Lisbon

We made good time to Lisbon, what with a 127 mph tailwind. We showed up a half hour early and took a cab to our apartment in the Alcantara neighborhood near the huge bridge crossing the Tagus River. The host let us check in early at 11 am. Neither of us got much sleep on the plane, but with only 3 days scheduled for Lisbon, we set out right away.

After a bit of confusion, we bought some transportation cards at a train station and added money. For some reason, Lisbon doesn't offer an "all you can travel" 72 hour card like most cities. We just added 10 Euros to each card so we can pay as we go, then grabbed a bus to the center. Buses, trams, the Metro, and ferries cost less than $2 a ride, so it's great value, but we got conflicting info on prices and whether the ferries are included. Luckily, they are and later we took a short ferry trip to the suburb of Almada right across the Tagus River after walking around the Praca do Comercio for a bit.

That main plaza was devoid of tourists the first time we visited Lisbon in 2007. It was almost like an eerie ghosttown. Now, even in the "off-season" it's fairly full of tourists and those that make a living off of us. That's when we decided to cross the river for lunch. We found a row of nice restaurants a few hundred meters away from the port and ate outside in the sun. Portuguese food is based on lots of seafood, so we dove right in. I had 6 huge roasted sardines and Deanne had a skewer of fresh prawns and Monkfish. Those dishes with a salad, potatoes, olives, a bottle of wine, espressos and a small tip cost about 40 Euros, or $43 US.

After that, we definitely needed some sleep and called it a day and a night. We shopped at the nearby Doce Pingo grocery store chain and bought snacks for dinner later. We'd save our energy for some sightseeing the next day.

That included the amazing Gulbenkian Art Museum. That name didn't sound Portuguese to me and I found out it's named for an Armenian/British oil magnate who left a fortune for the arts in his foundation and this museum was his personal collection of famous art. He apparently helped found a couple of oil companines including Shell Oil. Although he was an Armenian born in Constantinople with British citizenship. he spent his last years in Lisbon and left behind an amazing sampling of the world's greatest art. We were quite impressed.

Later, we went to the National Tile Museum, housed in a former convent. Portugal is famous for it's blue ceramic tiles, called Azulejos. While it wasn't as interesting as the Gulbenkian, it was interesting and the gilded chapel inside was pretty amazing. Taking the bus back to our neighborhood was a challenge. It's a vibrant neighborhood outside of the tourist zone and there are lots of bus connections, but no metro stop nearby. The buses get caught in traffic and don't sync up throughout the day, so a bus that should come every 10 minutes might not come for 25 minutes and then the same bus will be right behind it. After 3 days, we got a bit tired of that.

The next day we toured the trendy LX Factory, a series of refurbished factories that is now an art center, restaurants, bars, and work spaces. We were there during the day, so it was relatively quiet, but you could tell it would be a great nightspot. Then we walked to the nearby BMAD Art Deco and Art Nouveau museum. It's in a mansion and the collection of glassware, furniture, statues, and art were impressive. Art Nouveau is our favorite art style, so this was a real treat. Museums in Portugal cost 1/4 to 1/2 of what they cost in the US. And a surpise bonus after the guided tour was an included wine tasting of a Merlot and a Muscatel from Bacalhoa winery. Muscatel is too sweet for us, but the Merlot was good.

We had a couple amazing meals in the city. Seafood is king, so there is no end to high quality fresh seafood. We're enjoing sampling my favorite, Bacalao (cod) and a lot of other fish we've never heard of. And of course the wine is amazing. We usually get a bottle or half liter of house wine and it's always been good.

At night, we wandered the city streets and even made it into the oldest boostore in the world, Bertrand's. It's standing tall since 1732. And we had to stop at a Ginjinha bar to sample the delicious cherry liquer, a Portuguese favorite. After 3 days and nights, we were ready to move on. Lisbon is great but we are ready for some smaller cities and villages now.

More photos and videos are here. https://photos.app.goo.gl/4CAGcs2HCGeTo9mv7
The BMAD Art Deco and Art Nouveau musum pictures are here. https://photos.app.goo.gl/rXuZraTt76hxxL2p8Read more