Day 21 Portugal to Home

Just like every trip it’s nice to get home. We even made it back in time to vote and stop at Solomons Pier for a burger and Budweiser. Here’s a summary of our thoughts about Portugal.

We enjoyed the trip, the country and the people. It was a totally different experience from any other European country we had visited. Portugal’s cities are not pretty, they are mostly old, run down, and generally not well maintained. However, they are safe, clean, and comfortable. The countryside is beautiful no matter where you go. What’s unusual to me is that there are no (or very few) villages and towns on the entire west coast of Portugal. I suppose it’s too rugged, but it is spectacular if you can get near it. The Douro valley is one of the prettier places I’ve ever been. The hillsides are full of terraced vineyards that go on endlessly, plus they were created over the centuries by hard manual labor. The south coast of Portugal is pretty in its own right and is a great place to go if you’re a golfer or enjoy resort vacations. If you don’t, then I wouldn’t venture there for more than a few days. The major roads are easy to drive and excellently maintained. The cities and towns have many narrow streets and alleyways but never take you where you want to go. My suggestion would be to drive to the cities and park as soon as you can. Pedestrians have the right of way and will cross the street right in front of you without even looking.

The most pleasant experience was interacting with the people. Nobody, nowhere tries harder to please. They’re outgoing and friendly and really try to make sure you’re happy. They want to talk English and always assume you’re British. They were excited when we said we were from America. They all knew about the upcoming election and wanted Obama to win. They wanted change too. They love Americans.

The dress code in Portugal is very relaxed, and except around office buildings, we hardly ever saw any suits. You can pretty much be comfortable in anything except shorts. There are a lot of English, German, and Dutch tourists (they stick out like sore thumbs) and I’m not sure how well the Portuguese take to them since they’re buying up all the properties. We stuck out like sore thumbs too but I’m not sure why? The Portuguese are not into greetings quite as much as the French and Italians, but a “bon dia” is always a safe bet. “Obrigato (a)” is used constantly.

Portuguese menus are mostly seafood, and nobody cooks fish better than they do. They do serve meats and the pork is especially good but the beef should be avoided. Not that it’s bad, it’s just not what they do, or even want to do. Good lamb and rabbit can be found. Potatoes are everywhere and they assume you’re crazy if you don’t order a salad. Don’t think about eating lunch before one o’clock or dinner before eight. They don’t think about making it before then. The wines are typically lean, but very, very inexpensive and relatively good. The Portuguese do not drink Port wine. That’s for tourists and the English. I was a tourist so I drank it (and loved it). The service is much quicker than that of Italy or France and they aren’t picky about customs. We usually had to pour our own wine. They just opened the bottle, sat it on the table and walked away which was fine with me. Except for the fish the food experience is not nearly as good as Italy or France, but is much better than most other European countries.

Overall Portugal is a great place to visit. It’s inexpensive, the people are wonderful, the countryside is beautiful, and the food and wine excellent. We probably won’t get another opportunity to go back, but I would definitely recommend it to a friend.

Day 20 Lisbon

It’s the last day in Portugal so it’s no holds barred…or something like that. Two weeks ago we were in Belem and it was crowed with tourists so we didn’t get to the famous Casa Pasteis de Belem the birthplace of a delicious custard tart called the pastel de nata. We left early and took a tram over to Belem and since all the museums were closed we had no trouble getting in the Pasteis de Belem…the pastel’s were worth the effort, unbelievably light, crusty, creamy, and wonderful. If you ever get a chance to go, do it. We also revisited the pastry shop that we went to previously and re-tasted a donut that we really liked, and compared to the pastel de nata it was dull. Sufficiently fattened up, we took the tram back to Lisbon and checked out the market. Most of the stalls were closed on Monday so instead we took the ferry over to Cacilhas and spent an hour or so walking the streets. There wasn’t very much going on and unless you want a boat ride I wouldn’t bother. By the time the ferry got us back to Lisbon it was almost lunch time (by now I’m getting tired of eating). We found a nice place for lunch. Sylvia was smart and had a tuna salad. I wasn’t and had cod fish with spinach and mashed sweet potatoes and of course the mandatory bottle of wine…all very good. After walking some ounces off we started back towards the hotel and on the way we decided it wouldn’t be right to have visited Portugal and not have had any Mateus. A wine store solved that problem and we took a bottle back to the hotel. Opening the Mateus brought back some kind of flashback because I immediately had that awful feeling of forty years ago. I think that’s the last Mateus I’ll ever have, it really is bad stuff.

Rather than eating again we took an evening stroll up Av. da Liberdade. It was only eight o’clock so there was a lot of activity as we wandered by all the exclusive shops . We talked for awhile with a crazy bartender at the Hard Rock Cafe. By ten o’clock we had a pork sandwich at an outdoor café, and then finished the evening with a ginjinha. We wanted to leave the hotel by seven the next morning, so we called it an day. The last night in town was relaxing, but it took me three weeks to get to that point. With any luck, tomorrow night we’ll sleep in our own beds.

Day 19 Lisbon

Today was another slow day, so it was fairly late until we got started. We took the bus up to the Oceanarium which is the Portuguese National Aquarium. It’s second only to the Tokyo Aquarium in size and is very well done. It was Sunday and fairly crowded, but they manage the crowd so well that we just seemed to flow through the several levels of displays that surround one massive central tank. It’s well worth doing and takes about an hour, with kids it would probably take two. The Oceanarium is on the site of the 98 World Expo so it’s in a new attractive park-like setting interspersed with modern apartment buildings, arenas, restaurants, and one very large modern looking mall that we decided to checkout . It was probably one of the largest I had ever been in, but what made it great were the stores. They were very upscale and totally different from what we’re used to seeing back home. Of course the food court was definitely worth investigating, which we did. The Metro got us back to our hotel neighborhood much quicker than the bus did, but was not nearly as entertaining. It seemed as though it was not unusual for the passengers and the bus driver to argue. It was amusing.

For dinner we ate at a local tourist restaurant and Sylvia had a shish kabob with several kinds of meat and I had clams and roast pork. Everything was fair but not worth repeating. We ended the evening with an espresso at a Pastelaria (pastry) shop up the street (no pastries though).

Day 18 Palmela to Lisbon (again)

Yes, today we’re back is Lisbon or Lisboa as the Portuguese spell it or Lish-boa as the Portuguese say it. We decided to spend the last three nights here and just enjoy ourselves without trying to see everything. The drive from Palmela to Lisbon only took one hour. We went directly to Hertz and returned the car. We then checked back into the Residencial Florescente. It really wasn’t very difficult driving in Portugal, they have excellent roads. As planned we didn’t do very much the rest of the day, mostly just ambling around town, eating junk food (pastries, chestnuts, etc.), and hanging at an outdoor cafe. Sylvia wasn’t feeling real peppy, so she went back to the room for a rest while I found a spot. For dinner we went to a Tapas place in the Barrios area and had some interesting tapas. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a little Ginjinha. Ginjinha is a favorite Lisbon drink made from ginja berries and grappa and sold in funky old shops throughout town. One of those was enough to call it a night. The picture on the left is of everybody standing just outside the Ginjinha bar drinking a Ginjinha.

The picture of the day is for those people who say “Don’t worry, all the restaurants have menus written in English.” Here’s an English menu from a nearby restaurant. If you were hungry for meat, what would you order? (If you’re having trouble reading the menu, just click on the picture.)