Portugal has been near the top of our list to visit for some time and it didn't disappoint. While we only made it to Lisbon and Sintra, we will definitely be back at some point to visit some smaller towns and beaches.
While yes, there are many San Francisco like elements, it reminded me more of a cross between Miami and New Orleans from an architecture perspective. While many of the buildings are abandoned they still have a ton of charm and the tiles and iron work was really beautiful. I also loved these Jacaranda trees all over the city with their beautiful purple flowers. The food was delicious and there was just enough to do to fill three days with a day trip to Sintra (could have done a day trip to the beaches but the weather was pretty so so) without exhausting ourselves.
We stayed at the Sofitel Lisbon. I am not generally a huge fan of the chain hotels, the HP employee discount was good and it ended up being a nice hotel in a great location - I would recommend it. Other highlights should you find yourself in Lisbon include a visit to the Confeitaria de Belem in Belem for 'pasteis da nata' which are little custard tarts. They sell them all over, but this place is suppose to have the best - supposedly they are cranking out up to 20K a day of these on a weekend day. We decided earn our treat buy running the 4ish miles to their location west of down town, but took the lightrail back which was easy enough.
We stayed at the Sofitel Lisbon. I am not generally a huge fan of the chain hotels, the HP employee discount was good and it ended up being a nice hotel in a great location - I would recommend it. Other highlights should you find yourself in Lisbon include a visit to the Confeitaria de Belem in Belem for 'pasteis da nata' which are little custard tarts. They sell them all over, but this place is suppose to have the best - supposedly they are cranking out up to 20K a day of these on a weekend day. We decided earn our treat buy running the 4ish miles to their location west of down town, but took the lightrail back which was easy enough.
Another must try is the gambas a bras which is a paella-like dish but rather than rice, it's made with julienned crispy potatoes with onion, egg and shrimp. We had this twice a restaurant called Ribadouro (just up the hill one block from the hotel) which was delicious. Other restaurants we tried included Luca which had a good atmosphere, but the food was so so - probably better for a drink instead of dinner. We also ate at the Royale Cafe (perfect for breakfast or a quick lunch in a cool atmosphere. We also had our first Brazilian food in Lisbon at a cute spot called Comida de Santo with great food and service.
Our day trip to Sintra was also fun. We took a train to out to this UNESCO world heritage site and a bus to two different palaces - Palacio National and probably my favorite castle in Europe thus far, Palacio de Pena. de Palacio Pena has really different architecture then most castles with gargoyles and this very cool Triton.
The only sort of creepy part of Lisbon is the drug scene. The first night we were there Greg was propositioned quite openly nearly ten times. First they would try to interest them with hash and when he declined that they would offer up cocaine. We wondered if he is just so skinny they figured he was an addict or what as we didn't really see anyone else getting quite the same level of attention. Once he said no to both offers, they left us alone so we never really felt scared, just thought it was odd.
It was another great trip and we will be back sometime in the future.
The only sort of creepy part of Lisbon is the drug scene. The first night we were there Greg was propositioned quite openly nearly ten times. First they would try to interest them with hash and when he declined that they would offer up cocaine. We wondered if he is just so skinny they figured he was an addict or what as we didn't really see anyone else getting quite the same level of attention. Once he said no to both offers, they left us alone so we never really felt scared, just thought it was odd.
It was another great trip and we will be back sometime in the future.
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