May 13, 2011
Day 1 Lisbon
Our journey to Portugal from Phoenix started with a ride to the airport with dear friends at 8:30 am on Tuesday May 10. Trips are always better when you have a send-off from people you love. From there we had a 4 hour flight to Philly, a 2 hour layover, then a 7 hour flight to Lisbon. We grabbed a taxi and arrived to the Lx Boutique Hotel by 9 am Wednesday. Lisbon is 8 hours ahead, so door to door the trip took 12 hours. The hotel has a tiny lobby, but it is in a great location. The staff stored our luggage so John and I could begin wandering right away. This day was a “bonus” day in Lisbon, a way to get our bearings before our 7:30 am flight to Madeira on Thursday. We will be coming back to do Lisbon “properly” after our stay and race in Madeira.
We started by walking down to the square for a look at the government center and the river. Sky, who knew you could be so blue? What a lovely contrast between the pastel colored buildings. There is a lot of construction in Lisbon, and the city prides itself on the combination of old and new.
From there we took a walking tour through the area known as the Alfama. We saw several beautiful churches, some antique stores, and more beautiful pastel buildings with orange tile roofs as far as the eye could see.
We walked until around noon, when we stopped for a Plate do Dia back at the square.
After a well earned nap at the hotel, that we struggled to end since we could have slept for just about forever, we took off up the steep hill to the Barrio Alto to scout a few dinner spots. While there, we ran across a lovely wine bar and decided we must have a taste.
Although we had planned to eat dinner at a spot in Barrio Alto, we ended up going to a quiet, newer restaurant in nearby Chiado called Clara Chiado that John read about on Trip Advisor. We chose it because we must be getting old. The hawkers in Barrio Alto were too much for me. I don’t want to eat at a place where someone stands at the door and yells at me to come in.
This little restaurant turned out to be just the spot. They had a wall of shelves stocked with wine all with price tags, and you get to “shop” for your bottle. We chose a white from the Douro Valley.
Dinner was lovely. What did we eat? Well, Pulpo of course. My favorite.
After a wandering walk back to the hotel, we enjoyed a few minutes of Internet surfing before falling straight to sleep. Their wifi is heavenly.
