Lisboa Date Weekend

For President's Day Weekend we once again went on a "Date Trip" with Megan and Greg. Our first was to London and the second to Sevilla. This one was to Lisboa, Portugal, a first for all of us. We got an early start to the weekend on Wednesday at "Couple's Yoga". Ashley and Megan had signed all of us up without telling Greg or me. There was some grumbling but we eventually acquiesced. And it was a great time!

This was our second-to-last move of the night. Just the classic "airplane" move that you do with your nephews or grandkids but with your partner. I lifted Ashley first and then she accepted the challenge of lifting me. And she nailed it.

Here I am trying to let go with both hands and assume the "flyer" position. Didn't quite happen fully. Take a moment to appreciate the muscles in Ashley's arms & legs. Yowzer! Other moves included draping yourself over your partner in downward dog, doing a half-handstand with your feet on your partner while in down dog, an acrobatic move called "The Bat" where the partner spins and ends up hanging upside-down with your feet supporting their hips (very difficult), and sitting cross-legged with your hand over your partner's heart while staring them in the eyes for five minutes straight. Funny how uncomfortable that makes you even though it is the person you love most in the world.

Due to a mix-up we had separate flights and Ashley and I got there first. We went out to eat at this excellent restaurant near the hotel and had some fantastic chourico (silly Portuguese spelling), cheese, codfish cakes, and chocolate cake.

I had to take a picture of this guy's man-purse at the restaurant. He was French, if you were wondering!

On the way back to the hotel we had to stop for pictures of the famous tiles.

Many similarities between southern Spain and Portugal. I'm sure that both sides would claim superiority, although the credit mostly goes to the Moors.

The next morning we caught a taxi to St. George's Castle and spent time exploring the neighborhood around that area, Alfama. It was fantastic! An earthquake destroyed most of the city in 1755, but Alfama survived and still has that medieval charm.

The castle. It was Christian, then Moorish, then Christian, then rubble after the earthquake, then rebuilt as a Fascist monument, and now is a tourist attraction. 

This was one of my favorite public spaces in all of Europe. We only found it because we were trying to find a flea market from the castle. There were large, all-caps words on the different facades along with graffiti, crumbling structures, a twisted tree, and an old church. The word behind Ashley was "Kosmos". I would love to go back in time to my youth and visit this place on a Saturday night at midnight. Imagine the party.

Or live in one of those apartments/houses above it. Victoria! Sem Medo! (No Fear!)

Torn street art.

The tree and church.

Some of the graffiti.

"Uniwer Am?" Kosmos and Victoria I get, but this one stumped me. Universe? I showed this picture to a local and asked her the significance of this crazy piazza. She had no idea.

Walking from the castle to the flea market we passed under this arch connected to the Church of Sao Vincente. I think these connect the apartments with the clerical offices.

We forged on and found the flea market, where I bought a really cool carved wood witch doctor mask from Gambon from an African guy. First time I have ever felt that urge in almost four years of visiting European flea markets. This building faced the market square and was for sale. One can dream.

From the flea market we worked our way into the heart of Alfama and found this bakery, Pasteleria Alfama. On the left is Pao do Deus, the bread of God, and on the right are the famous egg yolk tart and coconut pastries. The egg tart was created by nuns who would use the egg whites to bleach their habits and needed to find a use for all of the leftover yolks. Delicious!

The view from a different church. The area below us and to the right is the heart of Alfama and we loved exploring the old, twisted streets.

Another view of Alfama, with the Igreja de Sao Vicente on the left.

We headed from Alfama to the Placa Commercio and found this building on the way. Lisboa felt like a bigger version of Sevilla, with the tiles, old neighborhoods, and gritty streets.

Ashley filling her water bottle in front of the Cathedral, which looks like a castle.

This was a huge, old, twisted tree that we happened across while leaving Alfama.

This is down in the new area, Baixa. Notice the tiled sidewalks. A little slippery in the rain.

Very lovely building in the Baixa district.

If you can't tell, it was raining all day, which is why we look like drowned cats. This is Placa Commercio, with a statue of King Jose I in the center and the Arch of Triumph behind. This square is right on the harbor. Lisbon does not face the ocean but rather a large brackish bay.

The bay where the river Tagus meets the Atlantic.

Ashley at the Arch of Triumph.

Another view of the arch and the cathedral.

On our way to finally meet up with Megan and Greg we passed some more...buildings with lovely tiled facades! Imagine that. I can only imagine how much lovelier they would have been on a bright, sunny day...

We finally met up with Megan and Greg at the Convento Carmo, a church that was destroyed during the earthquake but not rebuilt. The gothic arches are still intact and give the place an eery feeling.

A testament to their architectural fortitude.

Just below the convent was this lovely view of Baixa. It was rebuilt by Marques de Pombal following the earthquake. In the upper right of the picture you can see St. George's castle on the hill.

This is the Santa Justa elevator, which can take you from the bottom of the new part of town to that area just below the Convento Carmo. People wait in line to pay five euro to ride that thing. No thanks, but still a nice addition to the city. Notice Megan's crappy umbrella with pictures of Venice that she bought for five euro in Lisboa. Those umbrellas were an endless source of humor, falling apart easily and turning inside out at the slightest gust of wind.

That afternoon we took a food tour, but we decided to "pre-party" so we wouldn't be ravenous on the tour. We happened upon this cafe/bakery called "Casa Brasileira" which served warm egg tarts, cod cakes, vegetarian egg rolls, and other delicious delectables.

One of the shops we stopped by on the food tour. Piled on the shelf is the famous salted cod, which actually comes from Norway. The reason it became so popular in Portugal is that it preserves very well when salted and the Portuguese explorers and conquistadors needed a safe, stable food supply on their long voyages. This stuff powered Vasco da Gama (eastern route to India) and Ferdinand Magellan (circumnavigation of the globe).

Our food tour guide, Rebecca, telling us about what the Portuguese call "Romeo & Juiet": local cheese topped with a thick marmalade made of quince. Hanging in the background are the famous legs of Pata Negra, the 70 euro-per-kilo meat of pigs that are feed entirely on acorns. It gives the meat its signature dark, oily quality.

This was a cultural house that we visited on the tour. It was for people from a certain region of Portugal who have moved to Lisboa and wanted a little taste of home. This was a large indoor courtyard in the center. In the room behind Ashley and Megan they were playing live folk music and performing a traditional folk dance from their region.

The dancers.

The building used to be a casino, as you can tell by the tile theme.

Exiting the building on our way to eating some local specialty chicken.

The next morning we awoke to a rainbow outside our room window. Funny how you can take a picture of an illusion. Breakfast at our hotel was great, with the highlight being Portuguese Toast, their take on French Toast. They take day-old baguette bread, soak it in eggs and milk, then deep fry it and coat it with sugar and cinnamon. It tastes as good as it sounds.

We then caught the train to Sintra, which is the Versaille of Portugal. The royals and wealthy people built castles and mansions there as a place to get away and be amongst greenery near the coast. We tried to go to the old Moorish castle on the hill, but it was so rainy and windy that the ticket seller wouldn't let us buy tickets, saying it was too dangerous. So we proceeded on to the next hilltop attraction, the Palacio Pena.

This is the eclectic Palacio Pena, built by Ferdinand II, a cousin of Mad King Ludwig of Neuschwanstein fame. It was sort of a mixture of Disney, traditional European design, and some drug-induced mania. 

Greg outside the ramparts.

Tell me this guy wasn't on drugs.

Ashley and I were practicing our yoga staring contest and she couldn't keep a straight face.

That's more like it.

Finally, a picture of the four of us together! Date weekend 2016!

Ashley walking through one of the arched passageways. The palace is up on a hill and it was extremely windy and cold that day.

 The gardens leading up to the arched entrance.

 One of the doorways, framed with carved gourd vines and pheasant tiles.

 One of the ceilings.

 Another archway.

 More ceilings.

Ashley in the royal dining room.

 The royal kitchen. The first thing that came to my mind was: "Chester Copperpot!"

 I have conquered Palacio Pena.

There were so many places you could climb and explore. The kids would have loved the outside, although it was a bit dangerous in places, such as where those two women are standing. Now, note the lower two turrets just above the arched gateway.

See what I mean? The shape and studded nature of this turret are not exactly Disney-friendly, but I don't think kids would have noticed. Ferdinand II was described as "flamboyant", which is code for something else I think.

The courtyard and clock tower.

The windy, windy porch that overlooked the town.

What a view! You can see the old Moorish castle on the right.

We then caught the bus back down to the main part of town and walked out to Quinta da Regaleira, a mansion build by the former royals after they were deposed.

The bell tower of the chapel and the mansion in the background. The best part of this place were the grounds. Again, the kids would have loved this place!

Looking up from the grounds to the Moorish castle on the left and Palacio Real on the right.

There were structures like this all over the place, towers and turrets and stairs and paths and caves and tunnels and waterfalls and ponds and...you get the idea. Not sure what is going on with Ashley and Greg here, I think he was trying to take a picture of the tower as well.

This requires some explanation. We found one of the underground tunnels and we emerged here, under a waterfall looking over a green pond with a stone walkway. Ashley and Megan felt it appropriate to do a yoga tree pose on the stones.

Yours truly on the stones.

Not sure what this is but you could climb up it!

This was my favorite site of the whole trip, the Initiation Well. A staircase spirals all the way down to the bottom. It has some pagan/alchemist meaning.

On the staircase.

From the bottom.

It looks like I am a holy angel or something.

The passageway leading from the grounds to the mansion.

Ashley loving the very ornate door.

The ceiling.

I loved these lion knockers.

This was hilarious. On the top floor there were some educational exhibits about the mansion and grounds. This cat was totally sacked out on one of the displays. Ashley tried to pet it but it thumped its tail as if to say, "Leave me alone".

The outside of the mansion.

And that is pretty much it, folks. We caught the train back to Lisboa, ate at the Casa Brasileira again, went back to the hotel for a power nap, and then went to a 10:00 pm Valentine's Day dinner at a Fado restaurant, where they sing you traditional Portuguese folk music as you eat. The next morning we were up and out the door early to catch our 6:50 am flight.

That was our last date weekend ever with the Trifilos, unless we meet up again in Chicago after we both leave Europe this summer. Portugal thoroughly charmed us and we know that we missed so much. Can't get everywhere, and we still have Belgium and Norway to conquer!