What we did in Lisbon besides hang out in the ghetto and get our camera stolen.
Although our view of Lisbon will forever be tainted as the City Where Our Camera Was Stolen and We Stayed in a Ghetto, there is, of course, more to Lisbon than thieves and junkies. With its cityscape strewn over seven hills, old-fashioned wooden trolleys, and a long and high bridge designed by the same person who designed the Golden Gate Bridge, it is easy to see why people make comparisons to San Francisco.
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| From Lisbon, Portugal |
The trendy Barrio Alto neighborhood is perched on a hill top with views of the rooftops below. We spent a little time there on a Saturday night, hopping between bars, drinking the sorrows over the stolen camera away. It seems that most people drink their beverages outside in the cobblestone pedestrian streets. The beer of choice in Portugal seems to be Super Bock or Sabre Sagres, both of which are unfortunately only a step above Budweiser. We had a Super Bock while we caught the end of the Inter Milan/Bayern Munich championship futbol game in a bar where rowdy patrons chanted in what must be their equivalent of Here We Go Steelers. Next, always drawn by live music, we wandered into a Cuban bar that had the best mojitos and a guy playing Beatles, Lenny Kravitz, and Bob Dylan on a guitar with a Latin twist.
Shortly after we sat down, the dorkiest tour group ever entered. In the span of 15 minutes, a group of about 20 middle aged people crowded the tiny bar. They were decked out with fanny packs, sweaters draped over shoulders, and flashing tiaras. They sipped one mojito, took a group photo, and then disappeared, leaving us and the other patrons to enjoy the guitar player. After checking out a couple of more places and the street scene, we followed the noise to an outdoor concert which sounded like skinhead music to us. The Barrio Alto is lively and festive, and definitely a fun place to spend a night.
One advantage of staying in our neighborhood was that there were many little restaurants where we were the only tourists around. Although truth be told, we much preferred the spicy piri-piri chicken or the dogfish in a traditional sauce we tried at a restaurant in Barrio Alto, not the salty grouper or fatty ribs we had a neighborhood place. It should come as no surprise by now that our (or at least my) favorite food was a pastry. After reading the glowing reviews of others who have gone before us, we travelled by tram to Belem to try pasteis de nada. Belem is a neighborhood with lots of museums and monuments, views of the bridge, and a lively park. In Belem, a bakery has renamed pasteis de nada nata to Pasteis de Belem. The line for the bakery wrapped up and down the sidewalk, but it didn’t take that long for a table. It appears that all this bakery does is churn out these Portuguese pastries, all day and night. I didn’t see one person out of the hundreds of patrons order something different. Once you try one, it is easy to see why. Served warm topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon, the pastries are flaky on the outside and creamy on the inside. This was the best Portuguese pastry we tried, perhaps because most of them are buttery and eggy, not fudgy and chocolately like I prefer.
Our day spent calling the insurance company, searching for the police station, and filing a police report (for insurance purposes) meant that we didn’t end up going to Sintra, a nearby fantasy land of forests and castles, like we wanted, for it was time to return our car in Spain. Having a car is fun to hit the open road, especially now that we picked up a cable for our Ipod, but it does hold us to a timetable. We already extended the rental once, and each day we spend in a city means potentially expensive parking and fees for a car we are not using. If we rent a car again, I’d do it for a region where we hopped around to small towns, because using it in cities is a waste.
Its sad that your camera got stolen in portugal. Many claim portuguese PM is corrupted ,that he accepted bribes. So..,there are many robbers in Portugal.
One of favorite beers are not ” Sabre “, its called ” Sagres “. The name from the algarve village from where discoveries were launched back in the 14 century.
When it comes to the pastries..,they are called ” Pasteis de Nata ” and not ” pasteis de nada “.
“Pasteis de Nada ” could have been translated as ” Pastries of Nothing “.
Untill I was 25 I lived not far from the ” Pasteis de Belem ” , Shop in Belem.
You are right when you say there are zillions of these pastries around portugal. In belem the owners of a cofee shop did call the ” Pasteis de Nata “, Pasteis de Belem ” ,they became famous but actually they do not taste better than the Pasteis de Nata you can buy in any other portuguese cofee shop.
Check my pictures of Lisbon shot with an humble Ricoh R 8
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2896886
Hi Peter, thanks for sharing your pictures. I especially liked the ones where it seemed it was raining at night; they really captured what I imagine it would feel like to be there in that moment. Also thanks for the corrections – I fixed them above. I definitely should have known the Sagres one, since we stopped by Sagres when we stayed in Salema. We didn’t get a chance to try other pasteis de nata while we were there – we’ll have to check out others on a return trip someday.
Its peter again.
🙂
A few days ago I managed to buy a camera, a sony alpha dslr 500.
Actually the camera was on sale in a online shop in canada. A US guy ordered one for me…, i did pay him through western union…, and he did ship the camera me.
With the new camera.., I was wondering if it was too risky to use the camera in downtown lisbon.
In order to find it…, I did Google ” camera Stolen Lisbon ” , and surprise !!!!
I found ( again ) your post and a reply from me that I had already forgotten.