Lisbon
Sunday 23 March
Alarm clock goes off brutally early for the taxi to Edinburgh Airport. A short flight and a short taxi drive later and we arrive at our hotel the Internacional Design Hotel in the Baixa area of Lisbon. Unpack and take a snooze. Head to the hotel bar for a complimentary Super Bok and then out to explore. Head down to the beautiful Praca do Comercio. Stroll along the water front in the sunshine and head into the Chiado area. Start to appreciate how hilly Lisbon is. Admire the beautiful tile covered houses. Look for somewhere to stop and find an interesting courtyard with several restaurants and bars and enjoy a Panini and Sagres. Set off on a mission to find Bairro Alto or more specifically a street in Bairro Alto which Stuart remembers. Pass one of the viewing platforms over Lisbon and head into the cobbled streets of Bairro Alto. Enjoy an Estrella outside El Gordon/Bar 52 a bustling restaurant filled with locals. Go for Petiscos (tapas) in 151 and then head back to the hotel for a glass of Vino. Lovely first day. I’m going to like this city.
Monday 24 March
Feeling rested, head to the nearby historic Santa Justa lift which connects Baixa to the Chiado/Bairro Alto area of Lisbon. The rain starts and we take shelter in the Royale Café where we enjoy a strong espresso and some Portuguese Patatas Bravas (much spicier) and tapa Iberico. Continue to search for the elusive street in Bairro Alto and tread gingerly on the treacherous rain soaked cobbles. Take shelter again in Adega Mayor a stylish café/bar on several levels where we have Octopus in garlic and oil and Sardines in olive oil plus a warming glass of Vino Tinto. Sample the flavoured jams brought over by the friendly staff. We head back to our hood and stroll along Avenue Liberdade with its designer shops and high end hotels and stop for a Super Bok in Rossio Square. Take the Metro to Cais do Sodre and find the indoor market where we will be starting our food tour tomorrow. Take a sneak peek at the market and out the back find a street with several local bars. As the sun has come out we enjoy a beer outside N Cais a proper local neighbourhood bar. From there we stumble across Sol e Pesca as featured on No Reservations, an old fishing shop which now sells fish in cans preserved in oil. Eat Tuna, Mackerel and Sardines with small beers. Really like this place. This is a deceptively lively street crammed full of bars and clubs. This has turned into a bar crawl and we have a Vino Tinto in Povo before ascending the steps in Pensao Amor a former brothel turned bar/club. This place is amazing with a room with a pole, a library of erotic fiction, a stage for music/DJ and comfortable chairs. You come in at ground level and can exit a street above. Have a couple of extra strong cocktails before heading home and stopping for Pizza in Cais das Colunas. Don’t remember much!
Tuesday 25 March
Feeling groggy, wish today was not the day of our food tour. Head back to Cais do Sodre the scene of the crime and meet our tour guide Filomena from Eat, Drink, Walk Lisbon at the old indoor market. A part of the market is currently being renovated so that food stalls where people can come and eat of an evening are being constructed. This is where locals come to buy fresh vegetables, meat and especially fish. The size and varieties are amazing but as I am struggling from the night before the fish is beginning to take its toll on me. We are joined on our tour by Ellie and Martin who live outside London. They are very friendly and love their food and cooking. Filomena takes us from the market through a local square where she gives us some insight into the economic climate in Portugal which has really struggled since the economic downturn. Some of the beautiful buildings containing flats have few residents left including a building we see which houses an elderly lady who cannot be evicted. Unemployment is particularly bad so a lot of qualified people are leaving Portugal to seek jobs abroad. Filomena takes us back to Sol e Pesca. I decide that as my hangover is not going to lift I need to get back in the saddle and order a Vino Tinto. We enjoy some fish in oil with bread before moving onto Pensao Amor where we have a quick go on the pole before cutting onto the street above. From here Filomena takes us to a secret stop whose location she asks us not to reveal. The place known by locals provides well above your average canteen style food with an amazing terrace overlooking the water. We try some tempura green beans along with a beer and enjoy the fabulous views. We then walk to Loja das Conservas which sells the tins of fish we have sampled. The shop has an amazing array of produce and we make a note to come back to buy some. From here we head to Praca do Comercio where we sample our first Ginjinha, the local cherry flavoured drink sold at Ginjinha stands throughout the city. Two drinks later from chocolate cups and we move on for some much needed food to soak up the alcohol. We call in at Papabubble an artisanal sweet shop which makes some amazing creations before stopping at Nova Pombalina for suckling pig sandwich washed down with an obligatory small beer. Stuart and Martin amazingly manage two sandwiches. The staff are friendly and the place is incredibly busy at lunch time. We then head to Espaco Acores where we sample some liqueurs including an amazing rice based drink before we end our official tour with a Port tasting at GN Cellar. I know nothing about Port so it is interesting but Stuart and Martin seem to be paying particular attention to the person talking us through our tasting! It is sadly the end of our tour but Filomena takes us to the Hotel Bairro Alto which has a roof terrace where she leaves us to take some photos. From here we all decide to stay for a drink and that’s where we stay for the next 5 hours swapping holiday stories and chatting and drinking. We decide to go for dinner in a venue I cannot name and this tips me over the edge. Time to call it a night. Had a great day and met some lovely people.
Wednesday 25 March
Feeling delicate today. We decide to head out to the Santos area of Lisbon. Enjoy a coca cola in El Ray D Carlos before taking a stroll which leads towards Bairro Alto. Have a light lunch in Decadente as we will be enjoying a tasting menu tonight. Taking it easy today so we walk along the waterfront out beyond the Marina. This area has been redeveloped and ultra modern glass front bars/deli sit on the water. We stop for a beer in Cais da Pedra which is a sleek restaurant/bar with a terrace. We then move next door to Bico da Sapato the large modern restaurant owned by John Malkovich. The restaurant is all white and minimalist with huge glass doors which open onto a water front terrace. Stuart had been here previously for dinner years before. We order a couple of glasses of Vino Tinto and take it all in. Dinner tonight at 100 Manairas. We confuse our taxi driver as they have two restaurants and eventually arrive and ring the door bell. We are shown to our table and elect to have the accompanying wine tasting menu for each course. The menu is fabulous and I try foie gras which as a largely non meat eater I have been fearing but is served as a light mousse. We enjoy a leisurely dinner and the service is friendly and unstuffy. The restaurant is busy with a variety of nationalities including a young Russian who is rude to the staff and drags his long suffering girlfriend away mid meal. Would definitely recommend to any foodies.
Thursday 27 March
Get up late today. Stuart has already been out for a Ginjinha or two in our local square. Imoressive! Have breakfast/lunch in Bellisima before taking the tram out to Belem, a historic area of Lisbon. Visit the beautiful old Monastery with its impressive chapel and museum. Take a stroll toward the water for a photo op of the impressive Belem Tower. As the rain starts we take refuge in a café a sample a Pasteis De Nata, one of the famous custard tarts. From here we take a tram to the LX Factory situated under the bridge. It is a mish mash of creative buildings featuring local designers, amazing furniture shops, art and graffiti plus some cafes and bars. As the rain is really coming down we sit it out with some Vino Tinto and cheese. I imagine it is lively here of an evening. Definitely a bit hipsterish! At night we follow one of Filomena’s recommendations and visit a market much like the one under conversion where people can go and eat of an evening. It is a bit of a taxi ride away but worth it. Inside it is full of locals of all ages sampling all kinds of meat, cheese and fish washed down with wine or cold beers. There is also a champagne and gin bar. People share tables and the empties are collected along the way. It is bustling with a great atmosphere. We spot Ellie and Martin who we met on our food tour and try all kinds of things from local cheese and meats to woodpecker stew, tuna, tempura green beans and pork sandwiches. One of my favourite places so far. We all decide to go on for drinks and find a taxi via one of the local shop owners. Our taxi driver looks like something out of Cocoon and can barely see out of the window so it is an interesting journey to Cais da Sodre! Back in Pensao Amor we watch the friendly staff pour quadruple measures of Gin into glasses with a splash of tonic. It is really busy tonight but we find a table and people watch while listening to some varied tunes! Good fun.
Friday 28 March
I love the trams in Lisbon and today I get to take the famous rickety number 28 to Alfama. Stuart complains about the wait but I don’t mind. Some local kids hitch a ride hanging on to the back of the tram while smoking cigarettes. We make it up the steep hills to the Alfama area which has beautiful old buildings and stunning views. The sun is out so we have lunch outside. We wander downhill and stop at the beautiful Lisbon cathedral. Head out to do some shopping at El Corte Ingles. Not very exciting so trek uphill to Principe Real above Bairro Alto and stop for a Sagres in a bar which appears to have its own dog, an excitable pup. Work our way through Bairro Alto including a stop at The Killing Cocktail Room where the lamp shades are made from cabbage leaves and Fabulas a cavernous restaurant/bar with a series of rooms. Tonight we have dinner booked at Alma. Inside the restaurant is very stark and white. The menu arrives and there are only 2 choices. Luckily we like these choices or there may have been trouble. It is a strange experience. The staff are friendly and the service is good but the whole thing is so slick we are in danger of being out of there in an hour and a quarter. The food is really good, an amuse bouche of mackerel in ginger sauce, tuna for me to start and foie gras for Stuart, mains of pork belly and cod loin, Caiparhina sorbet, dessert and coffee. We deliberately linger over the coffee. I like to go to places where you can find you have spent 4 hours or so if you want to. This is note one of those places. A few doors away we find Wanli, an antique shop and bar. The surroundings are unique and we sit on an old sofa for a couple of glasses of wine. We have a night cap in Lizboa Café where the DJ spends a lot of time drinking beer chatting to people while pretending he is actually mixing tunes, not good tunes either!
Saturday 29 March
Today is our last proper day so we need to buy some gifts. We head to our local street to buy t shirts, no novelty ones here just some really nice designs. We head back to Loja des Conservas to buy our tins of fish to take back home. We drop these off at the hotel before heading out for lunch at O Ramiro. The restaurant is famous for its seafood and we are the only tourists there amidst families and friends. We can see our lunch swimming in the tanks and order two types of crab, prawns, whitebait, with bread and oil, a seafood extravaganza. Amazing. Stop for a beer in Tatit in the sunshine before going to MUDE the design museum. The museum is in a former bank and had a fashion exhibition on the top floor and a ceramics exhibition down in the vaults. From here we headed to Rossio for an espresso before enjoying a Ginjinha in our local square when we run into Celia from Eat, Drink, Walk Lisbon. We head out for our final night in Bairro Alto for Petiscos in Tapas 28. We have still not found Stuart’s elusive street which I don’t thinks exists but he does concede that on a Saturday night when it is more lively and the doors which previously were closed during the day are now open with people drinking in the streets that it all looks more familiar. We have our final drinks in XXL where people call in for beers and then take them out onto the next location as people do here. Back to the hotel to pack for our flight in the morning.
Sunday 30 March
Obrigado Lisbon. I love this city, beautiful to look at, friendly people, great food, beer and wine, even in March the sun was out and we able to eat and drink outside, local beaches to visit. It has everything. I will definitely be back.
Alarm clock goes off brutally early for the taxi to Edinburgh Airport. A short flight and a short taxi drive later and we arrive at our hotel the Internacional Design Hotel in the Baixa area of Lisbon. Unpack and take a snooze. Head to the hotel bar for a complimentary Super Bok and then out to explore. Head down to the beautiful Praca do Comercio. Stroll along the water front in the sunshine and head into the Chiado area. Start to appreciate how hilly Lisbon is. Admire the beautiful tile covered houses. Look for somewhere to stop and find an interesting courtyard with several restaurants and bars and enjoy a Panini and Sagres. Set off on a mission to find Bairro Alto or more specifically a street in Bairro Alto which Stuart remembers. Pass one of the viewing platforms over Lisbon and head into the cobbled streets of Bairro Alto. Enjoy an Estrella outside El Gordon/Bar 52 a bustling restaurant filled with locals. Go for Petiscos (tapas) in 151 and then head back to the hotel for a glass of Vino. Lovely first day. I’m going to like this city.
Monday 24 March
Feeling rested, head to the nearby historic Santa Justa lift which connects Baixa to the Chiado/Bairro Alto area of Lisbon. The rain starts and we take shelter in the Royale Café where we enjoy a strong espresso and some Portuguese Patatas Bravas (much spicier) and tapa Iberico. Continue to search for the elusive street in Bairro Alto and tread gingerly on the treacherous rain soaked cobbles. Take shelter again in Adega Mayor a stylish café/bar on several levels where we have Octopus in garlic and oil and Sardines in olive oil plus a warming glass of Vino Tinto. Sample the flavoured jams brought over by the friendly staff. We head back to our hood and stroll along Avenue Liberdade with its designer shops and high end hotels and stop for a Super Bok in Rossio Square. Take the Metro to Cais do Sodre and find the indoor market where we will be starting our food tour tomorrow. Take a sneak peek at the market and out the back find a street with several local bars. As the sun has come out we enjoy a beer outside N Cais a proper local neighbourhood bar. From there we stumble across Sol e Pesca as featured on No Reservations, an old fishing shop which now sells fish in cans preserved in oil. Eat Tuna, Mackerel and Sardines with small beers. Really like this place. This is a deceptively lively street crammed full of bars and clubs. This has turned into a bar crawl and we have a Vino Tinto in Povo before ascending the steps in Pensao Amor a former brothel turned bar/club. This place is amazing with a room with a pole, a library of erotic fiction, a stage for music/DJ and comfortable chairs. You come in at ground level and can exit a street above. Have a couple of extra strong cocktails before heading home and stopping for Pizza in Cais das Colunas. Don’t remember much!
Tuesday 25 March
Feeling groggy, wish today was not the day of our food tour. Head back to Cais do Sodre the scene of the crime and meet our tour guide Filomena from Eat, Drink, Walk Lisbon at the old indoor market. A part of the market is currently being renovated so that food stalls where people can come and eat of an evening are being constructed. This is where locals come to buy fresh vegetables, meat and especially fish. The size and varieties are amazing but as I am struggling from the night before the fish is beginning to take its toll on me. We are joined on our tour by Ellie and Martin who live outside London. They are very friendly and love their food and cooking. Filomena takes us from the market through a local square where she gives us some insight into the economic climate in Portugal which has really struggled since the economic downturn. Some of the beautiful buildings containing flats have few residents left including a building we see which houses an elderly lady who cannot be evicted. Unemployment is particularly bad so a lot of qualified people are leaving Portugal to seek jobs abroad. Filomena takes us back to Sol e Pesca. I decide that as my hangover is not going to lift I need to get back in the saddle and order a Vino Tinto. We enjoy some fish in oil with bread before moving onto Pensao Amor where we have a quick go on the pole before cutting onto the street above. From here Filomena takes us to a secret stop whose location she asks us not to reveal. The place known by locals provides well above your average canteen style food with an amazing terrace overlooking the water. We try some tempura green beans along with a beer and enjoy the fabulous views. We then walk to Loja das Conservas which sells the tins of fish we have sampled. The shop has an amazing array of produce and we make a note to come back to buy some. From here we head to Praca do Comercio where we sample our first Ginjinha, the local cherry flavoured drink sold at Ginjinha stands throughout the city. Two drinks later from chocolate cups and we move on for some much needed food to soak up the alcohol. We call in at Papabubble an artisanal sweet shop which makes some amazing creations before stopping at Nova Pombalina for suckling pig sandwich washed down with an obligatory small beer. Stuart and Martin amazingly manage two sandwiches. The staff are friendly and the place is incredibly busy at lunch time. We then head to Espaco Acores where we sample some liqueurs including an amazing rice based drink before we end our official tour with a Port tasting at GN Cellar. I know nothing about Port so it is interesting but Stuart and Martin seem to be paying particular attention to the person talking us through our tasting! It is sadly the end of our tour but Filomena takes us to the Hotel Bairro Alto which has a roof terrace where she leaves us to take some photos. From here we all decide to stay for a drink and that’s where we stay for the next 5 hours swapping holiday stories and chatting and drinking. We decide to go for dinner in a venue I cannot name and this tips me over the edge. Time to call it a night. Had a great day and met some lovely people.
Wednesday 25 March
Feeling delicate today. We decide to head out to the Santos area of Lisbon. Enjoy a coca cola in El Ray D Carlos before taking a stroll which leads towards Bairro Alto. Have a light lunch in Decadente as we will be enjoying a tasting menu tonight. Taking it easy today so we walk along the waterfront out beyond the Marina. This area has been redeveloped and ultra modern glass front bars/deli sit on the water. We stop for a beer in Cais da Pedra which is a sleek restaurant/bar with a terrace. We then move next door to Bico da Sapato the large modern restaurant owned by John Malkovich. The restaurant is all white and minimalist with huge glass doors which open onto a water front terrace. Stuart had been here previously for dinner years before. We order a couple of glasses of Vino Tinto and take it all in. Dinner tonight at 100 Manairas. We confuse our taxi driver as they have two restaurants and eventually arrive and ring the door bell. We are shown to our table and elect to have the accompanying wine tasting menu for each course. The menu is fabulous and I try foie gras which as a largely non meat eater I have been fearing but is served as a light mousse. We enjoy a leisurely dinner and the service is friendly and unstuffy. The restaurant is busy with a variety of nationalities including a young Russian who is rude to the staff and drags his long suffering girlfriend away mid meal. Would definitely recommend to any foodies.
Thursday 27 March
Get up late today. Stuart has already been out for a Ginjinha or two in our local square. Imoressive! Have breakfast/lunch in Bellisima before taking the tram out to Belem, a historic area of Lisbon. Visit the beautiful old Monastery with its impressive chapel and museum. Take a stroll toward the water for a photo op of the impressive Belem Tower. As the rain starts we take refuge in a café a sample a Pasteis De Nata, one of the famous custard tarts. From here we take a tram to the LX Factory situated under the bridge. It is a mish mash of creative buildings featuring local designers, amazing furniture shops, art and graffiti plus some cafes and bars. As the rain is really coming down we sit it out with some Vino Tinto and cheese. I imagine it is lively here of an evening. Definitely a bit hipsterish! At night we follow one of Filomena’s recommendations and visit a market much like the one under conversion where people can go and eat of an evening. It is a bit of a taxi ride away but worth it. Inside it is full of locals of all ages sampling all kinds of meat, cheese and fish washed down with wine or cold beers. There is also a champagne and gin bar. People share tables and the empties are collected along the way. It is bustling with a great atmosphere. We spot Ellie and Martin who we met on our food tour and try all kinds of things from local cheese and meats to woodpecker stew, tuna, tempura green beans and pork sandwiches. One of my favourite places so far. We all decide to go on for drinks and find a taxi via one of the local shop owners. Our taxi driver looks like something out of Cocoon and can barely see out of the window so it is an interesting journey to Cais da Sodre! Back in Pensao Amor we watch the friendly staff pour quadruple measures of Gin into glasses with a splash of tonic. It is really busy tonight but we find a table and people watch while listening to some varied tunes! Good fun.
Friday 28 March
I love the trams in Lisbon and today I get to take the famous rickety number 28 to Alfama. Stuart complains about the wait but I don’t mind. Some local kids hitch a ride hanging on to the back of the tram while smoking cigarettes. We make it up the steep hills to the Alfama area which has beautiful old buildings and stunning views. The sun is out so we have lunch outside. We wander downhill and stop at the beautiful Lisbon cathedral. Head out to do some shopping at El Corte Ingles. Not very exciting so trek uphill to Principe Real above Bairro Alto and stop for a Sagres in a bar which appears to have its own dog, an excitable pup. Work our way through Bairro Alto including a stop at The Killing Cocktail Room where the lamp shades are made from cabbage leaves and Fabulas a cavernous restaurant/bar with a series of rooms. Tonight we have dinner booked at Alma. Inside the restaurant is very stark and white. The menu arrives and there are only 2 choices. Luckily we like these choices or there may have been trouble. It is a strange experience. The staff are friendly and the service is good but the whole thing is so slick we are in danger of being out of there in an hour and a quarter. The food is really good, an amuse bouche of mackerel in ginger sauce, tuna for me to start and foie gras for Stuart, mains of pork belly and cod loin, Caiparhina sorbet, dessert and coffee. We deliberately linger over the coffee. I like to go to places where you can find you have spent 4 hours or so if you want to. This is note one of those places. A few doors away we find Wanli, an antique shop and bar. The surroundings are unique and we sit on an old sofa for a couple of glasses of wine. We have a night cap in Lizboa Café where the DJ spends a lot of time drinking beer chatting to people while pretending he is actually mixing tunes, not good tunes either!
Saturday 29 March
Today is our last proper day so we need to buy some gifts. We head to our local street to buy t shirts, no novelty ones here just some really nice designs. We head back to Loja des Conservas to buy our tins of fish to take back home. We drop these off at the hotel before heading out for lunch at O Ramiro. The restaurant is famous for its seafood and we are the only tourists there amidst families and friends. We can see our lunch swimming in the tanks and order two types of crab, prawns, whitebait, with bread and oil, a seafood extravaganza. Amazing. Stop for a beer in Tatit in the sunshine before going to MUDE the design museum. The museum is in a former bank and had a fashion exhibition on the top floor and a ceramics exhibition down in the vaults. From here we headed to Rossio for an espresso before enjoying a Ginjinha in our local square when we run into Celia from Eat, Drink, Walk Lisbon. We head out for our final night in Bairro Alto for Petiscos in Tapas 28. We have still not found Stuart’s elusive street which I don’t thinks exists but he does concede that on a Saturday night when it is more lively and the doors which previously were closed during the day are now open with people drinking in the streets that it all looks more familiar. We have our final drinks in XXL where people call in for beers and then take them out onto the next location as people do here. Back to the hotel to pack for our flight in the morning.
Sunday 30 March
Obrigado Lisbon. I love this city, beautiful to look at, friendly people, great food, beer and wine, even in March the sun was out and we able to eat and drink outside, local beaches to visit. It has everything. I will definitely be back.