Technical Difficulties & Lisboa

Hello! Sorry for delay in an update. We have been experiencing technical difficulties, but seem to be back (back on my computer at least! the hot water heater and dishwasher are another story entirely, but much too boring to write about).

We took our first weekend jaunt to the continent this past weekend - Lisbon! (Lisboa in Portuguese). It was a quick 2 day trip and we had a great time. We expected the weather to be a bit warmer than here, but it was not quite as warm as predicted. Still, it was nice (mid-50s).

We arrived at the hotel around 10:30 pm on friday and the concierge was able to secure a dinner reservation for us (at a restaurant he suggested. It was not one I had crossed in my research, so I was intrigued to try it), Lisboa Noite. Our journey to get to the restaurant was almost as exciting as the food itself! For those of you who have not been to Lisbon, near the Atlantic Coast of the Iberian Peninsula, it is a very hilly city. It is actually not on the ocean, even though most comprehensive European maps make it appear as thought it is on the coast. If you catch a more detail look at Portugal, you see that the capital city is located a bit east of the ocean on the river Tagus, which flows into the Atlantic.

The restaurant was in the Bairro Alto district, they told us it would be about a 5 minute ride from our hotel. What they did not tell us, was that it would be an off-roading experience! The Bairro Alto neighborhood is a 16th century maze of narrow, hilly, cobblestoned streets. It also houses Lisbon's highest concentration of bars. And at 10:45 pm on a Friday, everyone was drinking and hanging out in the streets, I guess that is what they do. So we literally had to drive through them! Sometimes the taxi driver just plowed through and they scattered, a couple other times he paused and waited for people to move. We felt like we were in a movie! We did make it to the restaurant in one piece. And it was exactly what we were looking for. We were greeted by our future dinner on display (it is common practice in Lisbon for restaurants to have their "wares" on out for people to examine for freshness).
Check it out:



Here's a really funny looking Portuguese lobster (and no, not the one smiling):



The striped guys in the lower corners in the first picture are tiger prawns! They were huge and very yummy - Pat had them, Camarão tigre flambeado c/whisky e limão. It was a great dinner and we opted for the restaurant to call us a cab instead of trying to navigate the streets and fight the crowds. We headed back to the hotel for a quick nightcap and then to bed. Saturday we woke up fairly early to get a start on the day as we had lots of ground to cover. We found a cute cafe near the hotel for a quick pastry, juice & coffee then followed the Avenida Liberdade (the main street in Lisbon) through the city, all the way to the square (Praca do Comercio) where we would pick up the tram to Belem. It was about a 20 minute walk and although it was a bit cooler then we expected (even cooler then it at been at 11 pm the night before) it was a lovely walk. The street was very very wide with cars driving in the middle, then a wide sidewalk (maybe wider than where the cars were driving) on each side lined with flowers, palms trees, statues, benches and a beautiful black and white tiled pattern. Why didn't I take a picture? I guess we were just really enjoying the moment! Sorry!

We found a little flea market (more like a craft market) while waiting for the tram and bought a cool little black & white 3-canvas painting of skyline of the city. Then on to the Torre de Belem, a tower built in 1515-20 to defend the city. It is the quintessential example of Manueline architecture, combining elements Moorish, Renaissance, and Gothic styles. In addition to its defensive purposes, it was also used as a lighthouse and a politcal prison. We climbed all the way to the top. Here are pictures of us at the very top, with the river behind Pat and the city behind me:





Next we visited the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. There is so much to say about this place, I am not even sure where to start. It is one of the most visited sites in Lisbon, which is not surprising considering its history and the fact that it is gorgeous, inside and out. See look!

From the square across the street:



And in the cloister:



After the monastery we were ready for lunch . . . a little too ready. Belem was a cute little area and we succumbed to the first decent place we found. Bad choice. We should have left when we saw the menu, but we were so hungry and ready to sit for awhile. The coca-cola light (definitely not diet coke!) might have been the highlight. ok, the bread was fine. The menu was only one page, but the book was huge bc the first page was Portuguese, and the following pages were literal translations in about 15 languages. We both were too scared to order the fish there (dumb Americans) and opted for the meat section. Pat decided on the park chops, and I could not decide. Nothing really sounded great, but something had caught my interest – the grilled fatless lard. I am not kidding, that is what it said! Grilled Fatless Lard. Ha! What is that?? The sausage and egg sounded good too (I was picturing a bratwurst type sausage). At the last minute I ordered both. I just had to find out what the grilled fatless lard was! Our waiter was confused that we were ordering 3 entrees, but did not speak English so didn’t really think twice about it. Pat made a rule: no more ordering something just to find out what it is. I might appeal. So the food comes . . . [drumroll please!] . . . and the GFL is a thin piece of grilled meat with bone sticking out of it, and just by looking at it we could tell it was not “fatless”. The pork chops were thin and fatty. The “sausage” was a fried ball of pulled pork. Good thing all 3 came with fries, bc that is basically all we ate! Pat said the pork chops were good, but there just wasn’t much to it, so he dove into the GFL! The meat looked similar to pork, so maybe it was some sort of rib? Who knows. He said it wasn’t bad. The sausage was gross (Pat agreed). We were annoyed that we settled on that place, but oh well.

Next we visited the national art museum, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. It was ok. I was not really impressed. Actually, I was pretty annoyed due to the lack of organization and information. I had read that it was a huge and you should prioritize your visit upon arrival. Unfortunately, we were given a single piece of paper with a map showing the numbered rooms. That was it. Oh yeah, and the top 10 items to see (tiny pictures with the room numbers, but in a completely random order). There were some cool items (a gorgeous turquoise, navy & green tiled archway that I wanted to bring home, but Pat said no) and some really old beautiful paintings, but no explanation about where they came from, who commissioned them, the last owners - anything! I mean, I can only see "Origin: Flemish, 16th century" so many times, before losing interest. I like art, but I guess I like history more. But that is not shocking, right? I took a class in college in which we visited all the museums in South Bend & the area (yes, all of them! there are more than you think!) and we critiqued the exhibits - the layout, the flow, the lighting, the info, the items, everything. I guess I will never just "go" to a museum again. I digress; back to Lisboa. We left the museum to check out the shops. Nothing to exciting to report. There was a ceramics store I had read about but couldn't find. Bummer. Lisbon is known for their ceramics and many buildings are covered in beautiful tiles. So then we began the hike home for a siesta before dinner. Wow, how did we not notice this HUGE hill this morning??

Again we went to the concierge for a dinner recommendation instead of the book (me) or web sites (guess who?). We trusted him after his great pick the previous night. They decided to sent us "to the docks" for dinner. And seemed quite excited about it. Then we got there and I realized they saw something in us that we rarely see in ourselves these days . . . our crazy college selves! The area called "the docks" is Lisbon's equivalent of any vacation place's strip - restaurant, after bar, after club, more restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. We found our destination, Dolce Peixe, 3/4 of the way down. They had a huge display of fish (good sign) on ice right in front and the manager went through each one for me, explaining what it was, how best to prepare it, etc. We sat down at a great window table. We were really in the mood for some lobster (after seeing those funny coral spotted lobster everywhere, we wanted to try one!) but sadly, the lobsters at our restaurant were from Canada, so we opted for one of the fresh sea bream cooked in a traditional Portuguese style. It was good, but not great. The wine was good! And so were the starters. It was a lovely restaurant and we enjoyed it. Our walk toward the cab line was literally like walking through a field of land mines, through all the bars & clubs totally bumping at 12am. But we were tired tourists, who still had lots to see in Lisbon before we left 17 hours later. I am sure it was a disappointment to our concierge, but we headed straight back to the hotel and to our room, even skipping the nightcap! Here is a picture of us with the docks behind us:



Good thing we went straight home! Sunday started out in a bad way. I woke up early, not feeling too hot. We tried to go to the Castelo de Sao Jorge and Se Cathedral as planned, but it was cold (apparently the coldest day all winter) and raining and the castle was mostly outside. We went in, saw the potential great views of the cities (supposedly the best) and then left. Ugh. I needed to get back to the hotel and try to feel better before our trip to visit Fatima that afternoon. I am sad that we didn't get a better look at the castle & the Se, but c'est la vie.

The day definitely picked up after that. Our tour guide for Fatima was unbelievably awesome! I wish we could take him everywhere with us! First us, he spoke perfect English (having attended high school in Hartford, CT in the 1970's) and secondly, he was a wealth of knowledge about everything Fatima and Lisbon and Portugal. The ride to Fatima was about 1.5 hours and he talked the whole time - history of Lisbon, bullfights in Lisbon, differences with Spanish bullfights, and the ENTIRE story of Fatima. For those of you who are not familiar with the significance of this little place, here it is a short version of the story he shared with us.

In 1917, 3 shepherd children (a 10 year girl Lucia and her cousins, 9 year old Francisco and 9 year old Jacinta) claimed that the Virgin Mary appeared to them. It started on May 13 and happened every month, on the 13th, for 6 months. The children asked her to do something to prove to everyone else that she was really appearing to them (they had been getting scolded, beaten and even jailed for what their parents and the church authorities saw as heresy). She told them that she could not, but that God would. So on Oct. 13, 50,000 people gathered at the site, in the rain. This was a tiny village in the poorest region in Portugal (coldest weather and full of rocks, instead of rich soil) so people came from all over to investigate the claims. Apparently it was a slow point in the war, so lots of reporters (including reporters from the NYT) hopped on the train to see what all the fuss was about. I won't go in to full detail, but apparently in the blink of an eye, the sun came out and everyone was instantly dry (after having been soaked to the bone for over an hour). Only the children could see Mary and hear her, but everyone else saw the sun "dance around" for close to 17 minutes (I think). And then, all of the sudden it was over, just as soon as it began.

Basically, everyone present believed after that. They built a small, small chapel that only fits 3 people on the exact location where she appeared (the Virgin Mary said she did not want a big church to be built. She wanted the money to be spent on the poor.). Of course, this became a deeply sacred place and pilgrimage site and more facilities were needed to accommodate all the visitors. Eventually they built an altar in front of the small chapel, with pews all around it and a roof with 2 walls. That opens up into a HUGE area, big enough for a million people. On either side of that big area is a church - the older one is very ornate. That is where the 3 children are buried. The other one is less than a year old and is quite austere, due to the Virgin's instance not to build anything there. It was quite an experience to say the least. It was a rainy, cold sunday and you could not find a parking spot! There were people, of all backgrounds, ethnicities, and faiths. Besides viewing the site, which was amazing, our tour guide took us to the house of Francisco and Jacinta (they both died only a couple years after the apparitions) which has been preserved exactly from when they lived in it. An elderly man who is their nephew, now runs the house/mini museum. He was there and we got to meet him. All we could say was "obrigado" (thank you), but still, it was really special.

Phew! This is finally the end! Here are a couple other pictures from Lisbon.

In the Rossio square:



The Praca do Comercio: