We made it to Lisbon finally. Never thought it would come. I don’t really remember how we came up with Lisbon, probably lot of coincidence in that choice, but in the end I’m very glad we did. Neither of us went down to the capital of Portugal with high expectations, we were just imagining one more European city, very much like any other. But we were proofed to be wrong.
Ahhh Lisbon!! Lisbon, to me, was one of those places I have heard about in romance novels.
The country side of Portugal slowly unraveled before our eyes as we woke up in the night train. Coming out of train, we thought getting a map or a tourist info would be easy. Mmmm think again. No tourist office in the train station. We had absolutely no idea where to go. So after about an hour just running around the station looking for a non-existent tourist office, we finall y gave it up, went outside, caught a cab and let the driver picked his way to our hotel.
Lisbon was clean. The description can be tricky beyond that point. The streets are clean, but colorful building weren’t. I mean no graffitis or anything, but streaks of black rain marks are just there. Something we wouldn’t see in most European cities. What I really liked about Lisbon, however, was that it didn’t feel much European. It felt rather colonial. Old yellow buses, trams and other mercedes cabs were clean and organized, but again, rather old compared to the standards of Paris or Amsterdam. I could easily see myself being able to live in that city.
After checking into our hotel we made our way back to the city on the super clean and super new metro system. We took the train to Belem. Belem is an historic suburb of Lisbon. There is the monastery (amazing stone work and really peaceful), a museum, and of course, the tower of Belem. We also had a wonderful Portuguese lunch in the town, but don’t ask me about the menu, Anthony Bourdain I am not. Belem was also leafy.
In the evening, Lisbon was one of those places where it’s just so easy to get cheap good food. We only had to go to the center of the city (Baixa) and walk the pedestrian streets to look for one.
The next day we had breakfast at one of the plazas, on a cool and breezy mild winter morning, there was no choice but to sit outside. The plaza was lined with a sound system and music was coming out, not glaring, not soft, but just as the right volume, giving the whole colonial feel a drop of Latin American. As day got later we decided to go to the fairytale village : Sintra, another day tripper out of Lisbon, playground of the rich and royal, home to the ultra-wealthy. We took a circuitous route through winding roads and then mystical “Lord of the Rings”-style wooded paths, we headed straight up to what we thought would be the highest point in the area to get the lay of the land – the old Moorish Castle. It took a while to wander along the narrow walls but views all the way to the Atlantic coast are well worth the trouble, no matter where you go, the views were superb!
Lisbon found me totally unenthused about going back home. During our stay we managed to walk nearly all of the city taking in the typical sights, climb castles and even get lost (literally), but still, not enough. I felt like I was only able to get a very brief taste of a few touristy areas, but not enough feel of the town.
Lisbon will definitely stay in my memories, my kind of place entirely
tequila shots for the soul 