Loving Life in Lisbon

There’s nothing like being excited to finally arrive at your vacation destination after a transatlantic flight and then to be greeted with a two hour line in passport control.  Welcome to Lisbon!  Once we finally cleared all that and then called back our driver who had already come for us, waited, and then left—we were finally headed to the center of Lisbon and our hotel, My Story Rossio https://www.mystoryhotels.com/mystoryrossio/en/, which is in the perfect location.  It is on the Praca do Rossio, ideal for walking the Baixa, Bairro Alto, Chiado, and Alfama neighborhoods and close to train and metro stations and trolley stops.  What our room lacked in actual “room”—picture a bed with about a two foot perimeter surrounding it and the tiniest bathroom ever—it made up for it with an excellent breakfast, convenient location, and the most accommodating staff ever!  We stayed here for four nights at the beginning of our trip and then an additional night at the end.

After crashing and taking a power nap, we left the hotel and headed to Leão D’Ouro, located behind My Story.  We were a bit concerned about walking into an empty restaurant, but we were simply early and the place began to fill while we there.  An excellent introduction to the fine seafood of Portugal, we dined on a roasted octopus, cod, and vegetable dish and shrimp with black squid ink pasta.  The start of our exploration of Portuguese wines would also begin here, assuring us after one sip that we were in for a terrific ten days.

Now recharged again after our travel, we were ready for some on foot exploration so we headed down to Praca do Comercio and the riverfront. It was a perfect sunny day, although a bit cool, but perfect for sprawling out on the steps by the water and listening to the band playing nearby.  Once our lunch had fully digested during our culture-filled break, we popped into a gelato shop and, cones in hand, continued to wind through the streets taking the long way back to Praca do Rossio.  Lisbon is one of the nicest European cities for walking around and between its hills, trolley cars, and Golden Gate-esque 25 de Abril Bridge, it has a definite San Francisco vibe, but with its sidewalk food vendors, randomly placed bronze statues, and colorful characters, it is most definitely Europe.I should point out an important fact about this and many of our other trips:  Rick Steves is where it’s at!  For years we have been loyal followers of the advice of his European guidebooks and this trip was no exception.  In fact, it was the pages of Rick’s Portugal guide that led us to our most beloved gem of the trip, a bar on Praca do Rossio called A Tendinha do Rossio, which we immediately rechristened “The Dive Bar”.  This spot was a real find.  There was some construction going on in front of it while we were there, so it truly was hidden, but once we popped in, saw all of the locals crowding the place, the surly bartender, the sweet waitresses, and the sidewalk seating on the other side of the construction, we knew we had found our place.  Oh, and did I mention the liberal pours of 1.50 € wine??? That and the inexpensive tapas menu that we worked through daily, starting with codfish cakes, made this stop very easy on the trip budget.  I hope it goes without saying that we made daily pilgrimages back here.  As my brother-in-law would say around 5:00—“I think it’s Dive Bar time.” 

After an extended cocktail hour, we crossed the Praca and had a dinner of seafood rice, pepper steak, and Codfish “Nicola Style” at Café Nicola. Completely stuffed and ready for a much deserved night of sleep, we headed down the sidewalk to the hotel, stopping along the way to check out the whimsical sardine store. Truly the Portuguese have an obsession with sardines—they were on every menu, the star of tourist souvenirs, and, as we’d find out the next day, were the center of the festival of St. Anthony.

The next day we took an Uber, which is an excellent and cheap way to get around Lisbon, down to the Belém neighborhood where we began our morning of sightseeing at the gorgeous Monastery dos Jerónimos and then continued on to the surprisingly interesting Coach Museum. With our stomachs now rumbling, we made our way to the famous and crowded Pastéis de Belém, to get their namesake Portuguese custard tarts which are in every bakery window in the city, but started here.  While my sister-in-law and I waited in the long line, the guys went up the block to check out the tiny Os Jerónimos restaurant where we hoped to have lunch.  Once we finally made it to the counter and snagged our hot from the oven custard tarts, we met up with the guys on the sidewalk where we all devoured them, burning our mouths in the process, but enjoying every bite.  The guys had already been in the restaurant, made friends with the host–who seemed to know every language of Europe–and had even taken a behind a scenes tour into the kitchen to see firsthand the pork stew special of the day simmering on the stove. And so we went in and were taken care of like family by the wonderful staff of this eatery who served us the excellent pork stew, the ubiquitous cod cakes, and of course, that lovely Portuguese wine.

A nap back at the hotel would follow this lunch of champions and the rest was definitely needed for the evening ahead as it was June 12 and that night the festivities of Saint Anthony began.  We had read about this before coming and considered ourselves very lucky that by chance we would be in Lisbon for two festivals, this and Corpus Christi on the 20^th.    In our reading we had discovered that in the Alfama neighborhood that night, makeshift bars serving beer and sangria would pop up and charcoal grills would line the sidewalks grilling those famous sardines.   It had been advised to not bring anything of value, except whatever money you needed for food and drink and that your clothes would be permeated with the scent of char grilled sardines.  That said, Russell and I brought what I called “throw away outfits” that consisted of shoes and clothing snatched out of a bag that had been heading to Goodwill.

We took an Uber in early evening and were dropped off near the entrance of Castelo do San Jorge and for the next several hours rambled around the streets of Alfama, drinking Sagres beer, eating grilled sardines, bifanas, and caldo verde while listening to live music in multiple locations and dancing at a 45 degree angle on the sloping lanes.  We people-watched and became one with the crowds, listening to the traditional pimba music and its classy lyrics about María and her codfish, and donning our silly hats, handed out by Sagres volunteers:  either a basil plant hat in honor of the festival’s official plant or a sardine head. Sadly, as I left camera and phone back at the hotel, my only images are in my mind, but I will say it was a great time.  As we made our way slowly back to Praca do Rossio later that night, we were able to also watch some floats go by near our hotel in the parade that would go on late into the night.  Needless to say when we returned to our room, the clothes were disposed of and long showers taken to wash off any “scents of the festival”.

The next day was the holiday of St. Anthony and thinking some places would be closed, we decided to make a day trip to nearby Sintra.  A short train ride followed by a taxi ride brought us up to Pena Palace where we were greeted with an incredibly long entrance line, realizing that we weren’t the only ones with the “get out of Lisbon plan” for the day.  Once we finally got in, we wove through the palace’s many ornate rooms and were awestruck by the amazing views in every direction.  However, these views were nowhere near as dramatic as the views we had hiking along the ramparts of the Moorish Castle!  This hike is definitely not for the faint of heart. And speaking of heart, we almost had a heart attack when we decided to hire a tuk-tuk driver to bring us back down the steep hill and into the town of Sintra.  Our young female driver must have had Formula One ambitions because she gave the four of us the high speed, curvy ride of our lives.

Once back in town, and in one piece, we enjoyed a fantastic lunch at Tulha’s of yet more octopus.  It was beginning to be a daily requirement for me.  Between the excellent food and impressive, inexpensive wine, we were really getting spoiled.  After our meal, we continued our sightseeing at the National Palace, another ornate beauty in city center. It was now time to catch our train back and upon arrival to Lisbon we of course stopped for “one” at The Dive Bar.  Fully worn out from the day’s (and previous night’s) events, we headed in for an early night.

With the following day being our last before heading south to the Algarve, we tried to make the most of it.  We began with a ride on the famous 28E street car, getting a relaxing tour of the most scenic areas of the city.  Afterward we headed to the Elevador de Santa Justa and rode all the way to the top for more of Lisbon’s stellar views.  It was a terrifying experience for poor, acrophobic Russell! From there we followed Rick Steves’ Bairro Alto/ Chiado walk around the area, catching a ride on the Funicular da Gloria, and visiting the San Roque Church and the incredible Chapel of St. John the Baptist. Our rigorous day was rewarded with an amazing, photo-worthy lunch at Carmo and then a rain storm that “forced” us back to the hotel for an afternoon nap.  Once we got our second wind, we headed to The Dive Bar for wine-hour and then were off to a traditional, albeit overpriced, Fado show as Casa Linares.  The food and entertainment were wonderful, but it is clearly tourist focused, thus the price.

The next day we would be heading to Salema, and then on to Évora, but we would be returning to Lisbon again at the end of our trip in five more days.  That final day in Lisbon would be spent covering the last sight we wanted to see, the Castelo de San Jorge.  The city of Lisbon is truly all about the breath taking views in every direction.  Descending the hill after our visit, we stopped outside the Lisbon Cathedral to watch some of the Corpus Christi ceremony, securing a prime curbside spot to watch the procession.

And after the procession, we made it just in time for last call at our beloved Dive Bar and one last vino on the sidewalk table.  From there we headed up the hill to El Rei D’Frango, a tiny, fabulous hole in the wall where we had a memorable last meal in a trip filled with over the top food.  My brother-in law had his last plate of grilled sardines and Russell had one last taste of black pork cheeks, a newly discovered Portuguese specialty. In keeping with the lighthearted feel of the place, our bill was presented inside a sardine can.  Just when we thought the evening couldn’t get any more “quintessential Lisbon”, on the way back down the hill we tucked into Ginginja do Carmo for a shot of the traditional Portuguese cherry liqueur. And then and only then, had we done everything we wanted to do on our trip to Lisbon—an over the top visit, book-ended by festivals and filled with great sights, music, history, food, and wine.  All that combined with genuine, friendly people and the views…oh, the views, make Lisbon a place we’ll be thinking of for a long time to come.