Lisbon with my favorite South African

Post date: Apr 04, 2020 9:1:32 AM

Good news, another of my adventure buddies has moved to Europe! Wesley, who you’ll remember from my trip to South Africa, has relocated his life to Paris. Which is simply marvelous for me, because I now have someone else to travel with.

He finished probation in his new position and I wanted an excuse to go to Portugal so we made plans to meet up in Lisbon for a long weekend.

Full disclosure: most of these photos are his.

The first thing you need to know about Lisbon is almost everything is uphill. Seriously, at one point we were climbing a hill and we stopped at a cross-roads and three of the four directions were a steep climb. The fourth was the way we had just come from.

Second is that the best form of public transportation really are these adorable little trams. They are old and quaint and can climb steep hills and turn sharp corners. But the are often full, and we more than once decided to just take an uber.

Additionally, we were both in the mindset that we wanted to walk around, eat, drink and catch up. Neither of us did any research ahead of time, so most of the time we were just wandering and enjoying the views. And boy, were there some views.

It’s because of all the hills.

At one point we were looking at a vendor near this gorgeous castle of some sort (We are the best tourists, truly) and the woman asked where we were from. Wesley responded:

“She is american and I’m from South Africa.” and I finished:

“But he lives in Paris and I live in Berlin” at which point we both started laughing because of how ridiculous and interesting our lives are at time.

It’s good to have friends who are as adventurous as you are.

We wanted an afternoon snack, so we wandered into this bar. But it turned out to get a drink in the bar you needed to go upstairs to the restaurant. Which had the view above. It was stunning, with amazing food. What a gem, what a perfect find.

One of the big tourist attractions in Lisbon is this elevator. From the front it looks like it's a free standing elevator to nowhere. From the back, it’s attached to the buildings above. It was erected for the world’s fair so that people could easily get from the bottom further up the hill (there is no top of the hill, I looked, it’s all uphill).

We also ate amazing seafood. The seafood in Berlin is objectively terrible. I once asked a friend where I could get good seafood in Berlin and he told me to get on a train and go to Hamburg, because there is no good seafood in Berlin. Which means whenever I travel to places where the food is good, I eat an unhealthy amount of seafood. It’s not ideal.

We had the most amazing view from our delightful AirBnB. This little balcony was off the bathroom, which was odd, but still lovely.

I woke up early one of the mornings and this was the view. The sunrise was gorgeous, Lisbon really likes to show off.

It should be noted I got back into bed almost immediately. Wesley, who is a morning person (to the extreme) wakes up early every day. And to let me have a bit of a lie in, he went and bought us coffee (him) and tea (me) and croissants while I was lazy. Which to be honest is a great way to start the day.

Portugal, unlike Spain, is influenced by the moorish culture of Morocco. Which is why lots of the buildings are covered in these vibrant and beautiful tiles. I loved them. Wesley was not a fan.

Wesley left on Sunday after brunch, but I stayed on through Monday night. Knowing that I would be solo, I decided to venture away from Lisbon. My friend Daniela is from Portugal, and largely responsible for all the food recommendations. She told me to go to Sintra, because it’s filled with beautiful palaces. She was not wrong.

I stayed in the most delightful old house on the hill that had been converted to a hotel. I love spaces like that (both for hotels and for apartments come to think of it). It was seven floors, and immediately cast me into a mindset that I was living in a time where grand houses and traipsing through castles was a normal thing to do.

And honestly that’s what I spent most of my time in Sintra doing.

I walked into town and found this abandoned house? It has clearly not been in use for a while based on the pileup of leaves. But the tiles and structure were in great shape. Maybe we were just there in the offseason.

One of the local castles is just a big house, with the coolest, most trippy and interesting garden. It includes one of the most instagramed places in Portugal, the well below. It’s really cool in that it has a staircase along the sides that you can climb down.

I can see why, it was gorgeous from a number of different angles.

The gardens were so cool I almost skipped the main house. But the architectural refinements in the main house were also so stunning I’m glad I wandered through.

I thought I would have so much to say in this section, but really I think words fail me. It was a feast for the eyes, and any words won’t do it justice. Just know that I could have spent more than a day just wandering around, instead of the few short hours I confined myself to.

I then moved onto the botanical gardens. This house had been lovingly restored, and the property was a sprawling field of things. There was a rose garden, and a tropical section. It was all gorgeous, and again I kept thinking

about what it would be like to live there.

I would meet gentlemen on this portico.

And read books beneath this ceiling, while feeding overfed fish in the fountain.

And day dream while looking at these views from the comfort of my chaise lounge.

And flounce through these halls in gorgeous dresses (truth be told, I have a few that would fit the bill).

In the meantime, I would settle for a day with friends and a picnic catching these views.

This was the house and the garden in all its splendor. Not a bad place to settle down.

The sunset was stunning as I walked to dinner. I was determined to get delicious seafood, I was on the coast after all!

My meal was the only one in Portugal that wasn’t worth photographing. But for some reason canned fish is a thing in Portugal. So much so that there are entire stores dedicated to canned fish. I mean, I don’t get it, but I don’t think I’m the prime audience.

The cars on this ferris wheel are all canned fish. Look closely. Then ponder: why?

The most delicious and colorful breakfast for my last day in Portugal!

I decided to spend the day doing nothing at the beach. It was not warm, but I had a book and the sun was mostly out and I wanted to spend the day listening to waves crash against rocks.

It should be noted that the book I was reading was in the Witcher series. One of the main places the series takes place is the fictional kingdom Centra. It was sacked and the princess Ciri comes from there (she is the lion cub of Centra). The town I found myself in is the same place, pronounced the same but spelled differently (Sintra vs. Centra). It tickled me.

I did final treat myself-meal, at this seafood place that is quite literally ON the water. It was simply delightful.

This cheese was the best thing I have ever had. I will be having a long term committed relationship with this cheese. I want to take it home and introduce it to my family. I feel more for this cheese than most of the guys I have dated. Seriously it was good.

I loved Portugal more than I expected to, and I think it has become my mental go to destination for a relaxing vacation.