up and down, all around lisbon

so i have to start by saying i felt lucky we even made it to lisbon. it was the only leg of the trip we hadn't booked. there are no direct trains or buses - they all go through faro or somewhere along the southern coast and take the better part of 8 or 9 hours. most people recommend you fly, which seems silly to me. in my research i discovered the rideshare site blablacar (terrible name) which seemed like the best (read: cheapest and fastest) option. thing is, people don't tend to decide they're making the drive until a few days before. so i put it off. by the time i checked when we were in cordoba there were only two people taking passengers from sevilla to lisbon. i messaged one who couldn't accommodate our 'large' bags (carry-on sized bags, but you know, european cars..) and then started to worry. luckily, our bags were no problem for the other driver and (since flights were something like $250..) i was very relieved. we met the guy easily enough, although the other passengers were a bit late. they were also americans traveling, but i had to feel a little sorry for them. they were going through cities so fast they hardly had time for anything! we were going pretty quickly, but we still had time to stop for tea or a glass of wine and enjoy ourselves throughout the day. they were going so fast they seemed exhausted. they were only spending half a day in lisbon! insane! plus they had giant backpackers' packs, for a trip that was just two days longer than ours. ..seemed like overkill. okay, judgment over.

said view. red roofs of lisbon

anyway, we had a pleasant enough drive to portugal and made it in under five hours. in fact we didn't even realized when we had crossed the border. our first impression of lisbon was that it was huuuge. we were coming from small cities, of course, but we also approached the city from one of the longest bridges i've ever seen. so long that we made a note later to see what the longest bridge in the world was. (i think it was somewhere in japan.) our second impression was that it was incredibly hilly. we got out on the closest metro stop (already JR was bummed we couldn't walk everywhere) and still had to walk up and down at least two big hills to get to our airbnb. it was probably worth it for the view from his balcony though (see left). we chatted with our host, who gave us an overview of the city and talked up this amazing restaurant - family run with only the freshest portuguese ingredients and much cheaper than the tourist traps around it. we made a note of the directions and headed out.

by then it was nearly 2 so we went off in search of food first. just around the corner we found a street with expensive little places - we were no longer in the land of tapas, sigh. we found a decent-looking place and got some simple beef and fish dishes. we thought we'd be able to figure out portuguese between our spanish and french but it was pretty different. and the pronunciation is so bizarre, it sounds almost like russian. luckily we had a little cheat sheet of dishes to figure things out. a quick meal with a surly waiter and we were on our way.

a snapshot of lisbon, halfway up the hill.

we kept heading downhill until we reached the main square. square probably doesn't quite capture it. it's a wide open space that would probably fit about four city blocks. from there we were near what was clearly a principal commercial street - filled with shops and open-air cafes - that led straight to the water. we knew where we wanted to go but we hadn't anticipated quite how huge and hard to navigate lisbon would be. we should have prepared a bit better, i concede, but eventually we figured out how to get up to the castle. we had just enough time to do it so we figured we'd go for it. we took one of the famous trams up as far as we could go, which was about 3/4 of the way up the hill. we stopped to survey the view (amid men selling selfie sticks) and continued up on foot. the castle itself wasn't much but the view of the city was pretty staggering. there's not much you can't see from there except, you know, the castle.

everywhere has tiles, it's great.

we made our way back down, passing the many souvenir shops and overpriced cafes. lisbon is definitely much more touristy than we were anticipating. on the way back we had just enough time to slip into a little church on the side of the hill. we continued down, stopping periodically to examine shops with tiles or to survey the view. we wanted to wait a bit before dinner so we stopped in a little wine bar for a glass of something. we decided to sample the ginja, the famous cherry liqueur. and it was delicious! then it was off to search for provinchial, the family-run place our host had been building up. we managed to follow the directions and got to the exact spot on the side street.. only to discover that they had just closed for a month. the day before. i suppose it would be hypocritical of us to begrudge them that. sigh. we settled for a small place on the same street - just meters away from the street full of restaurants where proprietors were beckoning tourists to sit down. we had a decent carafe of wine and super bock (JR had to sample the local beer) and a pleasant but unremarkable meal.

can you feel the passion? and some grumpiness.

from there we went out in search of fado, supposedly the soul of portugal. it was monday and i had heard of a typical bar in the bairro alto (translation: uphill) that was full of locals and had fado performances that night. we did manage to find it - with its myriad football scarves hanging from the ceiling - but it was tiny and already jampacked with people. we continued on down the street and eventually found a much less populated bar with two men sitting with instruments in their laps. it seemed promising so we stopped in. for the price of a few glasses of port we had what seemed to be a pretty authentic fado performance. and by that i mean the waiters and waitresses took turns singing in between tending to their tables. it was incredibly passionate, much like flamenco, but clearly very sad. we had front row seats which was great except when the guitarist seemed to glared at me as i took a picture. and that lovely oud-looking instrument the cranky man is playing? turns out it's a portuguese guitar. who would've thought. the music, the port, and of course the tiles made for a very nice introduction to portugal. after about 45 minutes we were ready to head back. so, after going up and down about 3 hills we made it back to our 'home' for the night. there is something comforting about staying in a house, even if it is someone else's.

flea market wares

we were up at 7.30 and out the door by 9. this time we made use of the wifi to look up specific directions to where we were going. (another perk of staying in someone's home: there will always be access to high-speed wifi). we went back up the hill towards the castle but this time stopped at the são vicente church. a baroque church but with a simple ceiling. there was supposed to be an ivory jesus statue from goa but if there was we couldn't find it. we got some flaky meat pastries at a little bakery across the street before heading on to the feira de ladra - the flea market, which just happened to be on tuesdays and saturdays. it was a mix of antiques and newer junk, much like flea markets i had been to in france. records, books, tiles (of course), and little trinkets. i got some earrings made from photos of tiles but otherwise we just perused. at the bottom of the hill was the pantheon where camoes (it's okay, i hadn't heard of him either) and other famous portuguese were interred. JR wanted to explore inside but i was content to sit on the steps and write postcards, which i did happily.

tiles and tiles and tiles

from there we walked down the hill a bit and caught the bus to go even farther east to a destination i'd be looking forward to for quite some time. that's right, it was the tile museum. a whole museum devoted to those ceramic gems. it was actually quite substantial but there wasn't much (predictably) about islamic tiles (my personal favorite). instead they focused on the more typical portuguese and dutch-inspired styles that are so common throughout the country. there really are tiles covering just about every other facade in the city, it's remarkable. most are modern of course. but occasionally you find some lovely older tiles. anyway, the museum culminated in a room with a mural (tile of course) of the city before the 1755 earthquake. it really was a turning point for the city.

old streets, newer cars

after stopping in the overpriced gift shop we continued on. we caught another bus back to alfama, the old quarter. we wandered the streets a bit, dodging groups of tourists as we went. see, alfama also happened to be the port for a number of cruise ships. this resulted in quite a few restaurants in the area with menus in multiple languages and high prices. we discovered the secret was to find a hole in the wall with a couple dishes on the menu in only portuguese. there we ordered two of the typical sandwiches, bifanas. (we discovered this dish mainly because as we drove into the city it seemed like every restaurant and little cafe on the outskirts of town had bifana in its name or listed outside.) it's a pretty simple sandwich, with a big piece of seasoned pork in a big fluffy, crusty roll. to wash it down i sampled a local pineapple soda, sumol, which was quite tasty while JR got his usual cheap beer (sagres this time) of choice.  the whole meal? 8€.

the monastery and this mysterious flowering trees

we walked down to the main street just in time to catch the 15E tram - well actually we had to run a little to catch it at the light. this rounded out our 24 hour metro pass. well worth the 6€ we spent on it, since we could use it for every tram, bus and metro ride. we rode this train alllll the way to belém. i'm still not sure if it's technically another city or just on the outskirts of lisbon. it's certainly far enough to be its own city. out first stop was the mosteiro dos jeronimos, a monastery where JR had heard vasco da gama was buried. fortunately just next door was an art museum i wanted to visit. (people should really put those sorts of things together more often.) the museu colecção berardo had a nice little collection, from about 1920 on. it featured some early pollocks, unusual warhols, anish kapoor, franz kline, and lots of other sort of namedroppy artists. the descriptions of each gallery were good but a little erudite (putting my museum critiquing hat on). overall a great visit, especially with the free admission. we met up and then stayed a bit longer at the museum to take advantage of their free wifi to figure out an issue with the bank. bad timing, but we got it sorted out.

JR, for scale

our next stop was the main attraction in belém, the old watch tower. i'm not totally sure why it's as famous as it is but i guess that's true of most famous places. it is a fairly elaborate tower i suppose. we didn't go out to visit it but we did dip our toes in the other side of the atlantic. from there we made our way to the famous pastry shop. lisbon's signature pastries are called pastéis de nata, little flaky tarts filled with custard. we thought we'd at least stop by the famous shop in belém, which always has a line out the door and a full interior, even though there are at least four dining rooms. we explored but instead opted to find the pastries elsewhere. from there we caught the tram back to the center of town.

perfect pastéis

we got out a few stops early so that we could walk a bit more. we wandered the mostly empty streets in search of a nice little cafe. we had walked quite a while - uphill of course - and i was starting to think we wouldn't find anywhere. then we literally turned a corner and found a quaint little cafe with the most adorable portuguese grandmother. (empadaria nacional, in case you're interested. apparently they're on instagram. i like to imagine her grandchildren set this up for her.) she didn't speak any english but we could tell exactly what she was saying by her tone and gestures. we ordered some pastéis de nata and she brought out a little cinnamon to sprinkle on top. the cinnamon complemented them so well - it was the perfect touch. i honestly didn't think i'd even like the custard that much but they were delightful. we started with sodas but then decided we wanted to linger a bit longer and got glasses of ginja and relaxed a bit longer.

old tiles, the good kind

we'd had a brilliant idea earlier that we might be able to find some nice goan food, since they had such a strong portuguese influence. we found a couple places in town and JR wrote down detailed directions to get to one of them. we stopped here and there when we spotted some good tiles or a promising little shop. all in all the walk took us about 25 minutes. and guess what? closed for two weeks' vacation. just our luck. note to self: restaurant proprietors tend to take off in september. we were already in what seemed to be a little indian quarter and since we were prepared for indian food we stopped at a little pakistani place. the food was pretty good but nothing too special. they did give us a little coconutty rice pudding at the end, which i don't think i've had since i was in kerala for onam. from there we stopped at a little wine bar on the way home for some port. a 1,50€ glass of port is probably the most perfect way to end an evening.

black rocks of cascais

the next day was our last in the city and we wanted to get out and explore and see a bit more of portugal. we caught a train that morning to cascais (which we learned is pronounced cash-cai-ees) easily enough. we grabbed a little pastry at the train station and had a pleasant 20 minute journey along the coast. we watched as the enormous river gave way eventually to the atlantic. i had read there were free bikes to be rented from the city and, after much confusion and questioning, finally determined that they were available from a tiny little kiosk in the center of downtown. the man inside the booth told us there were no more, to our dismay. we walked through the streets - filled with shops, restaurants, and tourists - until we arrived at the park, where we had heard there were more bikes. we walked all over what turned out to be a pretty enormous park and were finally informed at what looked like a nature center that there were no more bikes to be had. we resigned ourselves to walking along the coast, which was still pretty pleasant. we walked along the black rocks, full of holes and that dense vegetation you seem to only see on coastlines. the waters were turquoise and crystal clear.

to sea

just down the cliffs, conveniently, was a little restaurant. we got some simple sandwiches and enjoyed the ocean view before heading down to the boca do inferno. it's a little inlet in the cliffs that probably doesn't merit a name quite that dramatic. from up there we could see the coastline all the way down to the lighthouse in the distance. down below we could clearly make out a number of jellyfish that we guessed could have been man of war (men of war?). from here we were only a few kilometers from the cabo da roca, the westernmost point in mainland europe. if we'd had the bikes we might have made it out there but on foot we were satisfied to get some views of the ocean and the cliffs.

streets of cascais

we made our way back into town, walking through the less touristy streets this time. it's clearly a popular seaside resort town, with people staying in suites along the water and swimming in the small but crowded beaches. we explored the more residential streets, dotted with laundry hanging out of windows of bougainvilleas bursting with color. we stopped for a little seafood snack - small plates of shrimp and cod (lisbon's dish of choice) - and we even found some ginger beer. we meandered back toward the center of town, stopping to look at postcards and buy some pastries along the way. earlier on we had thought about going to sintra, which has colorful (and, to the untrained eye perhaps almost disneyfied?) castles that look interesting. oddly there's no easy way to get from cascais to sintra by train, as close as they are, and the private bus i found seemed complicated. since we were leaving the city by train that night we elected to play it safe and go back to the city and spend our remaining hours there.

i wasn't kidding about the hills

we made it back and continued walking through the streets of the rossio and baixa chiado areas. we paused here and there to buy some port or look for souvenirs. we got plenty of peeks at lisbon's trademark old trams (now, sadly, most covered with graffiti) from the tops of hills. eventually we made our way to an area full of bars and, just past that, what was clearly the most affluent part of town. high end antique stores, expensive boutiques - even the pastry shops looked fancy. somewhere in between these two locales we found a little shop with work from local artists, companhia alfacinha. we chose a colorful ceramic tile with a great geometric design. so we didn't get any antique tiles, but at least we got a little piece of lisbon. we still had a few hours to kill so we found a little wine and cheese shop with a friendly owner where we had our last glasses of ginja. sigh.

we walked back to the airbnb, where we still had enough time to shower and freshen up before heading to the train station. our train was pretty late but we got there in plenty of time. once we confirmed where our train would be leaving from we set out in search of dinner. we thought in a train station we wouldn't have any trouble finding a meal but already the little restaurants were starting to close. there was one little spot with a bifana and soup special so we settled for that. we made our train easily and settled in for the night journey to madrid. our farewell to portugal included a small bottle of vinho verde and two pasteis de nata that somehow made it intact from cascais. (for the record, they weren't quite the same without the cinnamon.)

i'd have to say lisbon was pretty unique. if it reminded me of any city i think i might say istanbul just because it's so sprawling and the water seems to be all around you. lisbon seems to have an essence all its own though. i'd love to see more of the country - porto and maybe down the algarve coast. 'til next time, portugal!