Lisbon, 27.12.2024: Lamb Tagine and Sintra Sights

Sintra, view up shopping lane in old city 

Christmas dinner at Flor da Laranja Moroccan restaurant, 206 R. da Rosa in the Bairro Alto: my initial impression after we’d gone there was that it was a delightful experience. Now, in retrospect, I’m questioning that impression. This is what I posted about it on Facebook:

Lisbon, 23. and 25.12.2024: Warm Pastéis and Christmas Music

Music played in Jardim da Praça do Império, Christmas Eve

23 December 2024

We chose to be naughty today, since Santa won’t get word of that until after he has started his flight from the North Pole with his packages for us tomorrow, and we’ll still get the packages despite our naughty behavior the day before Christmas Eve. Besides being naughty and spending much time just relaxing and reading and sipping port, we did a desultory shopping expedition to a little mini-mart and a wine shop next to it on R. Alexandre Herculano a few blocks from the hotel, and bought some oranges, rolls, potato chips, candy, and a bottle of wine. 

Lisbon, 22.12.2024: Pricey Azulejos and Bright Peacocks

Avenida de Liberdade, December morning sunshine

A lazy Sunday with warm December sunshine in Lisbon. We began it with breakfast at the hotel’s breakfast room, since we couldn’t find a way to buy coffee to go with the cheese, bread, sausage, and fruit we have in the room. The little place we’ve gone to two days now for breakfast, Docelândia, is closed on Sunday. A restaurant right next to Hotel Florida told us yesterday they’d sell us take-out coffee, but they open only at 10:30 A.M., and we were up well before that and wanting coffee. A few steps away is a McDonald’s. Steve walked there to see if he could get coffee and found they offer only espresso. So the Hotel Florida breakfast room it was….

Lisbon, 21.12.2024: Ancient Grottos and Pickpocket Warnings

Alfama scene

We continue to find touring daunting. As we did yesterday, we slept this morning until 9 A.M. and then got up, still feeling somewhat jet-lagged. I got wise and put earplugs into my ears last night, and had a more restful evening that I had the previous evening, though even so, at 2 A.M., some absolutely gormless lout slammed a door so loudly near us that the floor in our room shimmied in response.

Lisbon, 20.12.2024: Black Cats and Closed Churches

So yesterday on the 19th, after breakfast we figured out how to take the subway to the Gulbenkian Museum, and spent several hours there before lunch. Following the directions in Steves’ guidebook proved a bit more complicated than we had anticipated, and as we exited the subway (blue line) at the São Sebastião stop and tried to spot the El Corte Inglés store that’s supposed to be at your back as you walk down Avenida de Aguiar, it proved difficult to find. As we were pondering that matter, a couple, French I thought, came up with their guidebooks and asked if we knew how to find a certain street. Turned out that when we finally got to the Gulbenkian, they were there, so they, too, were trying to follow evasive directions to the evasive entrance to the museum. (Video above: an accordion player on the blue line of the Metro to Bairro Alto, 20.12.2024.)

Lisbon, 19.12.2024: Ramshackle Colors and Chocolate Cups

Christmas Market, Rossio Square

After arriving in the morning on the 18th, we were so exhausted from a day’s air travel that we showered and slept several hours once we’d reached our hotel, Hotel Florida on Duque de Palmela off Avenida de Liberdade near Parque Eduardo VII. The hotel is pleasant, though seems to have seen better days. Our friend Mayson B., who was formerly a travel agent in New Orleans and helped us make arrangements for a number of trips, recommended it to us. It’s where he has stayed when he’s been in Lisbon.