Day 2 - We decided to do neighborhood walks.
Rick Steves has a really good book on Lisbon -
"Snapshot Lisbon". It gives very practical advice on what to see. The 3 neighborhoods we walked and trolleyed were the Chiado, Bairro Alto and the Alfama. Lisboa is on the Rio Tejo, a river which is quite wide. There are 2 bridges that cross it and many ferry boats.
A cruise ship docks.
The walk up to castle Sao Jorge.
castelodesaojorge.pt .We did not go as there is not much to see except there are some great views.
An elevator in this building takes you down from the castle.
A large square.
Riverfront.
The
Calouste Gulbekian Museum .
museu.gulbenkian.pt is outside the old section of town. It is a really nice medium sized museum with many terrific works of art. It has an eclectic collection of Islamic art, French art, Egyptian and Far Eastern art. It should not be missed if you are in Lisboa. This is a
Degas self portrait.
It has a great collection of
Lalique objects. This is a mirror.
For dinner we found a small restaurant in the Bairro Alto, close to our hotel. The place was recommended by Michelin. BTW I love the
Michelin Guides, both green and red. They can be dense reading but they are filled with good stuff and their maps are great. The restaurant was really good.
Antigo Primeira de Maio The prices were so inexpensive that we needed to adjust our expectations. The food was delicious. My wife had pork with clams and I had grilled daurade. The wine was their fancy wine at 14 euros. It was clean, crisp, with decent fruit.
My grilled whole fish.
The pork and clams.
People next to us gave their unfinished bottle of red wine. It was not as good as the white. Portuguese wines are the opposite of most regions. The cheap whites a real good and I am guessing of better quality than the cheap reds. We did not have enough reds for a definitive opinion.
The menu.
Dessert of cinnamon cake. Very good. Portuguese desserts were good not great. The national dessert of a cup filled with custard was not a fav of mine.
The interior of the restaurant. It was a small place with a very low key entrance that was hard to find.
We went to a wine bar after dinner and had these 2 ports for 4 euros a glass. Good stuff.
The
Bairro Alto comes to life at night. Seemingly empty street open at night and tens of restaurants open up. It is crowded and fun. Later in the night the drinking gets over the top and the streets are filled with fun lovers.
Day 3
One of the many churches.
Castelo Sao Jorge from Elevadore Santa Justa.
Elevadore Santa Justa, A really cool structure that has a real elevator that you can go up to the floor below the top. You must pay additional and walk a flight up to the top. Tip - start at the top and take t he elevator down. There is no line.
Gelato in Lisboa.
Day 3- We decided to go to
Cascais which is beach town about 20 miles from Lisboa. The train goes there. The train passes
Belem on the way.
Belem is home to a famous Tower,a Monastery and a great modern art museum.
The train leaves from the
Sodre train station. They leave every 20 minutes and are relatively cheap.
Cascais is a touristy beach town with some picturesque beaches. The water was quite cold as we put our feet into the ocean.
On the way back from Cascais we stopped at Belem. Same train line as we before.
We ate lunch of grilled sardines and mackerel. OK, so we tried sardines and I can report that fresh grilled sardines tasted just like the canned sardines but not as oily. Mackerel was really good, smaller but a cleaner flavor.
Jeronimos Monastery. This is a cathedral and a monastery. Half the monastery is falling apart. We found that in Portugal famous historical sites are not given the same care as France or Spain or England.
We also found a great contemporary art museum with a terrific collection of paintings from very recent artists. The museum is the
Museu Berardo in the
Belem Cultural Center and it is free.
www.museuberardo.pt
Lunch was good and very reasonable, around 20 euros.
I found a really good wine shop,
Garrafeira Nacional www.garrafeiranacional.com and decided to buy some good stuff. We spoke with a young sales rep and ended up with 3 very good bottles. They have a great selection and their prices are good.
Another church.
For dinner we went back to the
Bairro Alto and ate at
Alfaia. Nice ambiance and again very reasonable. We had suckling pig and rice and shrimp.
A really good wine, like a dry Riesling. Saw it for 5 euros in Lisboa, just bought it in NJ for $9. The WS just gave it an 89. Check it out if you can find it.
Suckling pig.
Shrimp, clams and rice. The food was very good and the restaurant had great ambiance. you can eat inside or outside. Prices were cheap for such a nice restaurant, about 30 euros for dinner with wine.
One of Lisboa's most famous restaurants
, Tavares, that has lost some of its luster. We did not eat there.
Street scene in Lisboa at night.
Interesting day!
