Lisbon

I’ve struggled with motivation to blog our trip.  It’s been fine but nothing outstanding to date.  I’ve posted several pictures below - with some captions.

 

Mostly Lisbon was a big city.  Not the elegance of Paris or the energy of London - just a big city with all the amenities and hazards (cab drivers) that go along with a big city. The hotel we stayed at (Brown’s Central Hotel) was run by friendly helpful English speaking people with great restaurant and entertainment recommendations.  But it’s a big city that just somehow wasn’t all that charming.

I know shut up and let us look at some pretty pictures.  Here’s our trip to date.

 

They ran out of peanuts and coke on the airplane so we had to have this.  Flight was good.  Love the A380.  Quiet and roomy.  

There’s this weird tower thing downtown Lisbon.  Offers a great view for those too lazy to walk up the hill(s).  Lisbon is situated between and on two hills.

Portuguese are known for their fish dishes.  This was fresh sea bass.  Dirt cheap meal at 8 euros.

Here’s Lisbons Arc de Triump.

And Fran out in the square by the water just beyond the arch.

It’s been warm here - in the 80’s in Lisbon.  They say unseasonably warm.  We’ve been trying to keep cool by trying all kinds of Sangria.

We took a day trip to Sintra - a little town with a ferry tale castle.

Sintra was a cute town but VERY touristy.  I’d recommend it off season and mid week (we went on Friday and it was a bit much).  Did find a restaurant for lunch that had good house wine and salads for lunch.

And of course the Pena Palace (castle).

Some of it looked like it was out of an Escher painting, or at least the inspiration for an Escher painting.

 

And back to dinner - the best dinner in Lisbon at a place called Manic.  I ordered a gin and tonic.  This is what showed up - probably 16 ounces.  Again dirt cheap.

This was black pork cheek in a wine reduction and tomato rice.  I should mention in the competition for food Carolyn has pretty much won every night.  Not this night. Those of you that eat with us a warning:This will likely show up on our table.

We walked up both hills surrounding Lisbon.  We were up at the castle that you see in this picture in the morning.  In the afternoon we walked up the other side and took pictures of the castle.

Last of the Lisbon post.  After walking all day (25k steps according to Carolyn’s fitbit) we needed some refreshment.  There was a place called “Dr Wine” right across from the hotel.  They had good tapas and cheese plates.

That’s it for now.  As I write this I’m in Tavira.  It’s been unusually warm in Portugal for this time of year (according to people we’ve spoken to). It’s in the 80’s.  We weren’t really packed for it but we’ll survive.  Tavira is nice but slow (think resort town off season).  But I’ll write about it in a day or two.