Lisbon, Portugal
Beautiful architecture, wonderful tile, cobblestoned streets, street cafes, and the most breathtaking views packed into one city I’ve ever seen. Wow. It’s strange to me that I haven’t hear all that much about Portugal, or that Portugal is a highly touristic place.
First of all, it has a lot of similarities to San Francisco, California, but of course came first so we can assume SF was modeled after stunning Lisbon, Portugal. Cable cars, tall buildings in the downtown area, and even a golden gate bridge. Although, the golden gate bridge came after San Francisco’s. Apparently the president or prime minister of Portugal (not sure which one) wanted a bridge like the golden gate bridge, so the engineer built an exact replica of it in Lisbon. I was shocked and confused when I saw it in Lisbon..did anyone know that?? So, once we embarked our cruise ship we drove right under it. (pictures to come)
Be warned: if you aren’t particularly “in shape” perse, you might want to take the funicular or one of the trolleys. Lisbon is named “the city of 7 hills”, so if that doesn’t give you a nice visual of what the city walking is like. The cobblestone roads are extremely narrow, and of course in Europe, the drivers are somewhat immune to pedestrians and appear to not have a care in the world about hitting one of them. The occasional slap of the taxi by an angry pedestrian is nothing out-of-the-ordinary here.
Also, Portuguese has been a major barrier for my family and me. It’s easy to read Portuguese and understand it because of its similarity to Spanish. But when it came time to order my smoothie in a café, we weren’t going anywhere. It’s like a mix of Spanish and French but all blurred together with a Russian-like accent. It’s difficult to understand, so be sure to read up on your Portuguese.
Be sure to eat: Typical Portuguese food. We ate at Faia, a white table clothed restaurant nestled on top of one of the 7 hills complete with the traditional fadó music (pronounced fa-du). Portuguese people love their olives, they come before each meal. Fish is a specialty in the area not only because of the close proximity to the ocean, but also because of their “salted” style they cook the fish. I ordered the stone bass and it was hardly cooked, just fell apart and melted in my mouth. For the more daring eaters, there was a plate of full little fish served on a platter with oil and some veggies. Not for me! Nope, no thanks. Fadó is the style of music Portugal is famous for. It includes a style of classic guitar and singing. It’s acoustic and pretty Latin sounds..is how I would describe it. Faia was filled with locals. We knew this because everyone was singing along to the songs the Fadó band was playing. A definite go.
Wear: Doesn’t matter. Everyone is laid back here and they are used to tourists. You can wear shorts in the cathedrals.
Buy: TILE! It’s beautiful and it’s everywhere in the city.
Stay: Hotel Sofitel. It was luxurious and it reminded me of the Lumen in Dallas, Texas. The beds were the comfiest things I’ve ever laid in. Plus, the bell boy has a full on suit with a top hat, what more could you ask for? (joke)
CRUISE
You know when you sit there and just think, “what if I had this here” or “what if this car did this”? That kind of thing? Well, after boarding our Silverseas cruise ship, I sat out on the balcony and thought…there is nothing I can think of that would make this cruise cooler. With a glass of champagne in hand (and a bottle that was waiting for me in my room), a butler that is reachable at one touch of a button, perfect weather, free everything (well, free for me. Not for my father), etc etc. My point is not to brag, but to say that I’m extremely thankful that my family and I are on this cruise ship. Which is made up of all old people, which is fine with me since I’m on this vacation to RELAX! Speaking of which, tomorrow is a day at sea so I will begin my relaxing now.
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