We got a somewhat late start today, but we had decided today would be a lazy day as we adjust to the time. When we finally headed out, after having coffee in our room, we just rambled down to a square nearby, where there is some sort of spring market event, rather like the Christmas market set up. The weather was cooperating, despite my having read that we’d have a very high chance of rain.
From that square we walked toward the water, taking photos as we went. It’s so fun to be back in Lisbon! On our way we saw a place that had pastel de nata and, well, how can one resist those yummy treats? So we went inside, ordered one each along with an espresso for Dan and a cappuccino for me. We could see the man making the pastels nearly right in front of us. I wonder if he still likes to eat them. (I worked at a donut shop and I sure didn’t want to eat donuts after a while … but donuts are NOT these wonderful treats in Portugal!)
Then we continued our walk and reached the big square by the water. More photos, of course.
From there we headed to the area called Alfama. Lots of narrow streets and lots to see and photograph. We had intended on going there last visit and didn’t make it, so I was very happy that we got there on our first day this time.
While there Dan mentioned it was lunch time and I saw a sign up one narrow street that said lunch, so we went to have a look. As we pondered whether or not we’d eat there (and I tried looking up reviews) it began to rain. It was significant enough that we had to go for shelter and the restaurant seemed as if it was calling our names. So in we went, and we enjoyed an “Antú Pasti board” (the restaurant’s name is Antú) and some chicken wings, along with my mocktail and Dan’s non-alcoholic beer (aren’t we being GOOD KIDS?!). The food and drinks hit the spot.
From there it was more walking …
… and as we neared St. George Castle I mentioned that the tickets I purchased were available on my phone and they weren’t for a set date, so we opted to go there even while our plan was to do that tomorrow. The line to purchase tickets was pretty long — if I were more bold I think I would have told all those people to go to the castle site on their phones and buy tickets rather than stand in a line that must have taken at least 30 minutes to get through (when we left the castle the line was nearly twice as long!). It was fun to roam the grounds, and attempt to imagine what it was like when it was inhabited. When we first entered the grounds we heard some crazy shrieking. Heh. Yes, peacocks. And lots of them! Oh … and I did go out of my comfort zone by going up stairs and dealing with heights. The wind made me even more uncomfortable, but hey, I did it!
Then it was back out, and more rambling, this time toward our hotel. When we got there we took advantage of our free welcome drinks, ordering olives and croquettes to go with them. It was nice to sit and relax a bit.
Soon we decided we really should get some dinner. We aren’t eating on Portugal residents’ time — they eat late! — and I really do wonder how they can sleep after eating when they do. We walked out the door and down the street just a bit and saw a line going in to a seafood place. I thought it would mean there would be too long of a wait, but the guy outside said it would be only 5 minutes. Turns out they had another room almost right next door. He also told us (warned us?) that there was only one thing on the menu. It was sort of like paella, but a Portuguese seafood soup kind of thing. So we decided to go for it. Most people in our part of the restaurant were Asian, and while we sat there even more came in. Seems like the place must be in some guidebooks somewhere! The dish was a bit difficult to deal with: we couldn’t really manage to get much meat from the lobster or crab, and I admit I’m clueless about how to eat shrimp when it’s the doggone whole thing. But we did the best we could, and we survived. Will we return? Nope. Too much work for very little satisfaction. But obviously some people must really like it.
Since that wasn’t a great success we treated ourselves to some health food. Hah!
Getting back to our hotel room I booked our dinner reservation for a place we went to twice last time we were here we loved it so much. I’m assuming we will not be disappointed!
Because we did the castle today, we really have no plans for tomorrow at this point. We’ll have to peruse my somewhat lengthy list of possible things to do when we wake tomorrow morning. We’ll see what the day will bring!