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….

After we’d eaten, we decided we’d take another stroll down Avenida de Liberdade to the Praça dos Restauradores and see if we could figure out a way to get from there across to R. da Misericórdia where there is an azulejos shop I had hoped to see and we hadn’t yet visited, a place called D’Orey. The stroll down Liberdade was very pleasant with the morning sunlight. 

When we got to Restauradores and asked for directions to D’Orey, the woman staffing the pharmacy at which we stopped said she thought that might be a half-hour walk, much of it uphill and with stairs to climb. We said to heck with that and hopped onto the subway via the Restauradores station, which was right where we were standing, and went to the Baixa-Chiado stop. 

D'Orey tile shop in Bairro Alto

Once we’d gotten there and gotten ourselves oriented, we then climbed up Misericórdia and looked in its window and realized we’d passed the shop and noted its window when we were in Bairra Alto-Chiado three days earlier. When we went inside, it had interesting tiles, a lot of them dating back as far as the 18th century and at exorbitant prices – but nothing we wanted to buy. D’Orey is a shop catering to well-heeled tourists who don’t mind springing for very expensive antique tiles that may or may not be authentic and whose origin may or may not be clear. 

A Brasileira restaurant, Largo do Chiado, view from outside table

When we left the tile shop, not wanting to do more uphill climbing and having seen much of what we’d wanted to see in that part of Lisbon, we retraced our steps in the direction of the Baixa-Chiado subway stop, looking for a place to have coffee, and found one at Largo do Chiado, the A Brasileira. This is evidently an historic restaurant-cum-coffee shop. 

Galão and doçaria conventual at A Brasileira restaurant, Largo do Chiado

It’s very touristy, as everything in that part of Lisbon is, and for that reason, pricey. But we thought it was worth paying €4.5 for cups of galão, the milky coffee that’s surprisingly hard to come by in Lisbon It turned out to be the best we’ve had so far. With the coffee, we had a doçaria conventual, one of those “nuns’ sweet” pastries that feature egg yolks, of which pastel de nata is also an example. It was unappealing, soggy and cloyingly sweet. We’d have been better off getting a pastel, since it at least has interesting pastry around the sweet custard filling.

Statue of António Ribeiro, Chiado Square, Chiado Largo

It was very pleasant to sit at an outside table at A Brasileira and enjoy the morning sunshine, the cool breezes, the people watching – worth paying a bit for overpriced coffee and for the privilege to sit and rest in the fresh air. We were cheek by jowl with the statue of António Ribeiro Chiado, the poet for whom the square is named.

The coffee interval over, we descended into the depths of the Baixa-Chiado station and wended our way back to our hotel and rested a bit until the cleaning woman knocked on the door to clean the room and we vacated it. We had already decided we’d take an afternoon walk in Parque Eduardo VII, which is just across the Marquês de Pombal circle from our hotel room. Rick Steves says that at the north end of the park – that is, the end away from the Marquês de Pombal circle – there’s a nice overlook.

Parque Eduardo VII fair viewed from breakfast room of Hotel Florida

Balloon sellers at Parque Eduardo VII fair 

At the front of the park, that is, the south end nearest the circle and our hotel, there’s a fair. I don’t know if this is seasonal or if it’s there all the time: a Ferris wheel, other rides, booths selling food, balloons, carnival kitsch. As we walked past it and along a grassy area behind it where people were sitting on blankets on the ground, someone belted out “Ave Maria,” a soprano voice. This was followed by a jaunty, incongruous “Frosty the Snowman,” apparently over a loudspeaker system.

Lisbon Estufa Fria headquarters, Parque Eduardo VII

We began walking up the paved sideway running on the west side of the park, hoping the overlook wouldn’t be too far. But every step was an uphill climb, and after we’d stopped and sat on benches to rest twice, we gave up that plan and took one of the promising looking trails into the interior of the park. We were very glad we’d done that when we came on the headquarters building for the park’s greenhouses, the Estufa Fria, and spotted a small lake beside the building.

Lake at Estufa Fria, Parque Eduardo VII, with statue by Anjos Teixeira younger

People were gathered at an overlook with banisters where they could watch various birds parade about on a small island where a statue of a nude woman by Anjos Teixeira younger is situated. The birds included, in addition to various kinds of ducks and pigeons, three or four beautiful peacocks, of which I got nice snapshots. 

Vento garroa statue by Soares Branco, Parque Eduardo VII

Statue by Martinho Félix de Brito, Parque Eduardo VII

The pathway we followed from the little lake back in the direction of our hotel contained other interesting statues – a statue by Soares Branco of the vento garroa, the cold southwest wind that daunts fishermen, in the guise of a nude woman; and two untitled statues of gender-indeterminate couples embracing each other by Martinho Félix de Brito. When I tried posting a review of the park at Google, Google quickly informed me that the review violated its “rules,” I think because it had the words “nude woman” in it. 

Beca Beca restaurant, Parque Eduardo VII

Beca Beca restaurant, Parque Eduardo VII

Just before we got to the fair at the south end of the park, we happened on a little beer garden, Beca Beca, and sat down and had a glass of draft Super Bock, which is the default offering of draft beer locally we’ve found (Steve had the beer), and a glass of sparkling water with ice and lemon (my choice). It was very nice to sit in the warm afternoon sun in the leafy, green park and enjoy our beer and sparkling water. The waiter spoke very good colloquial English and after he had brought us our beverages, came back to talk to us awhile and recommend that we take a trip to see the castle.

And that was our afternoon, and now we’re back to our room, showered, resting, preparing to nibble on our bread, cheese, sausage, fruit, and tomatoes and – I hope – enjoy a peaceful night’s rest.