Lisboa

It's a bright sunny day and lazy day, our only plan is to make it to Belém then back to the square for the Portugal game tonight. Just around the corner, we find a guy our walking his pig, the pig is happily cleaning the streets of Friday nights fun. A cool shop dedicated to rubber duckies has them in every character and theme you could imagine, from the Ziggy Stardust to Einstein, everyone seems to be there, Bella is the only one to crumble thought with a pink unicorn inspired one.
We're heading to the Mill for breakfast, but a 20 seat restaurant rated #1 on TripAdvisor for Lisbon breakfasts has quite a following by 10:30 am on a Saturday morning, we opt for a bite across the road at Chipie e Galette.
We've really picked up the cruisy vibe of the day, we stroll down towards the water stopping at a couple of different cafés for some crazy 8s and Super Bock. Eventually, at the riverside we start our hunt for a Tuk-Tuk to take us to Belém, we find a sit on segue that Emerson can ride, then the gipsy market for some Chorizo and Ginjhina. No luck on the tuk-tuk puts us into an Uber.
We haven't been up the river this far yet. It's the first time we see the April 25th bridge. It's a complete replica of the Golden Gate bridge built to by to the same architect of the San Francisco old sister, it is named to commemorate the 1974 revolution. While this version is slightly larger than the north American one, the statute of Christ the Redemer on the other side of the river is much smaller than it's south American cousin in Rio de Janeiro, we also pass the home of the President, slightly more impressive than the lodge :)
We've found the Papa's of Portugal. Pastéis de Belém has a queue right down the street, a shop front stuffed with staff handing our thousands of their famous custard tarts, we queue for a few minutes and realise this is the take away queue, you can also just talk into their 400 seat restaurant and dine-in with close to no queue. We've found lunch. We sample from right across the menu and leave the Pastéis de Belé until last. Delicious if not a little too sweet for me, I'm feeling foggy for the next hour or so from the sugar rush :)
Next door is the UNESCO listed Jerónimos Monastery a visual feast, but far too big and sprawling for us to conquer today. Across on the river we make our way to Padrão dos Descobrimen (the monument to the discoveries) yet more Portuguese history we're oblivious to, I know none of the people depicted, but their impact on the world is clear, the 5th most popular language on earth comes from this tiny town country of only 10m people and these are the explorer's that took Portugal to the world.
We catch a ferry back down the river under the bridge and to the square, the thunder of the building crowd is amazing. We enter the throng packed with thousands of fans, the square has come into its own, one of the largest public squares in Europe it is still only half full. The local national commentators are doing their thing on live tv, a DJ has a massive stage thumping our rev up music. We visit O Martinho da Arcada e Lisboa, the oldest cafe in Lisbon, founded in 1782, but more importantly right on the edge of the square. It's 5:30 pm with the game set for 7 pm kickoff, we move to another restaurant back inside the main plaza and set ourselves up with a better view of the massive screen, the afternoon sun is warming the growing crowd, by kick off it has nearly doubled.
Uruguay scores the first goal, poor Ronaldo has the weight of the nation on him, you see a few other numbers, but in front of us are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people in his number 7 jersey. By halftime, it is still 1:0 to Uruguay. We decide to head home to watch the second half. A guy has his DJI out flying over the crowd, the throng looks all the more impressive from a few meters up. We're into an Uber just in time to hear Pepe score the only goal for Portugal in this game, the streets light up with car horns and jubilation. So far Portugal is 1 win and two ties, it's currently another tied result with the streets screaming for another. Every cafe & public square has rigged up a telly and has at least a hundred people craning over each other to see it, all wishing desperately for some Ronaldo magic. It doesn't come through, minutes after Pepe balanced the ledger Cavani has returned for his second goal and returned it a 2:1 game. We make it back to our apartment in time to see the closing, desperate minutes. Fid says they've had over 60% possession, but Portugal can't close, defeated the streets fall quiet in disbelief for a few minutes, then saudade falls over the city, the fado bars will sing louder tonight.Read more