Bom Dia do Lisboa!

Castle in Cascais

I liked Portugal! It reminded me a lot of the month I spent in Brazil and the amazing people I met there. :) It was nice to recall some of the Portuguese Lolo taught me and then get to try it on some of the locals. The ones we talked to, incidentally, were really nice people! They were very helpful and friendly and seemed to really appreciate our attempts at Portuguese. The thing that struck me most was finally seeing some heterogeneity. I hadn’t really thought about the fact that a lot of places I’d been in the last few months were pretty much uniformly white. The diversity was actually refreshing! 

Campo Pequeno Bullring - Right next to our hostel!

Unfortunately, getting to Lisbon was a bit rough, especially for Mom…. She got the full travel-by-Kim experience when we took a really tiring overnight bus from Seville to Lisbon. Our bus was scheduled to leave around midnight and not only arrived late but was also delayed leaving the station because of an altercation between the driver and a passenger refused entry. The man was possibly drunk and the driver wouldn’t let him on. The man tried to push past the heavy-set driver though this didn’t work. Then, something (a shove or some mean words perhaps?) set the driver off and the driver started chasing and beating the man. Someone called the police and the coach left before we really saw any resolution. Crazy! Of course it happened when I was with Mom too! We ended up getting to Lisbon okay but I don’t think Mom was able to get any sleep on the bus and she later took a fall getting off the train :(  

Mom and the Ponte 25 de Abril

Eletrico 28

We were able to drop our bags off at the hostel around 7am, but were basically ushered out until check-in at 2pm. Without a map and any real idea of where we were going, we doggedly found our way to a market for some breakfast pastries and fruit – the Mercado da Ribeira. We later took the old tram car (that looks like the F line in San Francisco) all around town getting a feel for different neighborhoods like Rossio (the main square area), Baixa (downtown), Chiado, Bairro Alto, Graça, and more. There are odd little reminders of San Francisco all around Lisbon like, for example, the Ponte 25 de Abril. (Random: Both the Ponte 25 de Abril and the Bay Bridge were built by the same company, yet the Ponte 25 de Abril looks like the Golden Gate Bridge...) Mom and I were able to explore Belem the next day, a nice part of town with a ton of museums, the San Jeronimo Monastery, and the Belem tower. I think I liked the Belem area of Lisbon best – apart from the tourists, it was just really peaceful and pretty.

Belem

We were on a quest for good seafood in Lisbon, but never really found it. We had a seafood lunch, but what we thought was going to be similar to fish ‘n chips for mom, ending up more as pancakes with cod pieces/flavoring. I had a shrimp, fish, and rice stew that was nice, but not quite as satisfying as a fish filet or shrimp skewer would have been:

No seafood luck at dinnertime either: One night at dinner, Mom went for Burger King and I went for a rather plain chicken breast. At another dinner, we went to a rodizio (churrascaria), but taste-and-quality wise, it was the worst one I’d ever been too. 

Portuguese Snacks: Bolas de Bacalao, Chamuças,Croquettes, etc...

Portugal isn’t my favorite place for food, but the pasteis de nata are a must! They are famous custard pastries that originate from the Antiga Confeitaria de Belem. Their version is called Pasteis de Belem and you get them fresh, warm, and utterly perfect. I don’t even like dessert that much but just one flaky, custardy tart wasn’t enough; we got back in the long line to buy more! They were even better than the dan tat (egg custard tart) at Golden Gate Bakery! 

 

 

Cascais

I think our last day in Portugal was one of my favorites together because we started off with those amazing tarts and then had a really nice time visiting Cascais and its beaches. Cascais is about 45 minutes away from Lisbon and rumored to have some of the best beaches around. We walked along the beautiful coast seeing a random sculpture exhibition and castle. Later, Mom hung out at the water’s edge and I got a tan.... Great day :) 

 

Mom is always funny when she's at the beach :)

Our visit to Portugal was super short, but I think we got a good sense of things here. I'd definitely like to come back!

Some Updates:

-                  :: I am home! Yesterday I flew Amsterdam-Chicago-Orange County, got picked up by Mom and Theo with a dozen roses in hand, and had an awesome seafood dinner! :)

-                  :: The countdown begins: There will be five more posts and then I probably have to put this blog into retirement. I hope you’ll enjoy the conclusion of my adventure abroad as much as I did!

-                  :: In the next few weeks I will work on a proper answer for the question everyone likes to ask me (“What’s your favorite place?”) and also gather lots of fun facts about the trip.

Up Next: Ireland!