Author: mmm-yoso

Man, is Lisbon quiet in the morning, at least on weekend mornings.

We were staying on Rua de Sapateiros, which I believe means Shoemaker Street. The skinny street ends at a gate. That's what it looks like from Rossio Square, which was dead quiet on this morning. Even the fountain hadn't been turned on yet.

It amazing what you see during quiet morning walks. We often miss things while walking in the hustle and bustle of streets like the usually busy with tourists Rua Augusta, a pedestrian only street crawling with restaurants trying to pull in tourists and folks trying to sell cheap sunglasses. This caught our eye on this morning's stroll.

One of our favorite things to do during early mornings is to visit the local market. I'd read about the Mercado de Ribeira (River Market) and thought it might be worth a visit. The front desk person had never heard of it and had to Google it. He gave us instructions on the kilometer or so walk to the market which was located almost across the street from the Cais do Sodre Station.

The area around the market was a bit gritty, there were many bars, and a couple of rough looking types, but it was daylight, and this was Lisbon, which seems very safe.

The market is located in a building with a distinctive Moorish style dome and has been in existence since 1882.

Having been to markets across the globe, I expected a hustling and bustling scene….but I guess for once, we were too early for everyone. Like I said, Lisbon is a late waking city.

 

Well, that was that….kind of disappointing, but still a bit interesting.

From here, we decided to catch the #28 tram to Alfama, the oldest existing and maybe the most picturesque of Lisbon's neighborhoods. We spent a bit of time trying to find the stop, so we went to the "Lisbon Rule". Whenever you start getting a bit confused and frustrated, it's time for some espresso and a Pastel de Nata. We found a little shop….there must be literally a thousand of these and had a very nice cup of espresso and a passable Pastel de Nata.

 By this time I'd developed an espresso routine. Taste, then add preferably raw sugar until you get that balance of bitter and sweet. I actually preferred the espresso in Portugal more than what we had in Rome. I ended up mostly ordering Macchiatos there.

Anyway, one of the guys working here spoke excellent English and gave us directions up the hill to the tram stop. Like I said, the Lisbon rule, when starting to get frustrated, head for the nearest Pastelaria, it worked everytime.

 We caught the tram, before all the tourists…though at this hour there weren't any and watched as it ambled up and down the hills.It's a neat ride.

We got off at the stop near the Church of Santa Luzia.

There's some really nice tilework to be found on the church. All done in the 18th century. This was really the first time we had a look at Azulejo, the famous Portuguese tilework up close.

Right on the other side of the church is the small square (Largo) of Santa Luzia. The views of the Tejo and Alfama are breathtaking.

Even with the morning sun blazing in your eyes. For some reason, the sky just seemed brighter in Portugal, Rome, and Malta.

It's really hard not to take a great photo here…….

 You just have to follow the signs to really get around.

Alfama itself is a maze of interconnected streets which reminded me of the Medinas of North Africa. This area has been occupied since the days of the Visigoths. I was told that if "you really want to see "how Lisbon was, go here". And I'm talking about really old Lisbon. You see, on All Saints Day (November 1st) 1755, a huge earthquake, actually three earthquakes occurred while most of Lisbon was at Mass, followed by a tsunami. Alfama was one of the few areas spared. Lisbon was rebuilt, in a logical grid pattern. In Alfama, you get a feel of the rabbit's warren of streets, a practical defense against your enemies, the shade from the buildings built close to one another and the breezes directed from the streets kept things cool during hot weather.

The Castle of Sao Jorge – Saint George, you remember him, right? He's the guy who slayed the dragon is right through the gates. The story I read was that John I married an English Princess and since Saint George was a popular figure in both countries, he named this castle after him. Meanwhile, the other story goes that the Alfonso I enlisted the help of the Knights of the Second Crusade to aid in defeating the Moors. The knights prayed to Saint George who inspired them to victory. Nothing was opened at this time, and truthfully, we were just enjoying the vibe and colors too much to even entertain a museum or such.

There's a ton of graffiti in Europe. We kind of enjoyed the signs and graffiti in Alfama……

WE then decided to follow the tram tracks uphill and ended up in Graca District, which seemed more local and residential than Alfama. We followed a sign that said "miradouro" (of course) and ended up at a beautiful viewpoint.

You could tell how far we had walked from Sao Jorge Castle as we had a nice view……

THe Missus had seen "s church" earlier and wanted to find it. This turned out to be the São Vicente da Fora monastery. Which we eventually found……

Now this was Saturday and when I saw stands set-up right past the gate to the right of the monastery I knew we had found the Feira da Ladra, the "Thieves Market". No, it's not quite as romantic as it sounds. This was basically one gigantic flea market.

With everything from Aprons to Zippers……

You can see the Church of Santa Engrácia in this photo. It gives you some idea of how big this market is.

 Reaching the end of the market we decided that finding the restaurant in Alfama that we had reservations for the next night might be a good idea. The twisting and turning streets seemed a bit confusing.

So we headed down those very streets, looking at various maps and a print out of the restaurant location. We started getting a bit frustrated.

So you know what time it was, right? It was time to enforce the "Lisbon Rule". We immediately stopped at a pastelaria…

And had a decent espresso and a Pastel de Nata. The really nice woman here sprinkled cinnamon on it, which I kinda liked.

And from here we got our bearings…..

We went from the obedient pooch…..

Past the raincoat mutt….actually, we saw several dogs dressed in jacket and raincoats….

And against all odds actually found the place. We then headed off in the direction we thought was correct and somehow ended up at the fortress like Sé (Cathedral) of Lisbon. Not quite sure how we made it here……

But we had.

It was then just a few blocks to Rua da Prata, a street we were familiar with, parallel to Rua Augusta and Rua de Sapateiros.

By this time I was getting a bit hungry. We had walked past a small restaurant with all type of pork parts displayed for the world to see in its window the previous day. This time, we decided to stop in.

The Missus, in Her typical way, took charge….She started asking the really nice guy manning the counter questions about the pork ear and other stuff.

In the end, the choice for Her was easy. After getting a taste of this She was sold.

And so it passed that I had suckling pig for breakfast……

The skin was crisp and not too hard nor think. Perhaps the meat was on the salty side, but it was moist, with a nice swine flavor. And it all screamed out for a "breakfast Sagres"……..

But man does not live on roasted suckling pig alone….. there's also Chouriço, smoked pork sausage…in this case a whole deep fried version. Which was delicious as well.

You know, the Missus and I have been married for almost 15 years. After all that time affection and love are represented in sometimes different and subtle ways. Like when the Missus saved this for me……

This would have probably made for a nice "Breakfast of Champions" post if it weren't so long. Funny thing is, we realized later on, that the front of the shop didn't have a sign……

Oh well…..if you're on Rua de Prata, just look for the place with all the pig parts in the window!

I felt so satisfied after that wonderful bifana and a beer, that I didn't even complain when the Missus decided that we hadn't done enough walking for the day. She had decided that we needed to get on up to Chiado and Bairro Alto, Lisbon's bohemian and nightlife district. Luckily, the Missus didn't insist on climbing up that hill and we just walked past Rossio Station and the Avenida Palace Hotels…..

And catch a ride on the funicular, the Elevador da Gloria, using our Viva Viagem Card.

Which I was told has been snaking up the hill linking Baixa with Bairro Alto since 1885. A bunch of other tourists jumped on, the guy asking me "where is this going?" I told him, "up the hill….." He smiled and told me, "I really don't know where this is going, but it looks like fun…."

To the right of the funicular stop is the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcantara. One word I learned rather quickly was "miradouro" which meant viewpoint. Anytime we saw that word, we followed the signs….. usually ending in a wonderful sight like this.

This little park/garden was a nice place to check out the views of the city. It also helped to get us a little more oriented with our surroundings.

The narrow and rather congested streets down to Chiado are lined with Churches(of course), boutiques, and theatre's. This seems to be the place where the hip hang out.

At the end of Rua Garrett is a multi-floor mall. You exit head to the Sportszone and go downstairs to exit back in Baixa (thanks Rick Steves!). We did make a stop at H&M. We travel light. I personally had less than 6 kilos of clothes and shoes. My strategy is to pack light and if necessary, buy a jacket or something. Since there were Zara and H&M stores everywhere and it was in the 40's at night, I bought a hoodie for 10euros and the Missus a sweater for about the same price. We were set for the rest of the trip. We dropped by Pingo Doce and bought water….we were set.

We had booked our room at Lisbon Short Stay Apartments, which was basically a conversion. The room was decently sized with a kitchenette and there was even a washer and dryer on our floor. However, the place was rather dark and a bit funky, with kind of an industrial feel.

The staff was nice, but really couldn't provide a whole lot of information nor recommendations. Though they did provide a tiny map that included the metro routes which we kept the entire trip. It was time for dinner…….

There are a couple of things you need to know about eating in Lisbon and Portugal in general; folks don't eat until at least 730pm. You will be enticed by a bunch of "appetizers/bread/olives" put out in front of you. Note that these are not free, you will charged for whatever you touch; feel free to put them to the side and not eat. You won't be charged…we found that many places will ask if you want these and take them away if you tell them no. There are often two portion sizes offered on menus; dose and meia dose. We found that meia dose, literally a "half order" is usually enough to feed one as an entree.

We had dinner reservations for the next two evenings, so one this night we just wanted something simple and easy. We headed back up to Chiado, past some really touristy looking places, up stairs and a mildly steep climb. In a little alley on a side street we found a place I read about on Chowhound called Super Mario….really, it was named Super Mario.

Into that doorway past the little sign was a simple tiled restaurant.

Tables were simply covered with paper……this was just a nice and homey place.

 As we peeked into the door, we saw three gentlemen having beers and pub grub. We weren't sure if they were "really" open, but the guys waved us in and pointed to a table and called out to the back. They also gave us bread with slices of pork on them….sharing their food with us! I really liked the folks in Portugal! We later offered to buy them a round, but they refused, telling our Server that they had to head home. We had lucked out….it started pouring right when we sat down.

We started off with a bottle of Vinho Verde….the verde doesn't really mean "green" in terms of color….it refers more to how "young" the wine is. This was light, slightly fizzy, and more sweet than dry.

The food at Super Mario can be best described by the locals who told us, "very typico……"

The Missus wanted to try Caldo Verde, a simple, but hearty soup thickened by potato, containing thin slices of kale.

For my first sit down meal in Portugal, it just seemed right that I had bacalhau. I hadn't had anything made with salt cod since I was a teenager. So I went with the Bacalhau Frito, fried bacalhau.

Nothing fancy, perfectly decent, salty, but not overly so, perhaps a bit too many bones for me. The rice….well, I never had decent rice in any dish in Portugal, that's just the way things went.

This was sardinhas (sardine) season, so the Missus would get that whenever She could. It looked fresh here.

The sardines were fresh, very nice….but man, those potatoes….in fact all the potatoes in Portugal taste, well, like really good potatoes…..possibly the best other than what we had in Peru.

We had killed the first bottle of Vinho Verde, with no problems, nor affects, so we ordered a second.

About this time a Korean woman who looked to be in her 30's entered the restaurant….this was pretty much a first for us. We always see Korean tourists traveling in tours or packs. This was the first time I saw one traveling solo. We shared a glass of wine with her. It just seemed like the right thing to do. She was very nice and indeed travelling solo. She told us, "I like to travel and don't have friends…." I'm sure she didn't mean literally. She was from Seoul and travelled all over Europe because, "I like to drink…." then telling us about how good Porto was. She had dinner at Super Mario's the night before and enjoyed it so much she decided to return.

While the food was nothing to write home about, we enjoyed our dinner at Super Mario. The service was nice, so was the vinho verde, and the Missus enjoyed he caldo verde. It was relaxed, the guys having drinks in the place were very warm and hospitable. It was a good first dinner to get things started.

Restaurante Super Mario
Rua do Duque 9
Lisbon, Portugal

There was still fading daylight left when we finished dinner and walked down the hill. Lisbon seemed very safe, so we strolled around a bit, taking in a bit more……

We found a bakery run by Chinese and got some Pastel de Nata……

The crust was just wrong and the custard was too sweet and eggy. These were the worst of our time in Lisbon.

We headed back to our room, opened the window….. the immediate area was very urban and dark. We watched the street scene below. Folks heading home, dodging the drizzles, then the next wave of folks heading out for the evening.

I'd come to find that Lisbon sleeps and wakes late. I woke to folks laughing and yelling a couple times during the night….the last at 330am. Still, we were exhausted and the sleep did us good! We'd be having another full day tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

I'm going to try to do a better job in getting these posts done. This means that the posts will probably be rather long and jam-packed, I hope you don't mind…..

So this year we decided on Portugal, Rome, and Malta. Why? I'm not quite sure. Things usually start out as just throwing out a couple of places. We had given thought to heading back to Istanbul and perhaps the Greek Islands again, but in the end decided not to. And based on the recent happenings in Istanbul, we probably made the right decision. It was while having some linguica (Portuguese Sausage), that the Missus came up with Portugal. We also wanted to visit an island. If we had gone to Turkey, I'm pretty sure we would have headed to Cyprus. The previous year we had visited Rhodes and I was fascinated with the story of the Knights of St John, who were driven from Rhodes by the Ottomans, ending up in….you got it, Malta. So Malta it was. The Missus wanted another destination and somehow that ended up being Rome. After that, it was all about planning………

Which is how we ended up getting off our flight in Lisbon. We'd come to find that it's really easy to get around in Lisbon. We bought a Viva Viagem card which covers all matters of public transport. You can charge it up by trip, by day, or do what we did, called "zapping". We loaded 15 Euros on each card and needed to add just 2 Euros added for the rest of our trip. The metro "red line" goes from the airport and intersects with all the other metro lines. We transferred to the green line at Alameda, getting off at the Baixa-Chiado station. I admit to being less than impressed as we walked out of the metro station. There was a ton of construction going on so the sidewalks were all dug up. The thin sidewalks and small worn streets and the aged buildings gave the place a dated urban look and feel. We were staying on Rua de Sapateiros street just a short walk from the metro station. Sine these were short stay apartments, I expected no sign and got none except a call button on a doorway on the rather dark street.

At 930, it was much too early and our room wasn't ready, it wouldn't be so until after 2pm, so we had a rather long day ahead of us.

I wasn't getting a real great vibe from the city. Though things started lifting as we passed a strange looking tower like object one block over. This was the Santa Justa Elevator. We really hadn't noticed it yet, but Lisbon, like Rome is built on 7 hills. The climb up these hills can be rather steep. This elevator, completed in 1901 links the Baixa district with the Bairro Alto district, and provides some great views for folks who decide to take the ride up. Even though you can use the Viva Viagem card to pay for access, we just never went for a ride….too many folks standing in line, plus the Missus would usually rather walk up the damned hill!

My dark, dank(it was drizzling off and on), and gritty opinion of Lisbon totally changed as we walked through the gate at the top of Rua de Sapateiros which opened up to lovely and bright Praca da Rossio (Rossio Square).

 With the bronze fountain at one end, crowned with a column with the statue of King Dom Pedro IV, it's a wonderful bit of open space. Strangely, the Missus was most taken with the stone designs on the ground. She read that looking at these designs can actually make you seasick!

Close by was Rossio Station, which we were told was a representation of Neo-Manueline style, popular in the late 19th century.

We really weren't checking out local architecture though. We usually follow a certain pattern when arriving in a new town/city. Find our hotel, stow our luggage, and find water. We were told that there was a outlet of Pingo Doce supermarket close by and we were trying to find it. After walking around in circles for a while, I stopped and asked a young man having a smoke outside the back of a shop. He looked at what I had written, laughed, and displayed his name tag…..it said "Pingo Doce". It was right around the corner….we'd actually walked right past the rather discrete entrance to the market!

While in the market, we decided to have a cafe express (espresso) and a small pick-me-up snack. This would prove to be a rather important event. You see, the snack we had was a Pastel de Nata, a Portuguese Egg Tart.

Ever had an Egg Tart with Dim Sum? Does this look familiar? Portugal, along with Spain once divided up the world. Their reach extended to Macau and it's quite apparent that the Pastel de Nata evolved into the standard issue dim sum egg tart….which by the way, is not a favorite of ours. Thus we really weren't too excited about trying Pastel de Nata…..but damned if this wasn't too bad, even if it was from the counter of a market! The crust was light, crisp, like filo. The filling wasn't too sweet, nor was it too "eggy". It was the perfect foil for the espresso. From this point on, the Missus would make it a point to get Pastel de Nata, until She flamed out.

Energized by caffeine and sugar we headed back across Praca da Rossio to Praca da Figueira.

And up the street to the side. Here there were a couple of charcuterie shops and especially pungent shop.

 It was a shop selling that iconic Portuguese ingredient; bacalhau, salt cod. I'd read that there are 365 different recipes using bacalhau, one for each day of the week. I was later told that there are actually exactly 1,095 recipes using bacalhau….one for each meal of the year!

At the top of the street we passed the Church of Sao Domingo, which we visited later on the trip. This area, called Largo de Sao Domingo is the gathering place for immigrants from Portugal's former African colonies.

Also located in the square was a place I just had to try……even though it was 1030 in the morning.

A Ginjinha is a well known "bar", I use the term loosely as it's basically a counter, that sells shot of the sour cherry liqueur called ginjinha. Mildly sweet, with a bit of a burn at the end, you can't leave Lisbon without trying one. I got mine without cherries, the Missus with….it turned out to be a bit strong for Her. But She enjoyed spitting out the cherry pits like everyone seems to do on the sidewalk in front of the place. I've heard that folks start drinking this stuff for breakfast, like at 7 in the morning…..

A Ginjinha
Largo de Sao Domingos 8
Lisbon, Portugal

Fortified, we decided to head on down to the Rio Tejo, the Tagus river. But not before stopping here…….

For what else? Pastel de Nata…..the place was really hopping and just as is typical in Portugal, folks eat and drink standing up.

 The Pastel de Nata here was the second best we had on this trip. The crust was light and flaky, the custard not too sweet, but rich. The espresso helped ward off any side effects that could have lingered from the ginjinha.

I'd come to learn that Confeitaria Nacional was once the royal bakery and is still run by the same family since they opened in 1829. We'd end up revisiting again since it was so close to where we were staying.

Confeitaria Nacional
Praca da Figueira 18B
Lisbon, Portugal

We ended up walking down Rua Aurea, "gold street", dodging the passing showers, to Praca do Comercio, the huge open square right across the street from the Tagus.

Unfortunately, the statue of King Jose I and the Arch were both undergoing maintenance and thus covered and surrounded by scaffolding. Regardless, we crossed the street and took some photos of the Tagus.

I was starting to get hungry and had a place in mind. So we headed back up to the Rossio area via the pedestrian only Rua Augusta……

Right across from Rossio Station was a restaurant I'd read about.

There are tables in this rather small restaurant, but the Missus and I walked up to the counter where all the locals were lined up. We'd eat standing up….this just seemed like the right thing to do.

There was just one item that I wanted here and the really friendly guy behind the counter knew exactly what it was…….he smiled and pointed to what the guy next to me was having and said, "you want that!" And he was right…..

 He also asked, "beer?"….heck why not? It was noon somewhere in the world, right? Here in Lisbon it's usually Sagres. I did notice that in places like Porto and Sintra, folks preferred Super Bock. Sagres is really light and easy to drink.

What about the bifana? Well, it did seem kind of odd that folks enjoyed their sandwich with yellow mustard, but what the heck. I gotta say, this was simple, yet so good. The meat just ooozed porkiness. It looked tough, but was fairly tender….man the flavor was so good.

The bread was paired nicely with the pork; not too dense, slightly yeasty, but without interfering with the star of the show. The anti-pork Missus even loved this; though the yellow mustard grossed Her out. She preferred the spicy piri-piri sauce, basically a chili oil.

We watched the guy cooking the pork for the bifana on the way out and noticed that it was indeed fried. But it looked like it wasn't fried at a high temp. The next morning we walked by Beira Gare and found out an additional flavoring component; in the pot where the pork was fried up was a huge block of lard……..

Even though we had some pretty good meals in Lisbon; this humble, but super tasty sandwich was my favorite.

Beira Gare
Rua 1 Dezembro 5
Lisbon, Portugal

As we left the restaurant, the Missus told me, "it's time you paid off that pork, let's get going…." Like we hadn't already walked enough!

Postscript: After getting home I saw a rerun of Anthony Bourdain's Lisbon show. I cracked up, during the end of the show he's having a bifana….from Beira Gare….with yellow mustard!

For those who hung in till the end. Thanks for reading!