(Long) Weekend in Lisbon

Perhaps the biggest advantage of living in Europe is the ease of travel. Scott & Hailey, some friends of mine, wanted to come visit for Spring Break. Since they have been to Amsterdam before, we decided to go somewhere else for a few days. Given the timing of early March, Southern Europe came to mind. We decided on Lisbon, Portugal. At 3 hours, it's probably the longest flight from Amsterdam that is still in Europe (maybe Moscow or Athens comes close). Regardless, I was looking forward to a 4-day weekend in a warm(er) place. We arrived in Lisbon on Friday afternoon, to torrential downpours. I knew we were in for some great weather when the plane missed its landing due to low visibility, and had to circle around and try again. We arrived in a very rainy Lisbon and did a walk around the city. At first glance, it was a nice place - bad weather aside. Here's a picture of one of the main shopping streets; note the cobblestone tiles:

We went to dinner, and I immediately noticed that restaurant prices were a lot cheaper than Amsterdam. Score one point for Portugal! Nothing beats a dinner of spit-roasted chicken, french fries, and sangria. Portugal is known for seafood, but of course anyone who knows me well will understand that it's lost on me.

The second day, we took advantage of a break in the weather to go to nearby Belem. This is a neighborhood of Lisbon where ships used to set sail. Portugal was a pretty important seafaring nation back in the day, with major colonies in South America (Brazil) and Africa. We saw a pretty sweet monastery, followed by the Belem Tower. We finished it off at the place where they make the famous Portuguese custard tarts - basically creme brulee on a pastry. Verrrry nice!























Later we did some walking tours around Lisbon. Lisbon doesn't necessarily have a ton of major sights, but the city in itself is the main site. The buildings and neighborhoods are distinctive, and many of them are covered in tiles. There's also old trolley's navigating the streets, similar to San Francisco:




























That night, we did some bar-hopping in the old town. Lisbon has a great nightlife! And it's cheap! The same pitcher of Sangria that's 25 Euros or more in Amsterdam is only 8 Euros here. Tons of little bars, and the narrow streets were packed with people. Great ambiance. The only downside was the smoking. Portugal still allows smoking in the bars. Before hitting the bars, we had a couple drinks at the Port Wine institute. Port wine is made in Portugal (hence the name) and is typically very sweet and drank as a desert wine. We had a few different kinds; at 1 euro each they were a steal.

The last day in Lisbon, we went to nearby Sintra, which is in the hills outside Lisbon and about a 45 minute train ride away. I was looking forward to getting out of the city and seeing some palaces. Mother nature had other plans though, as the weather was absolutely terrible. I think Sintra must have gotten 3-4" of rain that day - it never stopped. And of course, this was the day I made a smart decision to not to wear a raincoat. On the plus side, I now have a red t-shirt (due to the fact that the red polo shirt I was wearing over it did a dye-job for me). Sintra was beautiful despite the weather, so it must be stunning when it's sunny:






















Overall Lisbon was a great time; I liked it quite a bit. Due to its isolation from the rest of Europe, it's maintained a distinct culture. It also felt more "real" to me than some of the other European cities that tend to feel too touristy. The restaurants and pubs were cheap, and while there were tourists, it felt like most places were filled with locals. The people are really friendly there too, and speak English well too. There's a huge laundry list of sites in Lisbon, which in some ways is nice because you can just take it easy and enjoy the place. I'm looking forward to my next weekend trip (location TBD).