Our fun filled adventures continue, this time farther west to Portugal's capital: Lisbon. Our flight was in the wee-hours of the morning, so we spent the night in Munich before flying out at 6AM. At the Lisbon airport we found the tourist information hub where we purchased our Lisboa Cards.
The Lisboa Card could be a good investment if you plan on seeing all the sights this city has to offer in 2-days. It covers all public transportation (including the train ride to Sintra), free entry into some museums, and discounts on lots of other sights. We paid for the 3-day version, and pretty much broke even on the card.
We took the metro to our
cute little AirBnb. It was a nice cozy apartment in the heart of the charming area of Alfama. We were welcomed with fresh pastries and the hosts were very accommodating to our early check-in. If you go to Lisbon, and want to live like a local, I would recommend this apartment!
Alfama is the perfect location to discover, stroll, and fall in love with Lisbon. The tangled streets, cobbled playground, and colorful tile makes this area so charming. Bent houses comfort each other in their romantic shabbiness, and the air drips with laundry hanging from overhead.
I absolutely love the Portuguese tile facade. I wonder how many tiles it takes to cover an entire building?
...and while wondering the streets we found a woman in her studio painting tile.
If you want a history of Portuguese tile, check out the National Tile Museum. In Portugal's colony of Brazil, people found that the tiles protected against humidity and by the 19th century tile work was adopted as a form of exterior decoration here in Lisbon. At the museum we saw wonderful tile works from the early days to more modern times.
One of our favorites...ouch!
I think I know where they got the inspiration for this...
They have an amazing tile panoramic of Lisbon from the pre-historic earthquake of 1755.
The convent chapel was our favorite part of the museum. The mix of blue tile contrasting the gold facades was beautiful. Our eyes were distracted by everything going on in the chapel.
We went to another chapel after the museum: Cathedral Sé. I enjoyed looking at the clothing of the Bishop.
Alfama has restaurants and shops around every corner. There was a little local bakery called
A Tendinha de Santa Luzia that we went to every morning for a pastel de nata; these classic Portuguese egg custard pastries are so good! If you find a warm fresh one, sprinkle some cinnamon on top and prepare yourself for greatness. The fact that you can inhale a nata in just two bites makes it difficult to eat just one, which is why on our trip we ate plenty!
After exploring Alfama we headed downtown. We found a great bathroom stop along the way.
Go Jordie Go!
As we continued on the windy street there were people riding Lisbon's vintage trolleys down the hill. Those trolleys shake and shiver through the old areas of town, and somehow safely weave their way within inches of parked cars! While we were tempted to cram into the famous Trolley#28E like a can of packed sardines, we walked instead so that we could stop every few minutes for a picture.
We made it to Lisbon's historic downtown, Baixa, and there was so much to enjoy. First off, the pavements are beautifully decorated with elaborate mosaic and cobblestone designs and patterns. Some of the pavements are now over 160 years old, and they've been very well trodden.
We did a Rick Steve's walk through Baixa, it started us at Praça Comércio (Trade Square). This was the site of Portugal's royal palace 200 years before their big earthquake. Today it is where government ministries meet, and you can get a beautiful view of where ships used to dock and sell their goods.
The statue of King José (who rebuilt the city after the earthquake) overlooks the port. The horse (symbolic of triumph) stops on the snakes (symbolic of the trouble-making noble families).
The beautiful Arch of Triumph is a nice Parisian style, make sure to walk through and check out what's on the other side...
Shopping and Food!
We found a little shop that specialized in Pastel de Bacalhau, which is a "pastry" of potatoes, codfish, parsley, onion and a strong cheese. They are made into their egg shape with two big spoons. At
Casa Portuguesa Pastel de Bacalhau we watched them make these little fish-knishes right before our eyes. It was a little bit too salty and fishy for our taste buds, but hey, when in Portugal do as the Portuguese do.
We used our Lisboa Card to take a ride on the Elevador de Santa Justa. The elevator was designed by one of Gustav Eiffel's students. The view from the top was quite nice.
We found a DELICIOUS family run restaurant on TripAdvisor called Floresta Das Escadinhas. The food was beautifully presented, it was very reasonably priced, and good enough we ate here twice in our four days. Here's what we recommend:
Tabua de Floresta (Portuguese sausages, cheese, olive oil and olives)
Grilled Lulas (squid marinaded in fresh garlic and olive oil served with boiled potatoes)
Our adventures continue...
A few minutes from the restaurant is Rossio, Lisbon's historic center bustling with culture. The square is a 2,000 year old Roman racetrack, and where chariots once circled cars make their loop. The column is of Pedro IV, a king of Portugal, and at the end of the square is the National Theater, see it back there?
I love the fountain. It was a warm day so it was hard to take a good picture without crowds of people coming by, but I did it!
The cobble stone almost makes me seasick if I look at it for too long.
Tucked in the corner we found the Rossio Station. There is a little statue of King Sebastian (so romantic and dashing) who was lost in the ill-fated crusade to Africa in 1580. Because Sebastian had no heir the crown was given to a Spaniard, and ever since the Portuguese dream that Sebastian will return to restore the national throne- he is a symbol of being ridiculously hopeful if you ask me. We took the train to Sintra for a day trip, you should read about it here POST LINK.
We had to stop for a treat (or two, or three) at the the Confeitaria Nacional.
I don't think window shopping is enough at such a fine establishment.
Looking back, I can't believe we tried so much! I just need to disclose that we didn't eat all this sugar in one sitting, we went back a few times to consume it all. It was a lot and we enjoyed:
Little cake soaked in a sugar like syrup, with a layer of chocolate inside
Little cake soaked in a sugar like syrup, with a layer of caramel inside
Some kind of cake with a chocolate gnash inside
Chocolate black forest cake
Portugal was a very religious country, and they have the churches to prove it. We took a 15 minute walk to the São Roque Church in the Bairro Alto district.
This church was built in the 16th century, and the side chapels are the most impressive part. The highlight is the Chapel of St. John the Baptist. It looks like it came right out of the Vatican, and it did! The mosaics are beautiful and it's difficult to even tell they are tiny tiles they blend so well together.
Walking around the Barrio Alto towards the sea we found a lovely square to stop and get some sunshine.
The warm sun feels so good
When we reached the waterfront we found a great place to stop for food. We loved the
Time Out Mercado da Riberia, it's a place to find tons great foods under one roof, by some of the top chefs in Lisbon.
If you are indecisive, this may not be the place to eat because there were so many choices to choose from!
We tried a pork sandwich with a chipotle mayo and amazing fresh chips...
...and a squid ink risotto with scallops and fresh seaweed
And our journey continued because there is so much to see and do! Lisbon has over 40 museums so we had to go check some out. With a huge selection to see in this area we took the metro to the Gulbenkian Museum, which was recommended as one of Lisbon's best museums. The museum exhibits span over 5,000 years and there was plenty to see as we walked through 5 millennia of human history and subjects that were treasured. Some interesting art pieces we thought.
Three miles from downtown Lisbon, is the Bélem district; we we spent an entire day exploring. We started with the Maritime Museum, which is free for anyone with a military ID~sawweet!
We thought the museum was really cool. I loved all of the tiny ships that were representations of the boats used throughout the times. They also had really cool memorabilia, and decor taken from ships. Makes me ready for a cruise, but I'm not tempted to join the Navy.
The Belém Tower, was once were the Order of the Cross military was stationed. In the early 1500's this white tower protected Lisbon's harbor and was the last sight sailors saw as they left on their journeys to find the riches of the world.
When admiring the architecture closely we found little intricate details hidden before our eyes. They had sculpted a rhinoceros into the building, yet at that time no one had ever seen a rhinoceros on the continent, they had only heard about them from explorers.
Along the water we went to the Monument to the Discoveries. It is a tribute to Prince Henry the Navigator, who is at the front of the herd followed by famous Portugeuese discoveries such as Vasco da Gama (first European to reach India by sea), Magellan (the first to circumnavigate the earth), Pedro Cabral (discovered Brazil) and many more.
We stopped in for lunch at a restaurant called
O Navegador, where we both had grilled cuttlefish. Can I suggest something? Never look up what a cuttlefish looks like while it is in your mouth-it looks better on a plate.
Next stop, the Monastery of Jerónimo, stretching 300 yards along Lisbons waterfront-a beautiful location if I might say so myself.
The detailing is beautiful!
The church was where sailors spent their last night ashore in prayer before they would embark on their voyages.
Motifs from the sea hide in the decor. We found artichokes, which were eaten for their Vitamin C to fight scurvy, reminding us of the hardships the sailors faced at sea.
The church is also the burial site of Vasco da Gama. Da Gama would come here to pray for a safe voyage before he would set sail from the Belém shore. The symbols on his tomb show the icons of his time-the cross (symbolizing the religious military order), the caravel ship (representing the method of travel), and the globe (representing Portugal's trading power around the world).
The restored cloisters are the architectural highlight of Belém!
In the 1700's this is what the courtyard looked like:
...and today
The last thing to check out at monastery is the Memorial to Luis de Camoes. He was the Portuguese "Shakespeare" who wrote about Vasco de Gama's first voyage:
Arms and the heroes, from Lisbon's shore,
sailed through seas never dared before,
with awesome courage, forging their way
to the glorious kingdoms of the rising day.
Our final stop was at
Pastéis de Belém: the birthplace of the amazing custard tart-the pastel de nata. Their recipe is a closely guarded secret, apparently only three people know their exact proportions of ingredients. It was packed inside, and we did some calculations that they must sell over 2,000,000 natas a year. So good, I could go for one right now!
We had a great time in Lisbon, and we went to the town of Sintra while on this trip to check it out. See more about it on our next post. Tchau!
When we got to the ruins we were warned again about the weather conditions, and they recommended that we come back when the weather was "better". We had come all this way so a little rain and wind wasn't going to stopping us. The ruins would make a great place for kids to climb, and play hide and seek.
Our last stop in Sintra was the icing on the cake-the Quinta da Regaleira. I had seen amazing pictures of it on Instagram, and luckily it was only a 10 mintue walk. It's totally worth seeing, and don't skip out on it. It was SO cool, I think while we were there I must have said that 1,000+ times. Imagine this being your backyard.
