Category Archives: Portugal

These ones are always hard to write. On one hand, we hate having our trip be over but on the other hand, we know it’s time to go home. Today was spent covering all the “must dos” that we haven’t done yet. Another church (really?), an old monestary, port tasting and street art. A full day all around.

Even though we have seen more gothic and baroque houses of worship this week than should be allowed by law, we have been repeatedly informed by travel writers, blogs and the like that the Porto Cathedral was a “must see”. Well we must seen it. And unfortunately, it looks a lot like the other churches we’ve seen but with more blue and white tiles. And some great views. We walked across the top level of the Luis I bridge – which Frank’s vertigo was not happy with – to get to the Monastery of Serra do Pilar on the Villa Nova de Gaia side of the river. It has also served as a military base at some point as well. It’s not actually open but there are great views here as well.

We opted for an early luch since we were scheduled to do a port tasting tour at 2.30 which is when we had usually been eating. Frank had another shot of the Francesinha sandwich – but this time with an egg on it. He rated this version much better. I was able to taste the local codfish cakes (gluten free!) and we accidentally drank a litre of sangria. Then we went port tasting!

It was a small tour of 12 people from the Netherlands, Austin Texas, Montreal, and us. The guide was fantastic! He took us to 3 wineries – well, the porto tasting houses for the wineries in the Douro valley – and we got to taste 7 different ports. From the largest producer we tried one white, a 10 year old tawny and a ruby. A medium producer showcased a rose and the smallest producer poured an oaked white, another tawny, and another ruby. We learned so much about how things are produced, the history of the first designated agricultural region for port, and that people drink port and tonic! Who knew?

After all that booze, it was time to walk. So we covered many steps to see some of the street art of Porto.

An early dinner – with our last bottle of vinho verde – and an early bed completed our day. The 4:45 AM alarm to get us to the airport proved to be quite the challenge but we made it home safely. Thanks for following along!

Today’s data:

• Steps: 22,233 (or 10.5 miles)
• Floors: 33
• Ounces of wine consumed: 60 (!)

Saúde Portugal – it has been fabulous!

It’s a Sunday in a very catholic country so we have few expectations of finding a lot of fun things to do. So it’s time to get in the car and explore the countryside! Our tour guide yesterday mentioned a town just north that is considered the birthplace of Portgual because it’s where the first king of Portgual was born. So off to Guimarães we go!

The day started cool and cloudy which was a nice change from the relentless sun and heat. We arrived in town to see every street decorated with lights preparing for the upcoming city festival. I’d LOVE to see this place lit up. The town square is broad and open and was full of older folks sitting chatting. There wasn’t an outside table at a cafe to be found. We settled for one inside and had a quick coffee while we got our bearings. Then it was time to explore.

First the Palace of the Dukes of Bragança and the neigboring castle. We were quite impressed with the 15th century palace until we realised that it was mostly rebuilt in the 1950s so it wasn’t *really* that well preserved. Coming from a place with so many castles and palaces in various states of ruin or preservation may have made us a bit jaded. But we explored nonetheless. I did like the very stark church where Afonso Henriques, who went on to be the first king of Portugal was baptised in the 12th century.

Meanwhile, as we wandered around town we got an email that our sunset cruise had been cancelled due to problems with the boat. Yes, the cruise we showed up for a day early was not to be so we’d need to find another way to experience the Douro river. After our short break in the hills north of Porto, the sun had come out and we headed back to Porto. Lunch at a cafe in the Ribeira where Frank tried the local “delicacy” – Francesinha. You can google the official description but here’s mine: two slices of Wonderbread with a sliced hot dog, sausage and roast beef in between. Layer on some sliced cheese and cover the whole thing with some tomato soup and viola! I was happed with some grilled chicken to go with my white sangria, thank you very much.

Thus fully fed, we wandered the river front to find a replacement boat trip for our cancelled cruise. There are several tour companies that offer a “6 bridges” tour of the mouth of the Douro so we chose the last one of the day – 7.30pm – to get as close to sunset as we could. Then it was time for more history stuff. Being a little done with some of the baroque “bloody Jesus” decor of some of the churches we’d seen so far, we opted for the Monument Church Of St Francis – a gothic church in town known as “the gold church” because of the amount of gold filligree used in the decoration. Holy shiny object Batman, this place is over the top! They didn’t allow photographs so I had to steal one from the interweb (Thank you and credit to Romin’ Roman where ever you are). Now I understand why the reformation happened! This place is unbelievable – the picture can’t possibly capture the sheer magnitutde of the ugly Baroque-ness of the interior. I can picture Martin Luther and John Knox taking one look and saying “Seriously? You need all this bling for God? No thank you.”

We had done a fair amount of walking and gotten pretty icky so we opted to return to the flat for a quick shower and change of clothes before our river cruise. We arrived early, as requested, to see that the 7pm boat hadn’t left yet. At 7.15, the tour operator let us know that there was a problem with the boat they were going to use for the 7.30 cruise so they needed to cancel it and could we join the delayed 7pm cruise instead? (What is it with me and boats this trip?) So we did and finally got to see the sights from the river.

We finished up with a fantastic dinner at an Italian restaurant that got rave reviews on my GF app and it did not dissapoint. Some of the best risotto I have ever had! The requisit bottle of vinho verde to accompany it and then it was off to bed.

Data for today:

• Steps: 20,897 (or 9.9 miles)
• Floors: 31
• Kilometers driven: 148
• Downhill change in level that Google considers “mostly flat”: 73 meters!
• Number of stairs required to head back up the “mostly flat” route: 126

As Burns noted, the best laid plans are often not enough. We started today with a long lie and a lovely breakfast of scrambled egg sandwiches. We spent some time developing our plans for the day: street markets! A little Googling showed a list of street markets, many of which only appear on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays and lo an behold, it appears to be the 4th Saturday! So we created a special Google map and set out to see what the day held.

And it held some dissappointments. Either the market folks don’t count Saturdays the same way I do or there is a different idea of what street markets are here but we were sad nonetheless. The Porto Belo market, named for the famous one in London, was a dozen stalls – nothing like it’s namesake. A few other places had similar small gatherings but they yeilded no joy for us. One small bright spot: in our wanderings we came across a completely gluten free coffee shop! We stopped for a coffee and some baked goods but the outside seats were all full and inside the shop was still very warm so there was no relief from the sweatiness. Good chocolate cake though!

So the next plan: see some historical things! We chose the nearest church, the Carmo and Carmelitas churches and went to see some sights. Now I’m generally not picky about how people choose to worship but holy moses – this place was Baroque on steriods! Every nook and cranny was filled with a lifesize sad and bloody Jesus looking down at the congregation. There was an entire corridor filled with crucifixes which is both reverent and creepy. Definitely not my kind of place!

So it was time to head towards the river and spend a little more time in the Rebiera neighborhood – there were a few street market stalls . Then we wandered across the famed Ponte de Dom Luis I bridge to the other side of the Douro river. The scenery (and the breeze!) as you walk across is just lovely. All the port wineries are on this side so there is a lively cafe scene as well. And we found a small market where some cork trinkets were purchased. (Seriously, they will make ANYTHING out of cork here!). Then it was time for lunch at one of said cafes. Frank is back in full fish mode so he opted for the seafood salad. I went for the chicken with mustard sauce – and of course the requisite bottle of vinho verde. Yum!!

Back across the bridge we went but bellies full of food and wine meant that climbing the hills back to up to town was less than appealing so we took the funicular instead. Easiest two minutes to cover 281 meters! We only had a few hours before heading out for our sunset cruise so we decided to hop on one of the ubiquitous tuk tuk tours to see what we could learn about the city. We ended up in a faux model T with Eli who spent the next 90 minutes telling us some history and some folk lore. We learned about how the marriage of Phillippa of Lancaster to King John I of Portugal led to a treaty to give England special rights over the port industry – which is why the most famous ports have English names.

We traveled to the mouth of the Duoro river and off to the seaside areas with the BIG houses. We climbed up and down the streets in the old town, scattering tourists as we went. All in all, a very enjoyable afternoon. Then back to the flat to freshen up and get an uber to the marina for our highly anticipated sunset sailing cruise. We waited at the appointed place and notices that no one else was waiting with us. A quick check of the tickets revealed that I had messed up the date and that our cruise was on SUNDAY night, not SATURDAY night. D’oh! So another uber back to town – grrrr – for dinner and another shot at laying better plans for tomorrow.

Scenes from across Porto:

Data for today:

• Steps: 22,321 (or 10.8 miles)
• Floors: 44
• Amount spent on Uber to not go on a river cruise: €18.90
• Number of different types of vinho verde consumed: 3 🙂

We started the day with the buffet breakfast overlooking what we have learned is the second biggest saltwater pool in Europe – who knew? It was a lovely morning and we were well fed, packed, and ready to go in no time. Destination: Porto, about 3.5 hours to the north. But that is a very boring lenght of time to drive, so we randomly picked a city part way there to stop and have lunch. And thus we discovered Coimbra.

It is a lovely university town famed for it’s baroque library (which we weren’t able to visit) and it’s cathedral (which we were). We started lunch at a little cafe calle Sete which had a great gluten free menu -and even gluten free beer! Frank wandered from his fish fetish and had a suckling pig pie and I managed to find…. vegetables! Not something common on Portuguese menus apparently, I had a plate of sauteed zucchini and other veg along with small potatoes stuffed with local cheese. Yum!!

Then off to discover the cathedral. It was well worth the 2.5 they asked as a donation. Dating back to the 12th century, the cloisters and tilework were beautiful. And the gothic alterpiece is hard to describe. Even the photos don’t do it justice.

We wandered around town a little longer, realized that the entry to the baroque library was on the hour and that we would be late checking in if we stayed for the next tour so off we went to continue our drive north.

The AirBnB we had rented was a tad tricky to find but we managed and our gracious host showed us all the secrets to a comfy stay. The location is absolutely perfect – great views of the some of the bridges and just minutes to the center of town. We made a stop at the fanciest grocery store I’ve been in since Wegmans to pick up the breakfast staples for the rest of the stay. Great GF options but the place still smelled funny due to the slabs of the ubiquitous salt cod that the Portuguese seem to eat daily.

And then we just walked all over the city. Into the crowded shopping district – where we found the blue tiles of the Chapel of Santa Caterina, one of 5 blue tiled churches in the city. Then down to the even more crowded Ribeira area where we sat with some sangria and watched the people go by. Then we wandered to find some dinner and wound up at an excellent Italian restaurant where I had crazy good linguine carbonara and Frank had pizza diavolo – thus going 0/2 for fish dishes today.

A wander back to our flat brought us on the giant screen set up in a local square where they were having a Grease sing along – showing the movie with Portugues subtitles and encouraging everyone to sing by having the lyrics of the movie appear on screen in VERY LARGE bubble letters. It was soooo much fun.

Data for today:

• Steps: 18,896 (or about 9.1 miles)
• Flights: 31 floors
• Distance driven: 353km
• Glasses of vinho verde consumed today: 0 (it was a red wine day but still1!

Today we bid a fond farewell to Lisbon and start the trek up the coast to Porto. Even though it’s just over 3 hours to drive, we decided to stop overnight in Sintra for a change of pace. We tidied up the flat (highly recommended AirBnb BTW) and headed to the National Palace of Sintra – not to be confused with one of the other 4 (!) palaces there. We originally thought we would head for Pena Palace – the bright yellow one we could see from the plane as we landed – but a little bit of research revealed that it is a relatively new palace (circa 1854) and while spectacular on the outside (UNESCO site blah blah), it doesn’t have the history that the National Palace does – dating back to the 12th century.

So off we went. Again, Google maps provided less than stellar directions but this time it was due to police closing the road but we managed to park on the side of a steep street and hike the 1KM to the palace. And we were not disappointed. The exhibits are extremely well laid out and the flow of the place makes a visit very easy. The history, decorations, and architecture are all amazing.

We wandered around the town for a bit and tried to enjoy a cappuccino in the town square but the crowds were becoming increasingly large and annoying so back to the trusty Toyota to get to tonights accommodations – at the beach!

I would not say we are beachy people. We love the seaside and do spend a fair amount of time in beach towns and wandering up and down the sand. But we are not very good at staying at the beach. Even when we do a beach-focused holiday, we need other distractions because just sitting on the sand in the sun for hours on end is not our vibe. (Note: with a good book, I could manage just fine. Frank however…. ) That said, a little time by the seaside is good for my soul so one night in a swanky beach hotel is just the ticket. We arrived at Praia Grande just around lunchtime. Our room wasn’t quite ready yet so we wandered the short secluded beach to find somewhere to eat. At the exact opposite end of the beach, we found a lovely place where our server spoke little English – nor did any of ther other diners. Nevertheless, we managed to enjoy seafood risotto (Frank is back on track!) and a lovely goat cheese salad, all accompanied by sparkling sangria. We watched the waves crash on the sand – apparently this is a surfing beach – and began an afternoon of doing nothing.

And that’s what we spend the day doing: nothing. Once we got checked in to our room, we hit the unbelievable pool – much warmer than the waters of the Atlantic even though that’s where the salt water came from. We swam and sat in the sun, watching the surf occaisionally crash up over the wall. Then we showered and headed to the hotel restaurant for dinner. The food was delicious and the view of the sunset was outstanding. All in all, it was a great day of doing (nearly) nothing.

Data for today:

• Steps: 11,582 (or 5.4 miles)
• Flights: 28
• Dips in the pool: 6
• Pages read in current book: 125

As our last day in Lisbon, we planned to do all the tourist things that most people probably start with – and a few that I suspect no one else does. Another yummy breakfast of fried egg sandwiches on the balcony and we were ready to tackle the day. And it started with a visit to Castelo de São Jorge – the castle of St George. We had walked past this imposing ediface several times but the queue for tickets was insane. So we bought ours online before we left the flat and breezed right in.

We’ve been to many castles before but this was the first one with such pronounced crenellations. It really looks like what a castle looks like in cartoons and children’s books. And the view of the city is outstanding. Unlike many of the castles we have at home, it didn’t seem to be used as a residence but strictly as a fortification against invasion.

The history itch scratched, we wandered toward the water in search of a gluten free bakery where I could get my own pastel de nata. While I happily helped bake them in our cooking class, actually tasting them was out of the question. Luckily there is a place that makes them gluten free and I happily consumed 2. 🙂 Along the way we found the Banco de Portugal – yes, I still am enough of a central bank nerd to take my picture at each one when I find them.

A lovely wander along the riverside and the decision was made: we would make another attempt at being “typical tourists” and board the hop on/hop off bus. We knew there were many parts of the city we would never find on foot – and we had already ruled out driving in town! – so off we went to allow someone else to drive for us while we listened to some commentary to learn more about the city around us. One route happened to stop quite close to our flat so we hopped off to drop things off and have lunch at another creperie nearby that makes buckwheat crepes. Frank continued with his fish-at-every-meal-but-breakfast pattern and I opted for one with ham, two kinds of cheese, potatoes and creme. Yummmy.

Then we hopped back on the tourbus and spent the rest of the incredibly warm afternoon seeing lots of sights around town and in Belem. Then another walk back up the multiple hills to our neighborhood (which funnily enough Google maps describes as “mostly flat”!!!) to a lovely bistro with no English menu or menu with photographs of the food. In fact, there wasn’t really a menu but a list of dishes listed on a trash can lid. Our adorably camp waiter – think Serge in “Beverly Hills Cop” – explained that the restaurant was grandma’s house and grandma doesn’t speak English so there isn’t an English menu. But he was happy to translate and another lovely meal was enjoyed. I had a different cod dish than what we cooked (obviously ours was better!) and Frank was disappointed to learn that they were out of stuffed squid. The other fish options weren’t as appealing as the goat option so he broke his seafood quest to have a goat dish that he described as “insane.” Then it was back to the flat to pack and prepare for new adventures.

Data for today:

• Steps: 21, 630 (or approx. 10.4 miles)
• Flights climbed: 55
• Number of Tuk Tuk tours to pass us in a 15 minute span: 28
• Number of adorable Portuguese dogs I wanted to steal: 6

Today we thought we had a great plan: get out of the city and see some other parts of Portugal. Specifically head to Nazaré on the coast for some seafood and cooler temps then stop at the walled city of Óbidos for some history stuff before returning to Lisbon for our Portuguese cooking class. However, reality doesn’t always respect one’s planning.

First we slept late. Okay, until 8.30 but still that is very late for us even on holiday. We had breakfast, did a load of laundry, and finally got out of the flat about 10.30. It was a 121 km through a very dry landscape (reminded me of southern California actually). Frank had way too much fun playing with the Assistive Cruise Control in our rental Corrolla, testing how long he could take his hands off the wheel and let the car drive on it’s own. (Answer: 15 seconds before the Toyota “yelled” at him. )

Unfortunately the late start meant that it was after noon when we arrived in Nazaré. It is a lovely beach town with an amazing expanse of sand and a funicular that goes up to the old town on the top of a cliff – which of course was out of order. So we wandered around town and found a little back street cafe for lunch where Frank continued his seafood quest with a shrimp and squid skewer. I opted for the grilled sea bass and we shared a fruity sangria. Of course, “shared” has many meanings and since Frank was driving it meant that he had a glass and I had the rest. Ooops.

Fully sated we headed back south to see some medieval sights. Because the cruise ships in port in Lisbon today had day tours to Óbidos, we wanted to let those crowds disperse and head back to the city before we arrived. Of course, that implies that we would actually arrive and be able to explore the city. And that didn’t happen. One of the downfalls of our reliance on technology is that when Google maps gets it wrong, we often don’t have alternatives to help figure out what is right. And our mapping software got this spectaculalry wrong, trying to get us to go up a road that was closed and offering no alternative routes. So we spent more than half an hour driving up and down tiny wee streets to no avail. We even got stuck behind a Belgian van that was trying to squeeze past a delivery truck but couldn’t make it until the two truck workers bent the stop sign to allow the van through. That was the sign that it was time to throw in the towel and head back to the city. Maybe next time Óbidos.

We were very glad that we didn’t stay any later as there was already awful traffic getting back in the Lisbon at 4.30pm. We eventually made it safely and parked the car with just enough time for a quick stop at the local grocery store for necessities and then it was off to learn to cook ala Porguese! The Uber ride across town took another 45 minutes (I had no idea we were going from Alfama to Belem when I booked this. Next time I’ll check a map and hope it’s right.) But we made it and began a lovely evening with a teacher from Boston and a Hungarian brother and sister. We made Codfish Gomes de Sá, Pork ribs, rice and beans, fried deviled eggs and the famous pastel de nata. Everything was delicious (even though I couldn’t eat some of it) and copious amounts of wine was consumed during the meal. And then we went to a wine bar with our new Hungarian friends and consumed more vinho verde and tried to solve all the world’s problems. It was an unexpected treat to make such a great human connection in just a few hours.

Today’s data:

• Kilometers driven: 262
• Steps: 8,639 (Slackers!)
• Bottles of wine consumed with new cooking friends: 5 (!?!)

Okay it was actually subway, train, bus, and taxi but that isn’t as cool for a title. 🙂

Today we decided to venture a bit out of the downtown to try to avoid some of the crowds from the cruise ship that was docking today. (Tomorrow there will be 2 including a Disney ship with 3500 so we are definitely taking off!) We decided to visit Cascais, a resorty town just west of Lisbon which supposedly has great cliffs with a great name: Boca do Inferno. We thought we’d try being real tourists for a change and get one of those hop on/off tickets and see if we could learn something along the way.

After a lovely breakfast ala Chef Frank (fried egg sandwiches and fresh squeezed OJ!), we walked the 2km to the departure point only to find out that the tour buses only run twice a day to that location: earlier in the AM or later in the PM to accommodate beach goers. Harrumph. That’s not what we would have wanted even if we had gotten there in time. So off we go to the Metro station to buy a Viva Viagem card which covers all public transport including trains to outlying areas for €10. So we took the blue line to the green line to the train station and caught an incredibly crowded train for the 30ish minutes to Cascais.

The scenery out the window to the coast was lovely and so was the town when we arrived. First stop was the cliffs. And they were lovely.

(Snarky aside: weather notwithstanding, we have nicer cliffs outside Aberdeen. Just saying….)

With that accomplished, it was time to begin the visit to the town. Starting with piña coladas in a pineapple. Nothing says Portugal like a piña colada, right? Then lunch at a sidewalk cafe where we *though* we were ordering paella but apparently we ordered Portugues seafood rice. It’s more of a soup than a paella but yummy none the less. A lovely bottle of vinho verde to go with it and we were ready to tackle the rest of the sights. Luckily it is a pretty small resort town so it didn’t take long. We stopped in the obligatory souvenier shops to pick up a token or two. By mid-afternoon it was much more crowded, very hot (29c or 84f) and time to head back to town.

Back to the train and then the metro to the main shopping district where people watching is outstanding! We experienced an all girls school musical performance (well worth the 2.50 donation!) and then had the BEST gelato I have ever had. The dark chocolate was AMAZING! But eventually it was time to head back to the apartment and get sorted for dinner. Now it was time for the bus – No 735 took us up all the hills to our lovely little flat.

We freshened up and got things sorted and then headed out to dinner. I had read about Bomjardin on several gluten free blogs and was really keen to try their piri piri chicken. We decided to walk there (all down hill!) and joined the short queue just before 8pm. The dinner did not dissapoint. The chicken was fantastic and Frank loved his grilled prawns (the fish theme continues!). By the time we left just about 9.30, there was a queue of at least a dozen people. Eating late is definitely a thing.

Now it was time to enjoy something we haven’t done is ages – wander a city at night. We found Avenida de Liberdad which is apparently Lisbon’s version of Rodeo drive. Another fun wander until the dogs were barking so we went to find a bus to take us home (up all the hills)…. and we missed it. And the service gets pretty scarce after 10pm on a Monday so after several other attempts, it was time to call an Uber. Which went to the wrong pick up spot because the app wasn’t quite sure where were were – and neither was I. So that was an epic fail that cost me a whole €4 for a cancellation fee. We were lucky to flag down a taxi and got home in good time.

Today’s data:

• Steps taken: 25,989 (or about 12.6 miles)
• Flights climed: 17 (slackers!)
• Drinks: 2 pairs of 2 – piña colada and vinho verde

Well hello! If you have followed our adventures in the past you already realise that things are different with this trip. No “get ready, we’re hitting the road” warnings. No pictures of passports and G&Ts. It’s because we are woefuly unprepared for this particular adventure. Given the chaos in our lives over the last few weeks (another post for another blog), we set off with plane tickets and AirBnB accommodations settled and that’s about it. No exhastive research. No language practice. We don’t even have the storied “book” that usually accompanies us. So let me tell you how well we managed our first day of making it up as we go in Portugal!

With the car safely ensconsed in an airport hotel carpark in Edinburgh, we were up with the sun (4.30am) and off to the terminal. It was first EasyJet flight – the only thing we did do research for. The UK discount airlines are notorious for their restrictive baggage requirements so we went out of our way to ensure that our cabin bags met the standards – even buying two new cheap wheelie cases that advertised their suitability for the task. And for this flight at least, it seemed not to matter. We had packed light and have everything for a 10 day trip in two small bags and others around us had the most obnoxiously large backpacks and bags. Cie la vie.

Another entertaining thing about EasyJet that I didn’t realize when booking our tickets is that they feel no obligation to seat two people on the same reservation anywhere near each other. Don’t know how I missed that but Frank got his “extra legroom” seat in the 1F – bulkhead row window – while mine was 13E – exit row middle. WTF? When we realised it and tried to change it, there were no other options available on the website. Of course when we boarded, the seat next to Frank was empty (!?!) so I was able to sit with him. But a family of 3 with a little girl wasn’t so lucky and Emily was very sad that mommy was sitting about 8 rows in front of her and daddy. 😦

But we arrived and nearly on time sort of. We picked up our hire car -booked just days before we left because…. unprepared – and drove into the sunshine in Lisbon. Our apartment is one of the few with parking and we met our host in the top story flat in the Alfama area. It’s an adorable little place with everything we could want. We parked, unpacked, showered and went out to explore. First, some real food. We went to a lovely little crepe shop on Rua de Graça called Maria Limão where I had a yummy buckwheat crepe filled with proscuitto, mozzerella, tomotoes, and rocket. Frank began with a salmon crepe which would be a bit of a theme for him today.

Then we walked. And walked. And walked. Up and down hills but it felt like it was mostly up. Around our neighboorhood, past the castle (queues were too long) to the church and tower by the castle – where you pay 5 euros for entrance and get a glass of wine! Down to the harbor to watch a cruise ship pull out. Down to the pink street and Time Out Market. Back up and up and up.

Eventually we knew we had to get some more food and a decent night’s sleep. Unfortunately, Portugal appears to be one of those amazing places where lunch is at 3 and dinner at 8 or 9. Well that certainly wasn’t going to work for us today. So we joined the other tourists eating at the ungodly hour of 7pm. Frank continued his salmon quest and I had steak portuguese – which in this establishment was a something that resembled beef with ham, cheese, and “mustard sauce”. Very interesting but certainly not gourmet. A lovely bottle of vinho verde made things much better. Then a little more walking and back to the flat. Where we did actually try to do some preparation for the next few days. Then we went to bed after sunset for the first time in months. The days here are MUCH shorter than in Aberdeen: sunrise at 6.30 and sunset at 9pm instead of 4.30 and 10pm. We’ll try to make the most of it tomorrow.

Here’s your culture for today. Some of the street art in Lisbon:

And the tiles that are EVERYWHERE. Now we know where Azul gets their ideas.

But what is a travel blog post without data? Here’s some numbers for today:

• Steps taken: 26,532 – approx 13 miles
• Equivalent flights climed: 51
• Number of different drinks tried: 4 (iced coffee with cinnamon and lemon, Portuguese rose, vinho verde, and a dragonfruit cocktail!)