Lisbon, It Was Nice To Meet You

Last weekend we went to Lisbon, Portugal. It is one of those random places that was never on the top of my travel list, and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's just that Portugal is such a small country, or that in Europe there are so many "must-see" places like Paris, London, Barcelona, etc. After having been to Lisbon though, I think it definitely deserves a spot up top with the big boys.  Lisbon is what you would get if you combined Paris (the cafes, bookstores, and overall adorableness), Madrid (the cheap prices, some grunge, good art) and San Francisco (the hills, colorful houses, restaurants).

I think it is only natural that new places you visit will remind you of places you've been before, but when we first arrived, I think the San Francisco feel of Lisbon was especially surprising.  We didn't expect to take an hour-long flight from Madrid and be reminded so much of home! I mean, they have a big red bridge, a bay, hills, and even cable cars. And in addition to all that, they have delicious food, and eclectic buildings. 

Flying into Lisbon I was able to snap this photo of the Ponte 25 de Abril (25th of April Bridge). It actually has two towers like the Golden Gate Bridge, but I couldn't get both in the picture:  

On the way into town on the airport bus we got to see some of the city, including this awesome bull-fighting ring (the ring is awesome, not the fighting of bulls): 

After checking into our swanky hotel (the Sheraton, which was having a 40th anniversary sale, so our room was only €40 a night instead of €160! Thanks to WP's internet deal-finding skills!) we started walking toward the old part of town and ended up seeing some cool murals along the way: 

We also stumbled upon one of the cable cars in the city, called the Elevador da Gloria, and after it filled up with (mostly) tourists, we took it up a pretty steep hill. Here's the cable car: 

When we got to the top of the hill there were some pretty cool views of the city, including the old Moorish castle on the hill across from us: 

That evening we ate some Japanese food and then walked down to the center of the city to check out some more historic buildings. There was actually a big soccer match between Sporting (a Lisbon team) and Atletico Bilbao (a Spanish team from the Basque country), so the downtown area was totally deserted. On the flight from Madrid we were on the plane with a bunch of Bilbao supporters who were all dressed up in red and white jerseys and as soon as we touched down in Lisbon erupted into pro-Bilbao cheers. We assume they were all flying in to actually attend the match, which Portugal ended up winning with two goals late in the game. Here's one of the big empty plazas lit up at night:

On Friday we did some sightseeing around the city, starting with the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, a pretty big monastery in the part of town called Belém. Here's the main cathedral: 

And the outdoor courtyard of the monastery: 

The stone work was really cool-looking, with lots of spirals and small arches: 

We also happened to be touring alongside a high-school group, which ended up having its benefits. They were learning the history of the monastery from some actors who kept changing costumes and singing songs. They were speaking Portuguese, so we couldn't understand a lot of what they were saying, but from the costumes we gathered it had something to do with an angel and a devil (one guy's face was painted red): 

Inside the monastery and actually, all over Lisbon, we kept seeing beautiful painted tiles. There were tiles with all different colors and patterns, and I really liked these ones from inside the monastery: 

After checking out the church, we kept walking along the water to see a couple more famous monuments. Padão dos Descobrimentos, or the Discovery Monument, is located right on the water where numerous ships departed for India, the Far East, and the New World during Portugal's "Age of Discovery" in the 15th and 16th centuries. Here's the front of the monument, a giant sword (photo pose thanks to a very determined WP who had to lie on the ground to get this shot): 

And carved into the side there are a bunch of explorers:

From the Discovery Monument we also got a pretty good view of Lisbon's Golden Gate:

You can tell we didn't have the best weather, but at least it was just cloudy most the time and not raining on us! 

A little ways town from the bridge and monument is the famous Belém Tower, built in the 16th century during the "Age of Discovery": 

After seeing all these monuments we had to stop off at Pastéis de Belém, a bakery founded in 1837 that specializes in these delicious custard-filled flaky pastries, pastéis de nata. These treats are sold in most bakeries and cafes in Lisbon, so we had the pleasure of getting to try them a few different times. Here they are, topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar: 

Three mornings in a row we ate breakfast at Cafe Versailles, a really cool old restaurant and pastry shop that was near our hotel. The inside of the building was beautiful and it was full of Portuguese people, always a good sign. The waiters were pretty patient with us trying to order in Portuguese. We found that reading the menus wasn't too bad since many words are similar to Spanish, but speaking was a whole different matter. For the most part people in Lisbon spoke really good English though, and would immediately switch if we tried to say anything in Portuguese. On our last morning we stopped by the cafe to pick up some food to go. Just to try something new, I decided to order our food in Spanish with some Portuguese words that I had learned over the weekend. The pastry man understood me and responded in Portuguese, correcting my pronunciation of the word for "two", dois, which sounds like "doh-eesh". I know that a lot of Spanish people travel to Portugal for their beaches, so maybe they are used to hearing Spanish. Before we went we were also told by Spaniards that "all Portuguese people understand Spanish," so I'm guessing the Spanish don't try too hard to adapt when they cross the border. Here's WP getting ready for some breakfast:

Once we tried their pão de leite, there was no going back. The name technically translates to "milk bread" but it is basically what we call Portuguese sweet bread in the States, or Hawaiian sweet rolls (like the little guys that come in 24-packs). At Cafe Versailles we ordered the pão de leite with cheese and a little butter. Versailles also had an awesome tea selection and fresh orange juice, and the prices were a little cheaper than what they would have been in Spain. For both of us to eat breakfast it was around seven euros. I wish we could take this place home to Ciudad Real! 

After breakfast on our second morning we headed back toward the center of town to check out some old book shops. We were amazed by the number of new and antique book stores in Lisbon, and had a great morning leafing through prints, maps, and old fruit-box labels at an outdoor book fair and in some shops. Along the way we saw the Elevador Santa Justa, a Gothic metal elevator designed by an apprentice of Gustave Eiffel (the tower guy) that is used to take people from the lower neighborhood to a higher one. It began operating in 1902 and was originally powered by steam. Pretty nuts that the city is so hilly that they need an elevator! 

Here's another one of the cable cars, this one looks even more like the cable cars in SF: 

After some more walking around we ended up at the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto, the official home of port wine in Lisbon! They had hundreds of ports on the menu and very reasonable prices, so we were able to try a few different types. The tasting area was very relaxed and felt more like being in someone's living room than a tasting room. They maybe made it a little too comfortable though; I saw an older couple taking a little nap in their chairs between glasses of port!

After our port tasting we went over to a nearby church that was having a free organ concert. The church was beautiful inside with a painted wooden ceiling (including fake domes painted in perspective; look at the row of "windows") and lots of intricate gold work. 

We were surprised that churches in Portugal look so different from Spanish ones. They have some similarities of course, but we noticed a lot of them have more detailed chapels on the sides of the main hall, and the art includes more exotic animals like elephants. We figured maybe this is due to Portugal's colonial connection to India. Here's a shot of some of the arched chapels on the side of the hall: 

The organ concert was amazing! We got to hear six songs that lasted about 45 minutes. The organ pipes were up on the second floor balcony in the back of the church:

I took a quick video of the concert. You can really tell how loud the organ was and get a good idea the impressive painted ceiling:

After the concert we started exploring a little more and found some crazy things in this church! First of all, they have human arm bones on display. Here's one up close: 

And just to give you an idea how many arm bones there were, here's the whole window full of them: 

On the other side of the alter there was a display case the same size full of human skulls and small busts of various people, it was so weird! I guess these must have been some pretty special people to make it into the church display case...

Despite the weird bone discovery, Lisbon was such a fun trip! We came home with sore legs from walking up and down all those hills (should have taken the elevator...) and full bellies from sweet bread and custard pastries. And this weekend? Switzerland! We head off to Zurich tomorrow evening to visit Will's cousin Josh and his wife Davnah. Looking forward to pretzels, wine-tasting, chocolate, fondue, hiking, and more!