{"id":4790,"date":"2023-06-17T13:11:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-17T13:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/?p=4790"},"modified":"2023-06-16T13:12:04","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T13:12:04","slug":"lovely-lively-lisbon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/?p=4790","title":{"rendered":"Lovely, Lively Lisbon"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a terrific ten days in northern Portugal with GrapeHops, a wine-food-and-fun-focused group, I took a train south to Lisbon. \u00a0An elegant, beautiful city, Lisbon is also (relatively) inexpensive and packed with friendly people, many of whom speak English. (My Portuguese consists of \u2018obregado,\u201d i.e., thank you, polite but not especially helpful in conversation.)<\/p>\n

As I had only three-plus days, I began with a free walking tour led by Sara, an exuberant Guru guide, who led us climbing a zillion steps up to the Alfama area.\"\"<\/p>\n

At the top there is a great view of the harbor with one or two humongous cruise ships in port. Along the way we stopped to sample ginjinha, a local drink served in tiny cups (or in a chocolate cup should you be inclined.) Our vendor was one of the local women who (reportedly) brews her own version which tastes a bit like cherry cough medicine.<\/p>\n

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Ginginger seller in Alfama<\/p><\/div>\n

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My first night’s dinner was at Monte Mar Lisboa, right on the Tagus River, with boats sailing past. It\u2019s a lovely, albeit full of Americans, seafood restaurant with excellent service and was a perfect night to eat outdoors. I Ubered there and took the metro back to my adorable hotel, Nicola Rossio, very close to the metro stop.<\/p>\n

The Museu Nacional Do Azulejo (Tile Museum) is housed in a convent founded in 1509. The building is wonderful and the history of tile in Portugal from the late 15th<\/sup> century to now is fascinating. If you go to Lisbon don\u2019t skip this.\"\"<\/p>\n

The famed Gulbenkian Museum is also excellent but, if you have to choose,\u00a0 I\u2019d go for the tiles\u2014more unusual and relevant to the area. But I had my cake and ate it, as in visiting both.<\/p>\n

I squeezed in a day trip to Sintra via train, When I arrived I somehow got \u2018adopted\u2019 by a delightful family with whom I shared a driver up to the Pena Castle. They elected to wait a longish while for tickets to walk around the upper level outside; I bailed and went off to the Moorish Castle with its ancient food storage silos, battlements, towers and\u2014thank heaven, a caf\u00e9 as it was about three PM and starvation was setting in. At the Castle I reunited with my \u2018family\u2019 who were going on to\u00a0 another attraction.\u00a0 Instead, our\u00a0 driver dropped me in town where I strolled around,\u00a0 admired the winding, cobblestoned streets, ate a superb pastry \"\"and caught a train back to Lisbon.<\/p>\n

During my time with GrapeHops, in Guimares, a medieval city in the north, one of the items served (among many other) at lunch was Huevos Rotos\u00a0<\/em> or “broken eggs.\u201d It\u2019s delicious and why not? Eggs, superior Iberian ham, what we would call excellent homemade potato chips \u2026 what\u2019s not to like? I don\u2019t recall the specific wine (or wines) that we drank with this lunch but am sure they were plentiful, appropriate and delicious.<\/p>\n

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Huevos Roto<\/strong>s (adapted for American palates, sorry purists.)<\/p>\n

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This looks like it serves about 4 depending on what else you eat with it.<\/p>\n