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Published: January 9th 2012
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When I first decided to plop myself in Lisbon, it was out of indolence. I really didn’t want to visit every Michelin 3-star, so Lisbon was the perfect place-there just weren’t any. I would sit in the pastelarias and drink the tiny cups of motor oil they call coffee.
Well after 7 months of research, I realized that scenario wasn’t going to happen. Lisbon is a very large city, 1.2 million people and too vast to conquer on foot (as I did in Amsterdam). Yes, we perched at Hotel Miraparque, centrally located on the Parque Eduardo VII, but the true jewels of Lisbon – Torre de Belem (a fortress on the water, the symbol of Lisbon, where Vasco De Gama left town for India), Christo Rei (Christ with arms open on a mountain overlooking the city), Ponte Vasco de Gama, Padrao dos Descobrimentos (Age of Discoveries monument), the Alfama (the cobbled narrow alleyed 16
th Century part of town where people still lived (until recently) as they did in the middle ages), the Presidential Palace, the Royal Coach Museum, the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (the manueline monestary where Vasco de Gama is entombed), were all far flung in the Southwest
part of town (except the Alfama in the far Southeast part of town, but intimidating with it’s maze of narrow streets we are sure once we entered, we would never find our way out again). Fortunately, our city bus tour solved that problem, methodically hitting all these must-sees, complementing my own walking tour the previous day as we headed from the Marques de Pombal (a traffic circle 10 times larger than Columbus Circle in NYC) to the Avenida da Liberdade (the 5
th Ave. of Lisbon), down to the Placa dos Restauradores (& the ornate Rossio Train Station), continuing to the Baixa (the grid of streets rebuilt after the Earthquake of 1755 destroyed all of Lisbon except the 16
th Century Alfama-Baixa is the only earthquake-proof part of the city now with extensive shopping and outdoor dining), then down to the Praca do Comercio (formerly Palace Square before that fateful day on Nov. 1, 1755) and the Port of Lisbon and the waterfront. This area still feels like the gateway to the city. All this on Day 1 of our visit. Not bad, I thought. My friends bristled at the thought of walking any more. You can’t blame them really-you see although
Padrao dos Descobrimentos
Age of Discoveries Monument streets may seem to be next to each other on the map, in reality the next street may be up on a hill and not always accessible!
Dinner that night was in the hotel, which housed an authentic Portuguese home cooking style restaurant. Watch for the plates of bread, butter, olives, escabeche and spreads put on the table. You are charged for every dish you violate. No one drinks tap water, the waiters pour bottle after bottle, depending how fast you lap it up, but you are only billed one or two Euro per bottle, The Portuguese restaurants are casual, raffish, intimidating if you are not fluent in Portuguese (we were so intimidated, our first lunch was at Hard Rock Café (2 Ave. Da Liberdade). The next day we met our locale Portuguese pal for lunch at Pastelaria de Marques de Pombal (just south of the eponymous traffic circle). Our Portuguese friend took over from here, ordering for us in Portuguese: we grazed on Beef Ribs with homemade scalloped potatoes and fried cabbage, all for a mere 6 Euros. For dinner on our own that night, they recommended Cup N Cino (1 block down off Ave. da
Liberdade) where Lisbon’s young & pretty sip Portuguese Coffee Crème, play board games, read tarot cards, and yes, even eat World Cuisine: crispy Asian appetizer trio, Chili, Pecan Pie (we needed a break from traditional Portuguese).
The following day, our Portuguese pals picked us up at our hotel in a sportscar and drove us to Sintra (a mountain town in the countryside where Lord Byron once lived and called this place "the garden of Eden on earth".) My pals couldn’t let us leave without climbing to the top of the mountain to the castle ruins, then up the ancient steps of the castle to a vantage point not unlike looking out the window of an airliner: the countryside, Lisbon, the ocean beyond that. Wow! Then off to the seaside resort of Cascais, lunch at Furnas do Guincho, a restaurant that jutted out over the ocean, serving the only example of haute luxe so far: giant voluptuous shrimp (with their heads), crab shells stuffed with the ground up innards with cream), crabs stuffed with bread crumbs), sangria with fresh fruit, espresso to settle the stomach.
Then our Euro pals showed us what apartments look like
in Lisbon. We went to theirs and found mahogany doors with marble frames, granite countertops, stainless appliances, tiled floors, 2 balconies, a conspicuousness of space (enough to make we NYC residents weep), all modern, clean, and a storage area above the apartment, which was actually a third bedroom!). Why would anyone think we have a higher standard of living in America? True, prices are steep, $500,000 Euros in the city limits for a 2 bedroom, half that if you will settle for the suburbs!
Our 13 hour day continued as they drove us to the Bairro Alto (the nightclub, restaurant district of Lisbon patronized by young and trendy Lisbon, who crowd the narrow, weathered, cobbled streets, patronizing late opening restaurants and bars (this is one part of Lisbon you can eat late, late, late) (the places near our hotel serve dinner only from 7:30PM to 9:30PM, so if you oversleep you go hungry). They corralled us into Baiuca (Rua da Barroca 86), a fiendishly chic cubbyhole with just a few tables - the line snaking outside were all yuppie hopefuls shooed away by the matronly owner (whom our pals were on kissing terms with). We got to
taste traditional Portuguese food like escabeche, Bacalhau (salted cod) with potatoes, onions and heavy cream, baked in a casserole with crumbs, veal cutlet with laurel and other rustic cooking at lowdown prices. The owner was charming, but like most everyone else we encountered, did not speak a word of English. The food, though very fresh and preservative-free, is not wildly flavored , but prices are so gentle, one can eat out 3 times a day without getting a small business loan.
We missed our hotel buffet breakfast the next day (we all overslept, and breakfast ends at 9:30AM.). We finally were going to have a casual day (we have seen everything Lisbon had to offer in record time thanks to our efficient and caring friends). We walked over to the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (a world class museum so compact, each room advances to a new century, the pieces are well chosen and span Ancient Greece to the Impressionists) and hit the café for a makeshift breakfast (at museum prices, of course). Fortunately all museums are free on Sundays in Lisbon. So we traipsed next door to the Centro de Arte Moderna (museum of contemporary art) and were
surprised to see such innovative Portuguese works of art on display. Mere blocks away was the El Corte de Ingles (7 floors of shopping mall). For dinner that night, we ate at Saraiva’s and enjoyed spiffy tableside service and main courses hovering around 9 Euros.
Our trip has ended, but our limo driver points out the World’s Fair site (Expo 98) and it’s innovative architecture, not far from the airport, on the water in northeast Lisbon, and we feel we have seen everything Portugal had to offer (by putting in 13 hour days!) Although I didn’t use a travel agent, Abreu Tours (in Portugal since 1840) arranged the airport transfers (They had a Mercedes waiting at 6:30AM at the airport), the 3-star hotel reservations, airfare, ½ day bus tour and negotiated our buffet breakfast and confirmed our seats on TAP Airlines. I can’t imagine Portugal without them. And I can’t imagine being in Lisbon without my two dear local resident guides.
Miraparque Hotel: Avenida Sidonio Pais 12; (351) 21 352 42 86
Hard Rock Café: 2 Avenida da Liberdade (near Rossio train station)
Furnas do Guincho Restaurante, Estrada
Cafe A Brasileira
You just don't see coffee bars like this in America do Guincho, 2750 Cascais, Portugal; Tel: 21 486-92-43
A Baiuca Cozinha Portuguesa, Rua da Barroca 86, 1200 Lisbon, Portugal: Tel: 342-13-86
Saraivas Restaurante/Bar: Rua Engenheiro Canto Resende 3, 1050 Lisbon; Tel: 21 354 06 09
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum: Avenida de Berna 45 A
Abreu Tours (wholesaler): 350 Fifth Ave., Suite 2414, New York, NY 10118 Tel (212-670-1119
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