Portugal feels quite different from Croatia. Of course Lisbon is a larger city than any I visited in Croatia so that could be part of it. (It’s about half million in the city, 3M including the city environs, and Split, which is Croatia’s second largest city, was under 200K. Though frankly, we only spent our city time in the pretty small old town area so it felt considerably smaller.)

I’ve been in a lot of towns lately with pedestrian only zones so being back on crowded streets with cars and trucks (and very curvy and hilly streets to boot) is a change.

Yesterday morning I watched from the balcony as a trash truck backed up down the street below me and I gasped out loud because I was sure it was going to hit the parked mini van. And then it had to get around the side mirror. Amazingly it made it past without a scratch.

But back to our travels. We took a long tram ride (the famous #28) that goes around the city. It took us two hours! But it was on and off raining so we thought it a good way to acquaint ourselves with the city while saving our tired feet and wet heads. And the tram also almost hit a parked car. Actually she was illegally parked and too close to the tracks. We had to sit for several minutes while the driver laid on the horn until she came out to move her car.

Prior to the tram we stopped in an open market (they seem to be everywhere) that had amazing Serrano ham and cheeses — as well as grilled sausages/bacon, sangrias and craft beers. I was quite happy despite the rain!! It was oh so delicious. I’m definitely going back.

Anyway we went around a few of the neighborhoods in Lisbon. We’re staying in the Rossio-Chiado-Baixa area (depending on which map I look at). It’s close to most things we want to see and near public transportation. Lots of stairs and narrow streets. And restaurants. This is the Rossio train station.

Alfama is where we tried to watch a bit of sunset (Portas do Sol is a famous sunset spot). We couldn’t see the sun setting but it did cast beautiful light on the neighborhood. Afterward we wandered around, had dinner, and listened to fado. Alfama is famous for fado in Lisbon. Unbeknownst to us, it’s melancholic music — plaintive sounding and kind of whiny! I didn’t love it though I liked watching the guitar playing (one guitar was a standard one but the other looked rounded and unusual so I just looked it up and it’s called, unsurprisingly, a Portuguese guitar. There are different shapes but this was the classic Lisbon shape). I didn’t take a photo cause I thought it might seem rude. Alfama reminded me of my old Trastevere neighborhood in Rome — I think the regular people used to live there so it’s a very old neighborhood with narrow, winding streets. I think folks still live there but it also has a lot of restaurants and clubs and is a go-to night spot.

Yesterday we headed out to the Belém area of Lisbon. It’s quite west of the city center and involved a series of mistakes with public transportation but we made it in under an hour and it was worthwhile. The three big things to do there are to visit the Torre de Belém, the St Jerome monastery (mosteiro dos Jerónimos), and the pasteis de Belém. After those Dubrovnik city walls, the tower wasn’t amazing but it was cool. I was very impressed that the sentry huts has little built-in seats — at two levels! And it was moorish according to my online guides. They actually kept a drawbridge as well so that was cool. The monastery on the other hand was totally beautiful. Apparently it was built by King Emanuel I as a mausoleum for himself and his family. Must be nice to be king! He clearly spared no expense. The cloisters were peaceful and I swear every column and archway had a different face or animal on it, each of which I’m sure have a distinct significance…We also walked by the Padrao dos Descobrimentos — but chose not to go up (even though there’s an elevator!) because we thought the tower would offer similar views. It’s a monument to Portuguese discoveries/discoverers. They’ve clearly turned the area into a tourist center — there’s a whole complex of museums for art, archeology, and culture, as well as gardens (including a separate botanical one) and a palace with more gardens and buildings to tour.

But we were pretty tired so instead stopped for a great cappuccino and several pastries at Pasteis de Belém. It’s famous for their pasteis de nata, an egg custard pastry supposedly invented by nuns in a local convent as a way to use up leftover egg yolks since they needed egg whites for other purposes. It was very tasty and still warm from the oven. We brought home a six-pack! Yum.

I meant to post this this morning but Stephanie left in the am and we had a rainy touring day which made me very sleepy! So I’ll post this now and pick up where I left off tomorrow or Monday. Good night!