Friday
This weekend we went on a winter city trip to Lisboa with friends. We left Friday night and after a smooth flight with Vueling (happy with their services), we arrived in rainy Lisbon. We ubered our way to our B&B Cheese & Wine suites in the Santos district. Beautiful guesthouse with all different rooms styled with design and taste. It was really pouring outside but we wanted to meet up with our friends for a late dinner. We sheltered in a typical Portuguese restaurant where you cannot move a cm because there are so many tables crammed in a small dining area. After dinner and a rainy walk back, we fell asleep in our comfy bed.
Saturday
After a good breakfast we wanted to take a tour on the famous 28 tram, but as it was
cloudy and raining, we were not the only ones with this bright idea - so we abandoned
that plan for now. Instead we went for lunch at The Time Out Mercado da Ribeira- a food hall with hundreds of
options, but also there not easy to find a spot to sit, because also there we were not the
only ones with this idea. We decided to go to the Oceanàrio de Lisboa, a giant aquarium
with all sorts of fish (also giant moon fish, sharks and such), penguins, sea otters (too funny). The kids enjoyed this to the fullest, but us adults also had a great time, since
watching fish swimming by has such a calming effect. From the Oceanàrio we took the telecabina to another part of the city where we could catch a metro to our dinner place
Cantinho Lusitano - a small restaurant (20 places) with typical Portuguese dishes. Opinions about this one differ, so I do not know whether to recommend it. They play a lot with textures and special cooking methods. We ubered back home, which is soooooo convenient after a big meal and some
vinho verde (Light wine with just a little sparkle).
Sunday
the sun was out (Finally) and we met up at the Belem tower area and walked in the fresh spring air along the waterfront. It is beautiful there. We took the tram and did some
‘conservas’ shopping and walked to the praça do comércio where we found a terrace with a good restaurant Can the Can, and we indulged in pulpo and squid. And then we saw so many cocktails coming by, so we had to try some. We spent a good few hours there on the terrace in the sun. After we made our way to the beautiful Alfama neighbourhood and
explored the little colourful streets and alleys, we had our apero at one of the viewpoints
overlooking the city, Miradouro de Santa Luzia.
We had a wonderful dinner at Cantinho do Avillez, a bit on the expensive side, but very
good nonetheless. Their scallops and avocado starter, so good! We ubered our way back
home, such a fan of this app!
Monday
We started the day with a morning walk through the center and then we tried the
Tram 28 again (this time we still waited 30 minutes) and we had a place to sit! Some
streets are so narrow and the tram is so close to the houses that you can ring the doorbell if you stick your hand out of the window. Olivia had her head of the window most of the
time and she loved it. After this adventure we gave the kids some time at the playground at the beautiful Jardim e basilica da Estrela while we sat on a bench in the sun.
Once back down town we had lunch with sardines and bacalao bruchettas and a bottle of vinho verde.
We took one last look at Lisboa and took the metro to the Airport.
The Positive: Friendly people, lots to see, terraces in the sun, Portuguese is a beautiful
language, affordable uber, pasteis de nata, a cool vibe combined with the traditional is a
good combo, good music everywhere (Love that!), Lisbon has kept his cultural heritage
alive.
The Negative: crowds at everything you do, public transport not very well organized
(we had to let a few buses and trams go because they were so overcrowded), not super
easy to find good food -plan ahead as traditional restaurants are super small.
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