Lisbon Day One

The bus ride from Faro to Lisbon was absolutely incredible! I am not being sarcastic it was a bus ride and it was amazing! The bus was nearly empty so I got to stretch out and catch some zees in the fully reclined roomy leather seats. In addition to the nap I also got to take in the amazing Portuguese country side. About an hour outside of Lisbon I felt like we were driving through the set of a movie. A large area opened up that I wouldn’t call a field but couldn’t call a forest. The ground was covered in what looked like freshly cut grass with old gnarly trees lightly scattered for as far as I could see. From this scene the bus began to cross the Vasco de Gama Bridge entering the beautiful city of Lisbon. This bridge is the longest in Europe and as an engineer I though it was a great entryway to the city. Unfortunately the next Lisbon sight was bus station which is not very exciting but luckily it was just a short trip on the metro to our hostel.

We chose Living Lounge Hostel and the reason I am putting the full name is because it was the best I have ever stayed in and I recommend it to everyone! The hostel is only 100 feet from the metro stop in the center of the city. It is brand new and has everything you could ever want including free internet, breakfast and so much water pressure I could only turn the shower on half way! After we got settled we went to mingle with the other guests and waited for our friend Antonio from the Rose School to pick us up for a real Portuguese dinner.



Antonio arrived with his lovely wife and whisked us off into the Lisbon night. We walked through the Baixa district and entered the lively Bairro Alto. We went for an appetizer in this restaurant which is in what used to be a brewery nearly 250 years ago. There we dined on fried cod fish cakes. Cod fish is a huge part of the Portuguese diet and they really make some incredible dishes with it. These cod cakes have a potato base and are fried up to perfection in almost any Portuguese restaurant or café. We then wandered through the maze of narrow streets to the little tashco Antonio picked for dinner. We squeezed into the tiny room of a restaurant which was overflowing with people. The menu was full of dishes that I had never even heard of so, I did the sensible thing and told Antonio to order me some good seafood. When the food arrived everything was amazing. We shared an order of steamed clams that were covered in cilantro and butter. I had a plate full of fried fish and mashed bread. I had never heard of smashed bread but it is pretty tasty and is more or less like a wet thanksgiving stuffing. The others ordered pork, sausage, baked fish, and mussels. After tasting all of the dishes and savoring the delicious wine I felt like I was in heaven. I found Portuguese cuisine to be very unique and it continued to surprise and delight me throughout the trip.





After a desert of custard pie and figs drenched in syrup I waddled into the street with my hand on my belly and a huge smile on my face. Antonio took us up one of the narrow streets to a bar where there was live music playing. We stood outside and watched the crowds pass all the while enjoying the night air, the music, and the Portuguese equivalent to Miller High Life, Sagres. One thing about Lisbon which I did not expect was that almost every five minutes someone would stop our group and open their hand to offer us Marijuana. Apparently it has recently been legalized and has quickly been added to the average street vendor's arsenal. It was a little startling at first to be offered Marijuana in the same breath as fake Armani sunglasses but became funny after the endless repetition. The Bairro Alto is just the right amount of seedy to add adventure to a night out but clam enough to where you never feel in danger; after all we were walking around with Antonio’s wife who is 7 months pregnant! Antonio then took us to the top of Bairro Alto where there is a little park with amazing views of the city which offered a perfect ending to the night and glimpse of the day to come.