Stepping into a period film

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The weather is perfect - sunlight with a light breeze, and just looking around, you think you might have walked into a period film as your feet traipse on the uneven cobblestone. Some classmates and I decided to jet on to Lisbon for a long weekend, and were very impressed. Lisbon is beautiful and very affordable. Almost the entire city seems virtually unaltered from when it was constructed centuries ago... they just ran some electricity and plumbing through the walls. It's amazing that cars drive down some of the very narrow cobblestone streets that would have been narrow even for horse-drawn carts. Even the trolleys in the tram system look like they're straight out of the 1920s, and they might well be.

We rented some apartments in the Bairro Alto district, and spent the days exploring the city, eating amazing food, and partying until the wee hours of the morning alongside the Portuguese who seem to make it out pretty much every night.

Day 1 - The Arrival

We arrived in the late morning to heavy rain. After gathering the troops in the airport, we made it to apartments for check-in. We were staying in Bairro Alto, a central part of the city known for the nightlife. The area was stunning: the buildings looked hundreds of years old in this maze of winding, narrow, cobblestoned streets. The streets themselves seemed to be full of surprises - peeking into some random doors revealed hole in the wall restaurants, kiosks, bars, art galleries, and more. After a quick lunch, we passed out for hours, and washed up for dinner.

Running quickly through the rain, we made it to a spot in Bairro Alto that looked touristy, but had enough room for our group. The place ended up being very reasonably priced and quite good. After dinner, since we didn’t want to venture far, we went to the bar across the street which was full of British soccer fans. After some dancing and a little too much attention from a very aggressive flower sales-man, we decided to go somewhere a little more happening - making it to the Docas area after a surprisingly cheap taxi drive. There didn’t seem to be much activity until we were able to make it into what seemed to be the ritziest club in the docks strip, talking our way into what the bouncers claimed was a private party. After a while however, the tiredness caught up to us, and we made it back home.

Day 2 - Getting our bearings

We were not surprisingly slow to wake up. After a quick brunch, we explored the Bairro Alto area, getting a workout on the steep hills. We decided to take the 28 trolley to the highest point in town in Largo de Graca. The trolleys to Largo de Graca took forever, especially since we could have apparently made in minutes with a cheap short cab ride. After making it to the “miradour”, we enjoyed the view for a while, and attempted to make it to the Castello de San Jorge - the Lisbon castle.

Navigating stretches of Lisbon can be pretty tough - the streets split off all over the place, are curvy, and since the buildings are high-walled, you can’t really get your bearings. We made it after some wrong turns, and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Castello. This place was great - it was in excellent condition, but didn’t really look renovated. There was a guitarist playing the in the courtyard with some excellent acoustics that seemed to permeate the entire structure.
Video:The inside of the Castello


All the climbing on the ramparts tired us out, and we made it to the Alfama, the central part of town for snacks and some beers. Time flew, and we made it back home, later heading out to an avant garde restaurant where I ordered some raw beef with a hot cooking stone and chimichurri. It ended up being quite good.

We decided to start the night at the lounge Bedroom, but as it was slow to get started, we went instead to what was recommended as the best club in Lisbon, Lux. Apparently, they’re quite xenophobic, and on seeing that we weren’t Portuguese, they gave us a hard time at the door, saying that it would cost 240 Euros a person to get in. Not wishing to get involved in the snootiness, we headed back to the Docas area, heading to Havana instead, where we danced the night away. We ended the night with the discovery of the best hamburger stand on Earth. Seriously, the guys at the beginning of Docas have a miracle touch - the burgers come stuffed with corn, sautéed onions, carrots, cheese, lettuce, and skinny deep fried potatoes. Some of the group ended up having three that night.

Day 3 - Off to Sintra

We had had ambitious plans to make it to Porto, which is a bit far away, but, after a night of having crashed at 5AM or so, we decided to see something a little closer. After many congruent recommendations, we headed to Sintra, a town which had been a centerpiece for the Royal Family for centuries and is about 45 minutes away by train.

After lunch at a surprisingly delicious Chinese place next to the Sintra train station, we took the bus into town. It was already 3PM or so… but Sintra’s magic had begun to take us over. The town is surrounded by misty mountains, with clouds seemingly rolling down the hill, and centuries’ old houses dot the countryside. We headed first to the Royal palace that was almost completely open to the public and afforded beautiful vistas of the mountains. Interestingly, the palace had had several additions and offered an interesting mix of architectural styles. The highlight was a room covered in blue tile paintings.
Video:The Tile Room


With limited time until nightfall, we headed to the Quinta de Regeleira with its labyrinths. The walk itself was interesting - old stone walls that moss and lichen had invaded and taking over. The Quinta was something else. It looked like something that is a mix of Lord of the Rings and A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. There are paths that disappear into hills and ruins of towers, fountains, and other things in a large mountainous area. After scaling a tower, we found a lake of green sludge, and saw an opening of a cave. We finally climbed the hill and went down a secret passageway into the cave, emerging into a long vertical tunnel with an occulus and several dark flights of stairs. Apparently, the stairs each represent a different layer of Dante’s hell, and instead of making it to the top, we found a secret passageway out.
Sufficiently weirded out, and a bit hungry, we went into town for a snack and took the train back. Notably, one of my classmates who had lost his camera on the train out to town had it found somehow by the train security on a random train back to Lisbon.
Video:Walking down Tower Ruins
Video:Leaving the Cave Through the Secret Passageway

We got ready for dinner, and went out to a Fado show. Fado is a sort of lamentous Portuguese traditional music that was reminiscent to Flamenco. A female singer belts out about the travails of life while being accompanied by a guitarist, mandolin, and some sort of bass instrument. The restaurant was in the seeming basement of a super-old mansion, and pieces of brick and mortar kept on falling on our heads (no joke). I was excited by the chance to order octopus in Portugal, as they are renowned for seafood, and this didn’t disappoint - I’d never been served a full octopus before. We were offered a last Fado show, and ended up leaving the restaurant around 12:30AM. We went out on the streets of Bairro Alto this time, where hundreds of Portuguese of all ages were out hanging out in the streets in what seemed to be a street carnival scene. We hung out and barhopped until the scene started to wind down around 4AM.

Day 4 - Belem and the last day

After getting a late start to the day, we made to to Belem, which is a port area of Lisbon. It was a perfect day next to the sea, and we first checked out the several hundred year old Tower of Belem. It looks like a giant sand castle and is in very good shape - almost as if it were an attraction in Disney world. After climbing around on it, we made it to a monument of some sort, and then off to the Monastery of Belem where the explorer Vasco de Gama is buried. After paying our respects, we made to the Alfama for some snacks and some touristy shopping.

As night started to fall, we made some reservations for dinner at an Argentine place. The restaurant had an amazing view of Lisbon at night, and the food (we ordered a mixed grill) was stupendous. For our last night, we decided to make to the club BBC. Although we got there around midnight, the place was empty. It started to fill up around 1AM. We were jazzed up as it was our last night there, and as the Portuguese swayed around to the music, we were jumping all over the place. Quite a sight to see... They probably all thought we were insane. As the night started to wind down, we made it back to the amazing hamburger stand on Docas and got a late night meal before passing out before waking up for our flight back to the States.

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Photos

Octopus
Super-delicious

Comments

[David Weinstein]

AWSOME DUDE
Hey, seems like a really cool trip. A little hard to follow all the details while looking at the pictures though. But I am glad you had such a goood time. I also find it funny how you guys woke up late like EVERY night. hehe. Thanks for sharing.