Lisbon

The next phase of our journey has taken us to Lisbon, Portugal. During our four days here, we have found Lisbon to be a charming city full of old historical buildings, ceramic tiled walls and sidewalks, and an enormous blue river that meanders out toward the Atlantic.

Our visit began on Saturday, arriving from Barcelona in the late afternoon. After checking into the Smile Hostel (they did live up to their name) we began exploring the city on foot. It is difficult to adequately describe Lisbon. One could say that the city is old, worn-down, and in need of updating. With a closer examination however, the hilly, winding streets, occasional cable cars rushing by, and Portuguese language resonating through the air, make this an appealing place indeed. We particularly enjoyed the red-bricked roofs every building is adorned with and the magnificent views from each street corner to the River Tejo. The river actually resembles more of a large bay, rather than a single river.

After getting the lay of the land, Trisha and I soon discovered two key highlights to this trip. First, the food is fantastic. Second, everything here is much cheaper than other European cities. Some traditional Portuguese dishes are grilled fish, cod (supposedly prepared in 365 different ways), vegetable and fish soups, grilled chicken with Pica Pica sauce, and other fresh seafood items. We opted mostly for the fish dishes and were pleased that every establishment we entered served us a wonderful meal.

Another discovery occurred on our second day here, as we traveled by metro train for 15 minutes to a neighboring section of Lisbon called Belam. Belam not only had a memorable monastery and an explorer’s monument, but it had supposedly the best custard tarts in all of Portugal. And this appeared to be true. We sampled many pastries during our visit to Lisbon, as pastry shops are abundant and filled to the brim with mouth-watering items. But this Belam custard tart shop which was established in 1837, holds about 200 people, and has a line out door of people all purchasing the same item, definitely was the best pastry we have ever been to. I think if someone got the recipe at home, the local donut shops might be in trouble, because the pastries are light enough to eat without getting full and delectable enough to enjoy every morsel.

On our third day in Lisbon, we rented a car for a drive up the coast with our final destination being the town of Sintra. I admit I was a little intimidated to drive in a foreign country, as the rules of the road can vary greatly. However many of our Spanish friends from the week before recommended this trip and assured us that driving in Portugal was a snap (actually they wouldn’t have said “it’s a snap” as that is an idiom that we would instead have been attempting to teach them) Driving in Portugal did turn out to be a snap and the road up the coast was beautiful. We stopped off in a coastal town for lunch on the way up and eventually found our way to Sintra.

In all honesty we did not give Sintra its deserved time as we arrived a little late in the afternoon. In a full day though, one would find Sintra located inland with its own microclimate, nestled in a lovely wooded forest. The main draw to Sintra is the castles and historic buildings that adorn its hillsides. There is a giant Moorish castle overlooking the town, along with a historic Portuguese castle in many pastel colors next to it. Of course all these castles and buildings have more official names and histories, but we really didn’t have time to learn them all. We at least saw them and took in as much of the town as we could. We then zoomed back to Lisbon in our fuel-efficient Euro car.

Our final full day in Lisbon was an excursion day to a town further south called Setabul. We took a bus and headed across Lisbon’s gigantic Golden Gate Bridge-like bridge to Setabul, about ½ hour away. It turned out to not be the most exciting city in Portugal, but we did have a nice lunch in town and spent a portion of the day strolling through the city streets and sipping coffee at a local shop. Our return trip to Lisbon found us pondering our experiences here and agreeing that our time spent was the perfect amount. If we had more time, we would likely move on to another section of the country as four days in Lisbon is sufficient. It was also in our minds that Portugal would be a lovely country to tour by bike, or visit in the summer near one of its many beaches.

Instead, we head off to another continent tomorrow. Our first time in Africa! Well, maybe not the Africa we see on television, but Morocco definitely has classic images that we have seen in movies and films. It should be interesting to see if they’re accurate and find out what Marrakech will hold. From what we have been told, it should be an exciting adventure.