Friday, July 15, 2022

Favorite parts of Lisbon

It's our first visit to Lisbon. Well, mine and for jaime since 28 years ago.

We stayed four nights and had a nice overview of the city. It's very hilly. Glad our friend told us about this so we brought tennis shoes and low heels with rubber soles so we can walk around all the pebbles side walks. 15k+ steps a day.

Our favorite restaurants were
- A Nossa casa - must email to get reservation in advance. Husband wife owner with great attention to service and food details. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189158-d15087513-r847929252-A_Nossa_Casa-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html 
- Peixola - bar based seating only very social and met a young couple from Switzerland.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189158-d10041616-r847409133-Peixola-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html.
- Lost n for lunch. Our friends Clifton and Amber took us there. Beautiful view of Lisbon and had a nice lunch. Hubby loved his shrimp coconut stew dish.
- restaurant just by our hotel forgot the name but had fresh grilled sardines and sea bream
So good with some wine for 30 euro only

Hotel - stayed in Bairro alto - heart of bars and restaurants at a place called Raw Culture Arts and Lofts. My review here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189158-d13320496-r848259659-Raw_Culture_Art_Lofts_Bairro_Alto-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html 700 sq ft with king bed and kitchen and 3 half baths. Shower was strong. Bed was so comfy and fresh free breakfast made to order daily. It was 5 stars all around. Only downside was Uber cannot go into the blocked alley where it resides. Need to walk like 100 ft to get Uber or Bolt.

Tours - did two tours
- 3 hr tuk tuk private tour that covered all the spots including Belem 
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189158-d4572888-r847495726-Eco_Tuk_Tours_Lisboa-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html?m=19905
- sunset cruise which was nice and relaxing with unlimited wine. A little on the boring side but was very pretty.
 https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189158-d12639157-r848311529-Lisbon_Traditional_Boats_Sunset_Cruise-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html

We only went into two churches - church of markets near us and church of camos which is in ruins from 1755 big earthquake and tsunami

Portuguese custard tart is everywhere. We loved the one at the original pastry shop in Belem. Short line and ate them while they were warm. Who knew the Chinese egg tart is actually originated from Portugal. I think I like the Portuguese one better as the crust is more filo and airy.

The best bar we went to was the Park bar that is on top of a parking garage with gorgeous view of the city. The couple we met from Peixola told us about it and we went with them to hang out. Would have never found it otherwise. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189158-d14772349-r848316788-Park_Bar-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html

What we didn't like as much
- timeout market. Too hot and crowded as Lisbon was 100 degrees each day
- silk club - pretentious and overpriced. View was great but the atmosphere was sterile and uppity
- cantinho do avillez restuarant. Rated well and food was good but service and atmosphere were amiss and a bit overpriced. Would not recommend. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189158-d2343231-r847727352-Cantinho_do_Avillez_Chiado-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html?m=19905

I also wandered around for a few hours shopping while Jaime took a nap. Was fun just to walk around. Lisbon is beautiful and we barely just started exploring it in our 5 day stay.

Everything is a bit cheaper than San Francisco even in the most popular part of town and food is delicious. We will be back to Lisbon for another day on our way back to the us on July 28. Will do a bit more exploring.

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