EVERY JOURNEY HAS A BUMP

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May 10, 2016

Lisbon Day 2

I am writing this entry a day late and doing so on purpose. If I had written it at the end of the day, which is my routine, it would have been very negative and that is not the impression I want to leave the readers with. More importantly, when I am 95 and looking back at these blogs because I forgot I ever took the trip, I don’t want to read negative things about my past travels.

A few words on why it was better to blog about yesterday, today. First, we woke up very late, yes we were tired, but normally we just push through as there is so much to do. This is especially true when it is a country and city we have never been. So we lost several hours as we didn’t’ get started until about 1:30. Second, I was having a Budapest moment. It is often hard to deal with constant approaches from the vendors about buying something, or take this tuk tuk, eat here, buy this. Any phrase that begins with “Hello my friend” means run quickly, do not make eye contact, just smile and leave. I am sure it was my imagination but it appears that they are really out to get the tourist here. I get this is one of the poorest countries in the EU and they are near bankrupt. But tourism is their biggest money maker I would bet and they should try to make it less like a third world country (as far as the rip off vendors, hawkers etc.) and more like Spain, also not exactly a rich country. Third, I was having pain in my hip, for once my knees and feet are doing great, but the hip was having issues with the hills and stairs. Damn, this getting old. Fourth, we were in our mid trip argumentative phase. There is a point in every trip when we seem to rub each other the wrong way. Fifth, dinner was a nightmare. So, if I would have written last night with all of that heavy on my mind, the entire entry would be one not worth posting.

On the positive side, it was a beautiful sunny day, a bit windy, but blue skies with puffy clouds.

Castelo de S. Jorge

Our actual first stop was dropping off the laundry, one lesson we have learned is to take advantage of the wash and fold services so we can pack less. It was only a few blocks from our hotel, so with that out of the way we headed to the ATM for our allotted 200 euros, and then to Tram 28 (a.k.a the tourist tram, because it does a large circle around the city) to go up to the castle. We were supposed to go to the top to Igreja da Graca Church, but in one of Jerry’s rare moments of being geographically confused, we got off at Miradouro de Santa Luzia. This wasn’t a bad thing as it afforded a nice panorama of the city and river. From there we headed up the hills (instead of down if he had gone to the top) to the castle. The walk wasn’t that bad, but cobble stones are always a challenge but we just meandered up the hills and narrow streets. This was a highlight. The area we were in is called the Alfama, one of the older and definitely hillier sections of the city.

We continued up the streets until we arrived at the castle, our Lisbon pass did not give us free entry but it did provide a discount. WARNING HISTORY LESSON TO FOLLOW: Before the castle was built it was the site of the first settlements in the area in the 7^th to 8^th century BC (or BCE). The castle was in fact built by the Moors in the 11^th century AD (or the politically correct way CE for common era). In the 12^th century the Catholics concurred the castle and city and drove the moors out. Ok, the historically reference is to Christians not Catholics, but we all know that not all Christians our Catholics and it was the Catholics that did the conquering not the other smaller sects of Christianity that were around at that time. During the 12 through the 18^th century it was a castle and a royal residence was next to the fortification and of course built on top of the Moorish settlements. In 1755 a huge earthquake hit Lisboa and much of the city including the castle and royal residences were destroyed or severely damaged. In fact, the earthquake caused a large tidal wave which flooded much of the lower sections of the City. During the 19^th and into the 20^th century the castle was used for military purposes and it is now a national monument. History lesson over.

Inside the walls, there is also a section of the city where people still live, winding streets, and small café’s around every bend. The castle itself mainly consists of the walls which you can walk around the top from tower to tower for spectacular views of Lisboa below. It was 3:30 by the time we got to the castle and we were starving. We did something we rarely do, and actually had lunch on site of a tourist site. There was a nice restaurant inside the castle with a view of the city and if not so windy outside seating. We tend not to eat at these places because they are typically expensive and not worth the price. This was the exception. It was reasonable price and the food was pretty good. I will say you did feel a bit like lunch inside the castle from Beauty and the Beast (sorry for the Disney reference, I don’t get paid for it) as the first thing out of the waiter’s mouth was “Be my guest” I guess that is the equivalent of “welcome what can I get you.”

Lunch

We had a simple lunch of peixinhos, soup and salad. Peixinhos are the same as tapas in Spain. We started with Bread, three different butters, pate and olives. The three peixinhos were, codfish croquettes, scrambled eggs with cheese and chorizo, and tempura like asparagus with a lemony tartar sauce. Jerry then had a Sopa Legumes (pea based creamed soup) and I had Carpaccio Bacalhau (codfish salad, fish was thinly sliced and raw). I also had a couple of glasses of local white wine, to take the edge off). It was nice, relaxing and the food was good. It helped change the mood (well until dinner).

After lunch we continued our tour of the castle, up and down steep steps to the various tours. The steps were not only steep but obviously made for giants because the height of the steps was not normal. They must have had great asses back in those day from all the stair climbing. There was also an ostentation of peacocks on the grounds. There were three of them in the trees in the midst of a mating ritual. A fourth was on the grounds in full bloom proudly showing his beauty for all to see, he actually appeared to be striking a pose for picture taking. Jerry was quite taken with him and took several pictures.

From the castle we wound are way down the streets to the Sao Vicente de for a (it is either a monastery or a convent, the books are not in agreement. It was closed but we did walk around the building. On our way to the monastery we took a couple of wrong turns and probably walked further then we needed, but getting lost is always a treat because you see things off the beaten path. After the monastery we continued down and occasional up the hill towards the Museo de Teatro Romano, (The roman theater). There isn’t really much left of the original, unlike Tarragona or several other places we have been. From there we continued, down this time to, the Se. This is Lisbon’s oldest cathedral built in 1150 and of course on top of the original Mosque of the city.

An interesting note is that we are not aware of a Jewish quarter in this city. There was in Madrid but they ran them out long ago so now that neighborhood is a melting pot of many ethnicities. The Jewish quarter of most European cities often is one of the most interesting section of the city, it certainly was in Budapest and Prague. In Cordoba we had one of our best meals ever in the Jewish Quarter.

That ended the sightseeing portion of the day. It was now time for relaxation and before dinner. Normally I blog during that time, but as previously stated, decided better of it.

During lunch I had made a dinner reservation as recommended by The Fork, an app for making reservations at restaurants around the world. It has a feature that gives you recommendations for places that evening, so for the first time, I took their advice. BIG mistake. When we got to the place it did not feel right to either of us. It was very brightly lit and basically looked like a diner. It also had the smell of salt cod throughout and we were sat by the bathroom. All lead to an early exit and my mood turning to the dark side. To make a long story short we ended up simply going to a grocery store and buying bread, meet, cheese and wine and had dinner in our room. We did attempt a place recommended as a must do by the New York Times (I should have known better right then) but it was a very bad version of the wonderful Mercardo San Miquel in Madrid. The food was not local but international, which is great if you’re a local, but if you’re here on vacation you probably want Portuguese food, at least we do. The worst part it was full of nothing but tourists and not good tourists but likely people who read the New York Times. Regardless what the paper says, it is not a must see or do, it is a stay away from at all costs. The name is Mercado de Ribeira, it’s a big NO.

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