Lisbon Glistens
A return to Lisbon for the beloved’s birthday celebration, exactly seven years after the first trip. The city feels different; it was more challenging.
Our hotel was located atop a hill near the castle, which we never ended up visiting, but it offered stunning views. However, when we arrived at the train station with our luggage, we found ourselves searching for a way to reach the hotel. The only option we encountered was a long, steep hill to climb. Our initial information indicated that no cars could reach the hotel, but after our arduous trek, we learned that this was misleading. While cars cannot park directly outside the hotel, they can park just a few minutes' walk away. It was truly a case of getting lost in translation. On our way back, we decided to book an Uber instead.
Despite or because of the location, our street had restaurants, including fine dining establishments. We decided on a local restaurant for the first night. It was expensive, the fish was chewy and almost inedible, and for most of the evening, several police officers appeared to be in the restaurant doing an audit like it was the most normal thing to do on a Friday night.
I recall hills and steps and lifts but I don’t recall the pavements being so slippery; it was incredibly unsteady to walk at times, which both slowed me down and put me on edge.
I missed the opportunity to buy a local decorative ceramic tile last time, so I decided to look for what I thought would be a discarded one at a second-hand shop. However, I found online advice warning against this, as it was likely that many tiles were stolen. Tiles had become so valuable that people were stealing them from properties. As a result, I came home tile-less.
The Lisbon 48-hour coffee crawl started at Basix and we took in Sense, The Folks, Kiosk, Fabrica and back to a different Folks for brunch and coffee on our last day.
After the chewy cod on the first day, we decided to go to the trusted Timeout food hall, which had been a highlight from our first visit. However, this time our bus didn’t arrive, and after waiting for 15-20 minutes, we decided to walk 15-20 minutes to Timeout. When we arrived, we found it chaotically packed. I enjoyed a lovely Thai meal while my beloved had a burger, but it was much more challenging than last time. Later, we learned that the city was busier because there was a Christmas lights event happening. We could have just attended that and avoided all the hassle.
The next night, the beloved's birthday took a turn for the better as Gunpowder, a London restaurant, delivered one of the best dining experiences in some time. We celebrated by going to Derelium for beers, a holiday tradition..
Also returned to CoopLayday for brunch that included zucchini pancakes and truffle scrambled eggs, and stunning looking (ordinary tasting) iced tea.
Last time I talked about the good shopping experiences and we certainly revisited some of the same places, El Corte Inglés provided a few decs for this year’s green Christmas theme amongst it’s fantsatic displays. . However, our trip to the Centro Colombo, which I raved abut last time was disappointing, especially after enduring a rain-filled journey to get there. It seemed like they had forgotten to put up any signage, so we had no idea what shops were available and ended up leaving quite quickly.
The highlights were the sunny beachside walk, the birthday dinner and the architecture that still takes my breath away.
November 2025
