Lisbon in the Rain

We really enjoyed Morocco on the whole. We spent the last day of our time there at the Palace as neither of us really felt up to leaving except for a brief trip to get some fresh air.

We arrived in Lisbon, Portugal on Thursday at about 2pm. We were greeted by warm but overcast weather - which seems to have set the tone for the entire week we are here. We are forecasted for thunderstorms and rain for the whole week - so its unlikely that we will be spending any time at the beach (sorry Mil). 

Lisbon is a rather interesting city. Our first impressions as we drove in were of big beautiful building in dire need of repair, sporadically decorated in graffiti (sometimes very good and other time very not good). You sort of wonder what you have gotten yourself into but of all the places that we have been I feel like Lisbon has the most soul. 

We spent the first afternoon and evening getting sorted into our apartment (which we share with people who live here full time and two other airbnb travellers who we haven't seen yet) and getting our groceries.

Friday morning we kicked of the day doing a free walking tour. So far we have done four, one in Dublin and two in Barcelona and I must say, I think this might have been the best one yet. Our guide Rafa was a true story teller, who not only gave us an excellent and humorous insight into Portugal's history and current socioeconomic climate but also gave a wonder tour through some really interesting parts of the city that we would not have seen otherwise. He deliberately avoided the low hanging tourist fruit telling us that its easy enough to see those things in our own time while focusing on interesting places that people from Lisbon really care about. The tour included sights such as the lottery man statue, the Carmo Convent, the Pessoa Memorial, the Alfama District (where we tried some Ginjinha - Cherry Liquor) and finished and an amazing panormaic view above the Castle Hill. 

A street in Lisbon

Apartments beside the Casa dos Bicos (the House of Spikes)

The Panoramic View above the Castle Hill in one of the few moments when it isn't overcast - See the Golden Gate Bridge in the Background

We spent the rest of the day exploring around the downtown area and just soaking in the energy of Lisbon. The people who live here genuinely love their city - although perhaps not the people who run it.

Today we got up at a reasonable hour (for a Saturday) and went for a run through the downtown area to the coast. It was too early for it to be busy and despite the overcast weather it was really nice. Once we were home, showered and breakfasted we headed back out to catch the tram to Belém with the soul objective of trying some of the famous Pastéis de Belém. These truely genuis custard tarts are sold at many places in the city under the name Pasteis de nata but only this single shop in Belém renouned for having the best recipe sells them under the name Pastéis de Belém. They are a treat and we spoiled ourselves with four of them. They would have been much better except up until this afternoon we have not be able to order ourselves a flat white or a Cafe Latte, turns out Portuguese is rather unforgiving on the names for coffees. We have been given various iterations of espresso shots and even a cup of straight melted chocolate, which just don't seem to go with a custard tart as nice as we were hoping. However, we found an english speaking coffee shop and got them to write down that we are actually looking for a meia de leite - a half of milk. So we should be good from now on.

After our sweet treats (and the were very good) we headed out to explore Belém. Which included sites like Belém Tower, the Belém Monument and the Jerónimos Monastery.

The Jerónimos Monastery

We were having a great time till the heavens opened and really made it impossible for us to sight see. So we got on the tram to come back in to Lisbon. We were not two minutes off the tram when the rain really got serious. Literally everyone in downtown Lisbon evacuated into alcoves or under the covers of the patio restaurants. It came down for a good 20 minutes before it let up.

Everyone one ducked for cover except poor Rufus here

By the time we got home and dried out we had a quick late afternoon tea/lunch before having a catch up with Zab on Skype.

Tomorrow we have plans to head back to Belém to see the Berardo Museum of Modern Art which is free on Sundays. More from us later.