Day 3 in Lisbon

Tuesday 27 January

A little orientation to where we are and where you might be if you ever come to Lisbon.

The city center is broken up into (and I'm going to simplify here so bear with me) four neighborhoods running from east to west: Alfama, Baixa, Chiado and Bairro Alto, the first two generally fronting the river. Our apartment is located in the Baixa. Anyway, they are all easily walkable aside from being somewhat hilly (Baixa is the exception). Still, getting around to many of the most prominent attractions is easy and public transport readily accessible. 

We had originally scheduled a day trip tour to Sintra and the coast but with the persistent rain and a coastal warning for Portugal we decided to cancel that excursion. Instead we opted to visit the Jeronimos Monastery. Plus we'd be inside.

photo Wikimedia

While entry to the church is free of course, to visit the cloister requires timed tickets and these are only available online. But by using the official monastery website instead of a third-party guarantees access to the senior pricing (half off thank you very much).

Our timed tickets were entry at 10:30 and since the monastery is located in the Belem district west of the city center, the tram would take about 30 minutes.  So our morning was semi-leisurely. We scooted out of the apartment a little before 9 am and quickly made our way to the Praça Comercio where we found the no. 15 tram waiting for us. 

The tram dropped us off right on time and no rain (yet). We queued to get into the cloister  but realized that we were in the wrong queue (for the church only) and with our timed tickets we learned from a security guard that we could go right in. And so we did. 

We had no sooner gotten inside than it commenced to pour the proverbial cats and dogs. And I don't mean the kind of rain that lightly passes on but holds tight and becomes a deluge. But we were inside walking the marble and stone halls that for centuries had been the haunts of serious clerics. 

no queue at the moment

the visit begins on the upper level

praying is the penance for using your phone too much

how many monks walked down these stairs

and up

ground level

tomb of Alexandre Herculano (1810-1877), poet and historian

tomb of Fernand Pessoa (1888-1935), poet

the refectory was full of biblical stories told in tile

feeding the 5,000

From the cloister we walked inside the church. Large, imposing and generally sterile in appearance it didn't help that there was quite a bit of restoration work underway as well. But we did get to pay our respects to one of Portugal's greatest poets and a man who literally put Portugal on the map.

tomb of Luis Camões (1524-1580), poet

As we left the church we said adeus to the great Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama (1469-1524).

Upon leaving the church we were hoping to walk across the street to the large park fronting the river. This area is quite a popular destination with several museums and a lovely stroll along the river. Plus I wanted us to see the enormous Monument to the Discoveries, celebrating de Gama, Prince Henry the Navigator, Pedro Cabral and Magellan, which reportedly has a superb observation deck at its top. But the weather turned on us once again, cold rain, and so much wind and a general unpleasantness forced us to reconsider. 

So we hurried over to the tram stop and took the no. 15 back to the Praça Comercio. From there we walked home to dry out.

After relaxing for just a short while -- we're prone to do that now -- we set off up our street the two blocks to the Armazens de Chiado shopping center. Located above the Metro stop the center consists of  six floors at the top of which was a food court. We had an idea to find a bite to eat there but we found nothing to appeal to us. Since we were now near the top of the Bairro Alto (the "high neighborhood") we thought we'd stroll and look for a place for lunch.   

We soon found a place to settle in: Benard's Tea House. The place has been around since 1868 and seemed very popular with the locals. We thought the food was fairly pedestrian, but the wine cold and after-dinner coffee delicious as was the pasteis del nata. We were also impressed with a sign noting that (a) everything was made fresh every day and (b) all leftover food was given to charity each evening. 

Susie had the quiche of the day

I had an omelet

There's still more to come about these luscious little custard tarts. . . stay tuned!  We strolled home and relaxed the rest of the afternoon until supper.

A little before 7pm we left our apartment and walked 10 feet to the Crossroad Asia Fusion Bistro. Located next door to our building it has to be one of the smallest restaurants in Lisbon with maybe six two-top tables plus a couple of seats at the bar. A quick aside - when we returned from our dinner last evening we had noticed that it was packed at 10 pm. Anyway, the food sounded good - as indeed it was. 

I cannot emphasize enough how truly SMALL this place is. And staff seemed to consist of one or maybe two women working the kitchen and a man handling the front of the house. The service was very friendly and all the tables were full but one - ours. Sitting cheek-by-jowl is not for everyone but one does get a sense of intimacy without speaking which is a bit odd but also fascinating. While noodle bowls seemed to be the bulk of their menu we each had a rice-based dish washed down by the house red wine. We enjoyed it all very much and the price was right as well.

Minced beef, potato, egg over rice

stir fried veggies and rice

Tomorrow is Susan's baking class and we have scheduled a Tuk Tuk tour of the Alfama neighborhood for later in the afternoon. 

Day 2 in Lisbon

Monday 26 January 

A leisurely morning at home sipping coffee and have a light breakfast of bread and cheese. We eventually roused ourselves and made our way the three blocks or so to the Praça Comercio and around the Lisbon waterfront. 

From there we walked under the Arch up rua do Augusta to rua do Santa Justa then past the non-functioning elevator to the Nespresso store to stock up on some pods for our morning coffee. We headed down to the Baixa-Chiado Metro stop to get our 24-hour Metro tickets and then home to collect our wits.

It's great that our AirBnB is very centrally located so its easy to be in and out as needed, particularly with the uncertain weather patterns.

rua do Augusta

Metro entrance off our street

We soon headed back out to explore more of our neighborhood, walking the 2 minutes back to the Metro, taking the Blue Line to Restaurdores. We had hoped to take the funicular up to the Bairro Alto but it was temporarily closed. So we strolled down to the Rossio train station (local lines to Sintra, etc.) and soaked in the various wonders of local architecture. 

example of a mural of tiles typically found in Metro stations

praça dos Restauradores

Rossio train station

And where else but in Lisbon can you find a shop dedicated to selling just tinned Sardines!

Along the way we stopped in at a lovely shop selling all sorts of sweets and snacks and picked up some caramelized pistachios, a bag of Marcona almonds, a few chocolates, and jellied fruits (think Chuckles candy but way better). 

lovely selection of caramelized nuts and various sweet treats

caramelization process

We then made our way to the Nat'elier de Nata to savor their Pastes de Nata, the local favorite sweet treat - basically a puff pastry custard filled tart. Susie had a traditional while I thoroughly enjoyed a Pistachio and Dubai chocolate version; all washed down with coffee for me and hot chocolate for the Tarte herself. 

Susie plans to return to this very same location Wednesday for her class in making these lovely bits of Portuguese cuisine while I hope to make my way out to the Prazeres cemetery.

Leaving the pastry shop we walked a block over to get on the no. 12 trolley, hoping to ride it around the city to do some simple sightseeing. We waited and waited - no No. 12 - and eventually found ourselves getting aboard the no. 15 tram for reasons that continue to confound both of us. We rode the tram for a short ways before alighting at the Praça Comércio and walked back to our apartment. 

But aha! Just short of our building we noted a trolley stop for both the no. 28 and 12 so we thought what the heck we'll wait for the 12 here. The no. 28 came, stopped and moved on, soon followed by the no. 12 which just whizzed right on by leaving several of us (clearly) tourists dumbfounded. We threw in the towel for the day and went home.

We relaxed at home before heading out for dinner at our pre-arranged Air BnB experience. 

About 6:30 pm we left the apartment and walked up to the Metro. We took the Green Line to Anjos and walked a block-and-a-half to our venue for dinner, the Ambiente Hostel at Avenida Almirante Reis 86. The elevator wasn't cooperating so we hiked up three flights to the Hostel spaces where we were met by our host Mateus. 

The eight other guests were already seated and we were soon in the thick of everyone sharing their travel experiences so far -- the woman sitting next to Susan was heading back home to Houston, having delayed her return a day or two due to the weather. The woman across from her was Australian, traveling solo, and the couple across from Susan and myself were from Seattle --  we soon learned this was a special trip for the two of them. They wanted a bit of an adventure before she delivers her first child in a couple of months.  

The dinner went well.  The food was lovely, portions perfect and the wines (a red and white) very nice.  But it was the round of conversations that truly made it special: shared concerns of course, but jokes too, all within an atmosphere of total strangers getting to know one another in a mere two-and-a-half hours! It was a wonderful evening. Period.

homemade corn bread with infused butter and Portuguese cheese for starter

roasted chestnut cream soup

codfish and potatoes

marinated pork tenderloin on a bed of puréed corn

rice pudding

A little before 10 pm we all said adeus and each headed off their own separate ways. One of the other guests, the woman from Australia, joined us on our rainy walk to the Metro. Upon reaching the entrance to the Green Line we discovered it had closed at 9:30 pm! A quick question for folks walking by us confirmed that the next entrance a block or so away was open. And so it was. The three us rode until our stop when we said goodbye to a new friend.  

Our Air BnB experiences have all been very positive and this trip was no exception. Tomorrow it's supposed to continue to rain, and we have timed tickets for the cloister at the Jeronimos Monastery. 

Departure and arrival

Saturday-Sunday 24-25 January

Saturday morning dawned clear and cold.  And I mean damn cold. It was -17 F when the alarm went off at 7 am. And we still have tons of snow that seems little inclined to leave anytime soon. By the time we left for the airport at 11 am it had warmed up to 10 F. 

We were mostly packed up Friday night thanks to the queen of the packing cubes Susie, AKA the French Tarte. So our morning was leisurely with breakfast and coffee before showering and finishing the last minute routine for traveling. The coffee pot was cleaned, the refrigerator empty of everything but a few condiments, staples and French Tarte ingredients.

getting our carry ons ready

Our neighbor Don T. picked us at 11 am for the short drive to Gerald R. Ford airport. There was no queue at the United desk and after we checked in both ourselves and our bags we walked right through security. No queue there either. After a stop at Starbucks we made our way to the gate to await our 1:33 pm flight to Newark.

A couple of curious things we noted while we waited -- one was a fellow wearing an ID badge (employee or volunteer?) with a service dog walking around the departure gates in Concourse A asking everyone if they wanted to pet the dog. That seemed to be his sole job. Another badged fellow of retirement age, walking around asking people how they were doing, where they were from and where they were going, etc. I guess the idea is to lay out the welcome mat for people on their way somewhere . . . 

view of Kent County

inflight snack

landing at Newark a nation of containers

The flight to Newark took less than two hours gate-to-gate and although we seemed to circle forever around the greater New Jersey area we did eventually land. I am pleased to say that for the very first time in all my years of flying I was the very last person off a plane. No matter, since we had over four hours before our flight to Lisbon.

We made our way the length of Terminal C to our next gate. We were both hungry so we opted to stop and grab a glass of wine and share a sandwich as we bided our time. 

Not to go on about such things but two glasses of wine and a turkey club were more than we would normally think to spend at a basic bistro. But we were in an airport in a big city where price gouging is de rigueur. It prompted us to fondly recall our time in Spain back in 2023 where food costs were so so reasonable and it makes us look forward to Portugal even more!

Our flight left Newark about 40 minutes late -- apparently the 1st officer originally scheduled called in sick and there was a scramble to find a replacement. The plane was full and the journey largely uneventful, the exception being -- wait for it -- the absolutely atrocious food served in the cattle car portion of the aircraft. Inedible. I should think the airlines would just scratch serving food altogether, but they have a certain image to maintain, even if that image has been a butt of cliche jokes for years. 

Anyway, we landed in Lisbon about 20 minutes later than originally scheduled and breezed through passport control. Before leaving the airport we had at least two objectives: finding an ATM and getting coffee while we waited to get to our apartment. While threading our way through the glitz and glamour of Lisbon airport shopping mall we stopped for a coffee at a pastry/coffee place called, oddly enough, Versailles. After lounging for a bit off we went in search of an ATM.

We couldn't find a bank ATM (Santander was our goal) so we decided to bite the bullet and take cash out of a Euronet machine (where the conversion rate wasn't too bad), then off we went in search of our bags. We found them easily at the end of multiple carousels all lined up in a huge hall. Many bags had already been retrieved - ours looked rather forlorn.

I  connected with our host Laura to set up a good time to drop our bags off while we waited for the apartment to be cleaned and then arranged for an Uber for pickup. Two things about Uber/Bolt in Lisbon: one a 40 minute-ride into the city cost us with tip $18.00, and second the ride share at the airport was well signed and turned out to be quite an operation. I should point out we were warned not to use the taxis from the airport because they were significantly more expensive. 

the door to our building on the left and the entrance to where we ate lunch on the right

We were given the code to get into the building where we waited just 20 minutes or so for our host to meet up with us and let us into the apartment. After a quick tour of the space and the various features we said adeus and popped next door to grab a bite of lunch.

Cotidion is a lovely little eatery with a funky vibe, cool staff and populated by lots of young folks speaking a variety of languages. The place styles itself as a brunch club so the food focused a lot on breakfast-like foods. Susie had eggs on toast and I had these wonderful mini-chicken burgers. All washed down with fresh-squeezed OJ. Delicious.

After lunch we strolled a bit in our neighborhood and killed some more time at a hotel cafe for coffee before getting into the apartment. Once we received the message that our rooms were ready, back we went. By now both of us felt like old hands getting into the building.

Our place is on the 4th floor and there are two large elevators to whisk us upwards with ease. 

across from our building, this space seems totally empty

down our street, rua do Crucifixo

I stretched out on the sofa for a quick nap while Susan unpacked and got us settled in.

Somewhat refreshed we grabbed an umbrella and headed off in search of a grocery store. A 10-minute walk in the pouring rain -- broken up by stopping once to shelter in a doorway, we found Pingo Douce, a chain of grocery stores here in Portugal. After loading up on a few necessities it was back home in a light drizzle. The day was slipping away from us and we felt tired and hungry. We found a Ramen bar just a block up from our apartment where we enjoyed a scrumptious bowl of katsudon (breaded chicken with rice and egg), washed down with an Asahi beer. (Note: Asahi is a Japanese beer now owned by Peroni and brewed in Italy. Go figure).

It was a short walk back home -- and we were amazed to see how many folks were out on a Sunday evening. Back in the apartment we showered and hit the sheets for a much-deserved night's rest. 

Tomorrow it's off to explore more of the neighborhood, find the nearest Tourist Information office and enjoy being in Lisbon. Oh, and we have our scheduled dinner to look forward to Monday evening - yeah!