Builder Chicks on Tour

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Manuela graciously allowed me to select somewhere for five days away as part of her fleeting European adventure. I chose Lisbon - cheap, close and most importantly WARM. Sod’s law though that the five days I chose to go away London had the most spectacular weather in a year! At least I wasn’t at work though. Cathy joined us from Dublin and the construction girls from Bovis were reunited.

Lisbon is a hilly, oceanside city with a small central area which made a nice change from the sprawling city of London. Being so close to the ocean there was beautiful seafood in every restaurant and as a result our tour of Lisbon was more a culinary one than cultural. All we seemed to do was roll from meal to meal with a spot of shopping or sight seeing in between. It was bliss!

There was so much to see and experience there that I can’t possibly cover everything here - plus I’m at work and it’s a bit cheeky writing for ages - so here’s a quick rundown:

Seafood - Mmmm!!! It was everywhere. It was good. The local dish is bacalhau which is cod pieces salted overnight which leaves tasty, slightly chewy pieces of fish that are cooked in a sauce. Pretty nice, but not as nice as the big grilled sardines that are equally as available. We also had lots of squid, other fish dishes and prawns. My mouth is watering with the memory. Every meal was declared better than the last.

Angola - Maybe a funny thing to have here but when we arrived there was a massive Angolan celebration going on. I didn’t realise that Angola was a Portuguese colony and as a result there are many Angolans in Portugal today. There were flags everywhere and I was very annoyed that we were on the plane on the way back to London when it was the Portugal v Angola match in the World Cup.

Cascais - And hour from Lisbon is the seaside resort area of Cascais. We spent the day in the sun - me hiding from it under two inches of 30+ and the girls embracing it with their auto-tanning Mediterranean skin. There were two diversions from this activity: 1. Buying out basically the entire Zara store and annoying the sales staff with our rotation of clothes, and 2. Eating. Again.

Bairro Alto - The home to clubs, bars and beautiful people of Lisbon, Bairro Alto is the place to be seen. Empty on the night we went for an early dinner, the contrast was immense the next night when we arrived for an 11pm meal. After getting dolled up (thanks to Zara and to Cathy, the makeover queen), three hot chicks hit the streets… well slowly hauled ourselves up the insanely steep hill …. and found ourselves in the heart of Lisbon nightlife. Funkiness abounded and we enjoyed ourselves firstly eating tasty food (just for a change) and then indulging in some tasty, and compared to London, cheap cocktails.

Sintra - UNESCO listed and beautiful, Sintra is a town about an hour out of Lisbon and is famous for it’s Moorish Castle on the hill overlooking the town. We decided to be energetic and attempted to walk up. The mission was aborted. Cake was eaten on the way down. We caught a bus up. The views were spectacular and the castle, although ruined, was impressive in its scale and beautiful location.

Lisbon Oceanarium - Worthy of its own entry…

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