this guy had taste (and money). A little of this and a little of that with a very good smattering of art through the ages and a large room devoted to Islamic art. Put the Gulbenkian on your visit list. On the way back, everything in the area was shut, so we lunched in a so-so cafeteria and then walked down through the Parque Eduardo VII snapping shots of its classic view of Lisbon. The Lisbon Marathon had just finished and there were runners walking by proudly with their medallions.
For dinner, we ate at a small Indian restaurant next door to our apartment – the Sanskar Nepal. It was seriously yummy with friendly staff. Highly recommended.
And that was Lisbon. The next day we would pick up a Budget car at the airport and hit the road. We experienced Lisbon without the slightest hint of the pressure of the exhausting tourist must-see syndrome. This was a really nice and refreshing way to see a city. Instead of working through a checklist from a guidebook, we just enjoyed.
PS In case you might not have noticed, absolutely everything in Lisbon is up or down except for a small part of the center. Leave your dress shoes at home and wear well-supported rubber-soled shoes. My everyday runners were perfect.
Next up: Mérida