Day 2 Lisbon

The day before we only got a few hours sleep on the plane so last night we both slept very well. Neither of us woke up until after eight o'clock, which for us is unheard of. So after a quick European breakfast (bread, cheese, ham, yogurt, and coffee) we headed off to the train station to catch a 40 minute train ride to the town of Sintra to see the Park and Palace of Pena which was the summer home of several Portugal kings and queens from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. We spent several hours with other sightseers (ugh!) viewing the beautiful park and palace of royalty. One thing for sure, it's great to be king (maybe greater to be queen). If one was to know my understanding of history, then they would see why I thought the coolest thing was the white hydrangea (picture) I saw on the walk up to the Palace--what an idiot I am. After climbing a jillion steps, we took the bus back down to the town of Sintra and had a rather large lunch at the Sintra Central Hotel outdoor cafe. A pitcher of white sangria with apples, limes, oranges, and a cinnamon stick was a real hit with both of us. Sylvia had a veal stew, and I pigged out on the pork liver, country ham, and potato stew. We were both more than satisfied. It was hard to stay awake for the train ride back to Lisbon.

After spending a couple of hours back at the hotel, we headed back up to the Bairro Alto area and within twenty minutes we we lost--and we even had a map. There's no such thing as a straight street, or even a street with the same name for more than a few blocks. We somehow recovered (after some rather lively discussion), and found a tiny charming little cafe for dinner. The place had seven tables and three of them were two-tops. The staff, who did not speak English, were extremely nice. We had an omelet (Sylvia) and roasted cuttlefish (me of course) all complemented with the usual wine, cheese, wine, dessert, wine, and espresso. After dinner we continued our lively discussion as we took the rather lengthy walk back to our hotel. We did agree that Lisbon is a very late night city. The restaurants in the non tourist areas do not even open until eight o'clock and even then, they're empty until nine. Unfortunately late to us is tenish, so we called it a night at elevenish.