Lisbon

Our arrival back in Lisbon completed the loop of Portugal we’d begun more than two weeks earlier after landing in the early morning hours from Málaga. Portugal was a fabulous country: wonderful people, excellent food, enthralling history, fun cities, mind boggling wine regions and some of the most beautiful coastline I’d ever had the fortune to visit. We stopped at the famous Torre de Belém – another one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal – to stretch our legs and enjoy some sunshine on our way into Lisbon, all of us shocked to see what looked to be San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge stretching across the bay from downtown Lisbon! The 25 de Abril Bridge isn’t an exact replica of the Golden Gate but it was pretty close! The color, two towers and aesthetics were all the same. Uncanny.

Our digs in the heart of Lisbon’s old town afforded us easy access to all the capital’s major sites, most of them on foot. And when I say “heart” we really were smack in the middle of the historical quarter: we had a stunning view of the city’s main historical landmark – Castelo de São Jorge – directly from our kitchen window. The hilly neighborhood around the castle and our apartment was bustling with activity during the day, the streets lined with restaurants and souvenir stores, and even a couple of pastel de nata bakeries to quench the hankering of all the tourists making a visit to the castle. When the castle closed, however, the neighborhood turned into an absolute ghost town. All the stores closed, the restaurants shuttered, even the hole-in-the-wall mini-markets ceased operation for the day. Nowhere else in Europe had we seen such a Jekyll and Hyde neighborhood. Made for some solid sleeps and stunning nighttime views of a quiet Castelo de São Jorge in the evening light.

There was an incredible amount of tourism pressure in the city center due to Lisbon being a cruise ship port. The alleyways and promenades were lined with a plethora of restaurants offering English-language menus, it was a little daunting. It took us some time to sift through the tourist traps and dig into the culinary heart of the city, but once we did there were so many good eats on offer. We were fortunate over the prior couple of weeks when Max’s daily caloric intake hit overdrive that we were in affordable Portugal and not high brow Switzerland. The kid was an absolute eating machine during our time in Portugal, and in particular over the span of our few days in the capital. During our visit to Bonjardim – famous for their spit chicken with peri peri sauce (it really was excellent and is well worth a visit) – he ate three quarters of a whole chicken and fries, followed by three bananas when he got home. Then atO Triangulo da Ribeira it was a heftybifana with two scrambled eggs in it for lunch. For dinner at Maçã Verde – which is also well worth venturing to for a truly local dining experience – it was a giant plate of fried baby mackerel served with rice and a sizable salad. For lunch on another day at gritty Casa das Bifanas – the best bifanas we’d had in all of Portugal – it was another bifana followed by a bread roll with three eggs worth of egg salad in it as soon as he got back to the apartment. He actually bought himself a man bag that he’s been carrying around with him just to make sure he has food within easy reach when needed. None of the boy’s clothes are going to fit when they come out of storage in Australia!

A prime example of Lisbon tourism on steroids was Mercado da Ribeira – or more recently renamed the Time Out Market – on the western stretch of the central bay promenade. The market was historically one of Lisbon’s traditional marketplaces, but has been transformed into dining and drinking hall that seemed to want to mimic the likes of the brilliant Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid but had gone a couple of steps too far. Everything was written in English, there didn’t seem to be a Portuguese local in sight, and the prices were some of the most expensive we’d seen for eats in all of Europe (bar maybe Switzerland…). Not all was lost, however, as on the same street as the rear of the market sat O Triangulo da Ribeira, a hole-in-the-wall bifana eatery that was jammed with local construction workers. The four of us downed five bifanas between us – Max’s with egg – and two beers for 12€. Nothing wrong with that. We also stumbled onto a hairdresser in the neighborhood behind the market where the kids both received a trim, something my ragamuffin son in particular had been needing for a few weeks.

We did partake in a few touristy adventures whilst in Lisbon, particularly riding the quaint trams that crisscross the city center. With the 24 hour Lisbon public transport cards we purchased the trams were an exceptionally easy way to get around and quite fun to ride. Lisbon’s a hilly city, over the centuries the authorities added a number of elevadors to facilitate straightforward movement of the residents between neighborhoods. These days most of the elevadors are tourist attractions rather than an integral part of the public transport network, but we could ride them on our metro cards so took a trip up the Elevador de Santa Justa, the most famous of the city’s lifts. The view from the top platform of the city and Catelo de São Jorge was impressive, not a “must do” if in Lisbon but worth it if you happen to have a metro card in your pocket.

Praça do Comércio was a magic spot to sit and watch the world go by in the afternoon sun, although it was very close to the cruise port and therefore received a solid dose of tourist foot traffic. The kids enjoyed the small beach tucked below the square’s bay-facing walls while Lisa and I savored a couple of Super Bocks in the sun. I will note that I have never been offered to buy more weed, hash, and cocaine in the span of 90 minutes in my life than on Praça do Comércio. If you ever visit: those guys selling sunglasses everywhere really aren’t interested in selling the handful of sunglasses they’re carrying around… I needed to keep one of the kids close so the “vendors” would leave me alone!

It really is astounding to think that more than three months ago we arrived in Paris, where we began our adventures across the European continent. The food and history of Italy; beaches of Croatia and Spain; Alps across Italy, Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland; beers of Slovenia, the Czech and Germany; wines of France; and finally the wonderful cities, people and cuisine of Portugal. Lisbon marked our last stop on the European continent, what a wonderful ride, so much history and so many new experiences for the four of us. It flew by way too quickly…