Lisbon
We left Porto after a week and headed south to Lisbon. Because Preston is the best travel planner in the world, we avoided the 3.5 hour train ride and €48 cost by taking a 1 hour plane ride for €22 (total!). Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, and as Preston pointed out the international capital city that has the most sunlight each year.
The view of Campo de Orique from our terrace.
Our VRBO was in a more residential part of the city, called Campo de Ourique, and it was the perfect location for us. We were living among locals, there were great restaurants around and a gorgeous mercado in the center of the neighborhood. We've made sure to hit up the mercados in each city we visit, it's a great way to see the local culture, shop for groceries and eat lovely things we probably wouldn't ordinarily have the chance to taste.
The market at Campo de Ourique. There was a fantastic fish market, many wines shops and of course fruit and vegetable stalls. It seems like this is the spot in the neighborhood for happy hour.
We bought these guys from the Mercado de Ourique and they were delicious!
Nearby was a gorgeous little park, called Jardim de Estrela. Ducks geese and peacocks wandered around the huge park, there were several little stands, a cafe and plenty of benches to lounge on. We spent quite a bit of time in the Jardim, relaxing, reading, drinking lemonade. It was incredibly peaceful and relaxing.
Little ducks all over the garden.
Preston is working on a bit about the food, so I'll leave that portion for him to tell you about, but I will tell you about our Fado experience. Fado is a type of Portugese music, specific to the Lisbon area. There is typically an acoustic guitar, a 12 sting guitar and a Fado singer. We decided to have dinner at one of these Fado restaurants. You order your food and wine and typically around 9 pm they start to play. The restaurant we went to had incredible food and every thirty minutes or so the lights would go down and the proprietor, accompanied by two musicians, would sing for about 20 minutes. We left at 11, after having been there for 4 hours, but the Fado performances typically continue on until about 2 am.
Wine and Fado by candlelight.
I realize I am very behind on the blog here, but we are just enjoying our travels so much, that I've become a bit lax on it. If you want more immediate updates, check out the instagram @walksabout, as I'm much better at posting there.
Cool ride through Lisbon on the citywide tram line. Very similar to the San Francisco cable cars.
