Loving Lisboa

Fall is not my favorite season.  There. I said it.

I know everyone loves to love on fall but, in Colorado, it lasts two weeks & it leads right into cold & snowy. It's the time of year when the darkness makes me want to sleep instead of pack lunches and get the kids off to school. Yes, some days are lovely but southwestern falls can't compete with my memories of fall in the Midwest or East coast.

So let's travel back to the summer and our big trip to Portugal.  We chose Portugal because the couple we were traveling with has a time share they swapped for a week the Algarve region of Portugal. We were all first time visitors and excited about the new adventure. Unlike our last trip with our friends, we had different itineraries. Nick & I bookended our trip with a visit to Lisbon.

I learned the Portuguese are a country of water baby explorers. Have you seen a map of the early Portuguese empire? With the exception of Brazil, I don't think they ever ventured more than a few miles inland. Water is an important identifier in Portugal - their history, food, gathering spots and commerce are closely tied to the oceans and waterways.

One of the things I loved most about Portugal was it was easy. No pressure to see any particular sites, no expectations of how you should spend your day and no worries about trying to learn the language (though the people are so nice you will want to).

We loosely followed the guidance of Rick Steeves through Portugal. His book says something to the effect that Portugal is best enjoyed the second time. I would agree. We kept catching ourselves worrying that we were missing some special site or adventure. I think the goal in Portugal is to just be.

We opted out of all museums on this trip. After watching the Amazing Race go through Lisbon, I thought the Coach Museum might have been interesting, but we enjoyed just taking in the city.

There are three main neighborhoods in Lisbon and we either walked or took a cable car tour through all of them.

We spent two different half days just wandering the city. Our friends enjoyed the red bus tour during their visit and I am sure you could find a tour if that is your thing. But, just walking and reading through a guide book was enough for us.

Two of our favorite experiences in Lisbon were pastel de nata and ginjinha.

The pastries were delicious everywhere, but our favorite spot was the famous Pasteis de Belem. The pastries are fresh out of the oven. It is adjacent the Monastery of Jeronimos (first photo above) which is great because you don't feel like you are traveling across town just for Portuguese Dunkin' Donuts (not that we wouldn't travel for donut holes).

We sampled a lot of ginjinha in the Lisbon area. It is a cherry liqueur and served very cold. I have no idea what the alcohol content is, but it doesn't feel very potent. These two bars were very close to our hotel near the train station. 

Each brand of ginjinha tastes different so we did our best to find a favorite. It was a tough job, but we were happy to do it in the name of science. It is apparently tough to find the good brands in the US so I suggest you visit Lisbon and embark on this research for yourself.