A Travel Blog
After an overnight flight on Aer Lingus (good experience, would fly again) we arrived very early in the pre-dawn drizzle of Dublin. Since we’re just on a short layover, for minimum hassle we stayed at the shiny new Holiday Inn Express on O’Connell Street, located on the north side of the River Liffey. Free breakfasts and Wi-Fi are nice touches, and we can walk everywhere.
Before our Lisbon memories fade, we wanted to document some of the best restaurants, cafés and bars we visited. Over our three weeks we had great luck finding tasty food, with only one or two of the “meh” experiences that can happen anywhere. In no particular order, these are some places we’d recommend to others.
Throughout our visit to Lisbon we’ve enjoyed many panoramic views of the Rio Tejo, which inevitably include the Ponte 25 de Abril bridge that connects Lisbon to the opposite shore of the river and its towering statue of Christ, the Cristo Rei.
This opposite shore is in fact another city: Almada. And the closest part of Alamada to Lisbon is Cacilhas, a former fishing and shipbuilding district.
Last weekend we had dinner at The Food Temple, a vegan restaurant just around the corner from our rented house in Mouraria. Reservations were a must!
It turns out that Alice, the founder of The Food Temple, was born in Vancouver.
North of the Rossio train station along the beautiful tree-lined Avenida da Liberdade there’s a small funicular that connects to the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara on the hill above.
There are a number of such funiculars around Lisbon, but many are currently closed or under repair. This one was originally built in 1885 and electrified in 1914.
As we spend our last week in Lisbon, it’s time to close the gaps on a few areas we feel we haven’t adequately explored. One of those is Bairro Alto, so we took a meandering wander from the top of the Acensor da Bica along Rua da Rosa.
The area definitely has character, with lots of little bars and restaurants, but around noon on Easter Sunday there was still a “morning after” vibe going on.
Today we had a quick (by Portuguese standards) lunch at a little neighbourhood restaurant 10 minutes from our house.
Restaurante Santo André is perched on a triangular intersection on a steep hill, and much of its square footage consists of a roofless patio. Tram 12 passes by on one side, and the hill is so steep that looking through the patio window we could see the roof of each tram rising into view before the rest of the vehicle became visible.
We took the tram to try the original Pastéis de Belém at the Antiga Confeitaria that has been making them since 1837. These tarts are called Pastéis de Nata elsewhere in the Lisbon, and they are available almost everywhere. But these are the originals made with a secret recipe.
They are truly the best Portuguese custard tarts I’ve ever had. Crispy crunchy flaky crust filled with light creamy custard.
On our first day here we picked up some basics for the house so we could have breakfast the next day. At the local Pingo Doce grocery store we were immediately struck by the numerous pumpkin-related products, including Abóbora com Noz (Pumpkin Jam with Walnuts).
Josie did this little watercolor of the jar we bought, which we’ve been enjoying most mornings ever since.
One of my more vivid memories of my short visit to Lisbon in 2003 was the Convento do Carmo, a convent and church constructed in the late 1390’s and then destroyed in the earthquake of 1755.
The arches of the convent can be glimpsed from the viewing platform of the nearby Elevador de Santa Justa.
One benefit of an incredibly hilly city is that the tops of those hills provide great views. In Lisbon they call these viewpoints miradouros, and every person and guidebook recommends a different one.
But the Miradouro da Graça seems to be popular with everyone. We climbed up on Monday evening, a little before sunset, hoping for perfect views. Although things were a little hazier than we expected given the blinding sunshine of the day, we were not disappointed.
One last blast of freezing rain and flurries blew through Toronto just before our plane was scheduled to take off. We felt lucky to be delayed by only one hour, which we spent watching the robotic arms of the de-icing machines spray down our plane with a fluorescent green liquid.
After a stop in Montreal and six more neck-wrenching hours trying to doze on the plane, we arrived in Lisbon around 7 in the morning. Even from high above, the famous “light of Lisbon” was already evident, glowing on the orange rooftops of the buildings we flew over.
