Lisbon, Portugal
We are writing this blog on the train, which has no WiFi. So, this is probably coming to you all days later in Barcelona.
Lisbon was beautiful. The tiled covered buildings towered over us as we walked down the cobbled stoned streets. The people were friendly, all with smiles on their faces and helping tourists enjoy their city. The weather was amazing, sunny and warm but cool enough at night to wear a light sweater.
When we arrived at the airport, we bought a metro pass for 10€ each and took the metro to our hotel. As soon as we stepped up from the darkness of the underworld, I instantly was overwhelmed by the charm of Europe. The streets were lined with stores such as Gucci and Coach and were mixed in with old building in pastel colors with terracotta roofs.
We found Hotel Britannia fairly easily, nestled behind the shops. The gentleman at the desk was very kind to us. He allowed us to check in early. When he asked if it was our first time in Europe we told him yes and that it was our honeymoon. He told us that he was going to upgrade our room and surprise us! We were so excited. He gave us a map of the city and told us to walk down to city center and to come back at noon for our room.
We walked to city center. It was beautiful. The architecture of Lisoba is amazing. Everything is so old, and some buildings were run down but it added to the charm. The tile work is exquisite, brightly colored, patterned squares. We saw a few statues, snapped some pics and headed back to the room.
When we opened the double doors of our suite, I was in awe at the hotels generosity. They had upgraded us to the best suite in the building. The suite had a large bedroom with king sized bed, a living room, and a balcony off of each. When i say balcony I mean a full sized deck, with two chairs to lay in the sun, a table, and two more upright chairs, on the top floor overlooking the city. In the room waiting for us was a complementary bottle of champagne. We immediately put on our hotel bathrobes, and drank champagne on the deck. After a glass each while we enjoyed the complimentary donuts, we took a hot shower and a two hour nap to recharge and get on the right timezone.
We woke up ready to go. The nap was well needed and it gave us enough energy for the rest of the day. We set out to see "the best view of Lisbon" according to multiple sources. Lisbon is home to many hills. Some have stairs that lead up them and some of these have "elevators" which are trolleys that take you part of the way up these hills. We didn't take those. Instead we climbed up and up. We saw an artist painting his work on the side of a wall covered in graffiti. He was spraying over one work to add his own. We turned a corner and saw these amazing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle portraits. We went on up even higher. We turned another corner and we felt like we could see the whole city. The views were 270 degrees around us and we're stunning. The juice was worth the squeeze.
At the top of the world, or so it seemed, we got some hand baked treats (ham and cheese pastry and a lemon poppyseed muffin) and limeade. They were amazing and the guy who made and sold them was very nice. We sat and ate while we stared at the amazing views before us. It was one of the prettiest places I have ever stood and it was amazing to share it with each other.
We made our way down and towards a castle that we saw off in the distance. We stumbled upon a pharmacy and asked if they had anything for lactose intolerance. After the pharmacists looked for a very long time, they were able to give us the name of the drug in Portugal. We moved on. We also stumbled upon a gorgeous view of the water so we walked around this landing and took some pictures before we noticed that there was a bar right below is with great views of the water. Britt and I tried a port and a Portuguese beer named Segres. With the sun starting to go down we set off to find this castle. We came up to it, saw what it cost to get in, and decided on more beer and food. This is where we fell in love with Super Bock.
The waiter put down a plate of olives, two cod cakes and bread. Britt had heard that it was common in Europe to pay for what is eaten off the table. We told the waiter to take the olives and kept the bread and cod cakes. The cod cakes are a Portuguese specialty and very delicious. Britt ordered the cod for dinner too which came cooked in white wine, garlic and onions with black eyed peas and roasted potatoes. Derek ordered french fries. The cod was okay, but not something Britt would order again.
After dinner we walked toward the water. The sun was setting and it was beautiful. We stopped at a place called Cantina right on the water front. Brittany ordered a tapa of fried mini baby squid and Derek got a creme brulee, both delicious. Brittany got a martini called Cuban Cigars which was made with cigar syrup and was surprisingly smooth. Derek ordered a Japanese blended Whisky. As we were finishing up our evening there, a media show started on the seaside. Loud music blared and colorful images depicting Lisbon's history were projected onto a beautiful historic building. It was spectacular.
Part way through the show we paid our bill. We walked towards the hotel stumbling past little street cafes begging for us to come in and try their food. Instead we grabbed a bottle of port, went back to the hotel, and finished our champagne on the deck in our bathrobes again before going to bed that night.
Day 2 we woke up refreshed after sleeping in. We got showered, packed our bags and headed out to Lisbon for the day. The hotel held our bags so we could explore without being weighed down. We stopped at a little cafe in the park and got a ham and cheese pastry and a chocolate chip muffin. We each had cafe, which is espresso here.
After breakfast we hopped on the bus and headed to the historic area of Lisbon. There, we walked through the tropical botanical garden where we saw palm trees, peacocks and baby ducklings. After, we visited some of the sites including a large monument and a castle. We also got to see the large Jesus statue from a far who had his arms stretched out over Lisbon.
Before leaving, we stopped at a cafeteria where Britt had a beef pastry and a shrimp pastry with an apple cider and Derek had a piece of chocolate cake with a beer.
We stopped at a pharmacy where Britt was able to get more lactaid and headed back towards city center. We decided to grab one more beer before heading back to the hotel to retrieve our things. We stopped at the Beer Museum where we both shared a Portuguese beer, special to the museum. It was "between a stout and a lager" and it was one of the best beers Brittany has ever tried.
We grabbed our stuff at the hotel, got on the metro, and headed toward the train station. We were told there were many places to eat by the water but when we got there nothing was open. This part of Lisbon was modern, and not our style. We decided to go to the mall and hit the food court. Brittany panicked about ordering and walked in circles around the food court before deciding on a pork and sausage skewer with rice and beans. Derek got fries from Mcdonalds which was an adventure in its own because they had ordering kiosks and pay kiosks to make a 3 step process which was confusing as hell.
We then took off to the station where we shared a beer each and waited. It's off to Madrid we go!
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