the stories that I'm telling.

Tag: belem

  • Exploring Lisbon with my little brother

    Exploring Lisbon with my little brother

    Having already spent some time in Lisbon, Kevin and I were fully prepared to show Tyler all the best sites and scenes.

    Obviously, this included copious amounts of eating and walking.

    Tyler arrived in Lisbon in the morning, and despite getting minimal sleep, he kept going with us all day. The next day, we were once again up bright and early, and we set off on all kinds of adventures. Rather than go into wild detail about every darn thing that we did, here’s a list of the places we saw and adventures we got into:

    • Exploring the streets and vistas of Lisbon: You’ll note that there are tons of pictures of us just walking around and looking at things. A worthwhile adventure, but not an easy one. Lisbon is a city built on 7 hills, which makes for great views and great exercise. Fortunately the city is small enough that you can cover most of it’s beautiful neighbourhoods on foot, and that’s just what we did.
    • Lunch at Sea Me: Tyler’s food game started off strong at this popular sea food restaurant in Lisbon. We had tuna steak, seaweed salad, fresh fish, tiger prawns, and of course, green wine.
    • Drinking Sangria at a kiosk just outside of the Convento do Carmo: This is Kevin’s favourite square in Lisbon. It’s quieter than most (though not that day, due to construction), tucked away just in front of the famous ruins of the Convento do Carmo. The convent, built in the 1400s, was mostly destroyed during the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. The ruins of the gothic church were left standing as a type of memorial.
    • Drinks & Pool at Pavilhao Chines: Kevin and I went to this wacky place for the first time a few weeks prior, and we decided to return with Tyler. He and Kevin played a game of pool in the back room, on what must been the worst pool table in existence. When even Kevin can’t make a shot, you know it’s more than just the player’s fault.
    • The most horrible dinner we’ve ever had, at a “fancy” burger place called Guilty. I won’t even go into details. But suffice to say that Kevin and I were quite disappointed.
    • Coffee! Cafe!: People make jokes about there being a Tim Hortons or Starbucks on every corner in Canada, but in Lisbon, you’re hard pressed to walk 5 minutes in any direction without passing some type of cafe. Every park has kiosks that serve espressos (and beer!), and every block has a small cafe that serves snacks, coffee (espressos), and beer. So throughout this entire trip, we drank insane amounts of espresso. Walked 5 blocks? Time for a cafe break.
    • Evening drinks at Pensao Amor: This is one of our favourite places in Lisbon. It’s a former brothel, now decorated as a vintage burlesque bar. It’s a great setting, always lively, with good music and drinks.
    • Lunch at the Nun’s Canteen: This was probably the most interesting place that we ate while in Lisbon. Looking for a unique lunch spot, I came across this Guardian UK article about best lunch spots in Lisbon. It mentioned a canteen/cafeteria run by nuns where one can grab a cheap lunch with a great view. I marked the spot on the map, and the 3 of us set off on an adventure. 5 minutes in a cab, and we were in Lisbon’s Chiado neighbourhood. We went up a set of stairs to a house in an alleyway. The door was open, and we headed up the third floor. Once there, we found exactly what we’d been promised. A well-priced traditional Portuguese lunch, which we enjoyed on their back patio, overlooking the Tagus River and the Chiado neighbourhood below us. It’s a spot frequented by locals on lunch hour, but we did our best not to stand out as tourists in this authentically Lisbon experience.
    • Belem: Next, we headed to Lisbon’s Belem neighbourhood, where we enjoyed the following: Pasteis de Natas (which were apparently invented at the Pasteis de Belem cafe, and certainly they make the tastiest version); The Church at the Monastery of Jeronimos; Padrao dos Descombrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries); and the Torre de Belem, an ancient fortification.
    • Dinner (and later, drinks) with our friend Soledad: We went to Mercado da Ribeira, which is basically a high-end food court, featuring small outposts of all the top restaurants in the city.

    After all that adventuring, we headed home to get some sleep before starting our roadtrip in the morning! Lots of photos below, with descriptions to properly explain all the things we saw. Check ’em out:

    view of Lisbon from above – we took the famous streetcar from one end of the city to the other. This was the final view!
    siblings at the top of the city
    getting fancy with panoramic views
    at the gates to Lisbon, right at the waterfront. Not behaving
    And then, behaving. Kevin made us take a nice one for our parents.
    at a central cable car junction, on our way to lunch
    lunch appetizers at Sea Me!
    At the top of another Lisbon hill
    Tyler capturing the beauty of Lisbon 😉
    the view of the street from our AirBnB
    get to the gym, Tyler! (PS: my wardrobe change took place when we took Tyler back to the AirBnB and I unpackaged the Lululemon clothes I made him pick up in Canada for me)
    just another beautiful Lisbon streeet
    sibings and hills and streetcar tracks.
    Tyler really couldn’t get enough of the beautiful streets (I was the same when I first came to Europe)
    Praying pre-Sangria outside the Convento do Carmo
    world’s sketchiest pool table. May very well have been 50+ years old, sans maintenance
    Enjoying a cafe kiosk, 30 steps from our apartment
    Just another gorgeous building we spotted on the way to lunch
    view from the Nun’s canteen!
    inside at the canteen
    the welcoming door
    Info about lunch, for those interested
    with a cable car in the background. Same style that we took a ride on the day before
    siblings in Lisbon
    just a random beautiful street, no big deal
    seriously! a random sidewalk!
    siblings taking in the squares of Lisbon
    Kevin really put his photo skills to work on this trip. Always wanting to capture good shots for the family!
    Enjoying the view at the shores of the Tagus river. At least one of us is paying attention to the view.
    our cab to Belem was a shark! Also was driven by a woman who MADE us put on our seatbelts.
    Tyler getting artistic at Pasteis de Belem
    our Pasteis de Nata
    where/how they’re made
    SO many pasteis de nata!
    Outside of the Monastery of Jeronimos
    this building is bananas
    Inside the church – gotta keep quiet!
    Upstairs at the church. Couldn’t figure out how to get there and also couldn’t deal with not talking, so we left.
    A massive fountain in Belem. First time seeing it active!
    Tyler in front of the 25 of April Bridge. Just like his trip to San Francisco a few weeks prior!
    The massive Monument to the Discoveries. Built to commemorate Portuguese exploration.
    It. is. so. big.
    We went to the top of the Monument and caught a pretty stellar view.
    That’s the Torre de Belem in the distance
    It’s too damn hot and sunny up here!
    view of the Monastery of Jeronimos
    Overhead view of the rose compass, donated to Portugal by South Africa. The map in the centre shows all the places that Portuguese explorers went.
    oh hey coolio!
    There was an exhibit in the basement of the monument, where we saw some cool posters
    Was feeling the heat, but Kevin solved that with water and gelato.
    siblings at the Torre de Belem
    Nice bag!
    #selfie at the torre de belem
    and again
    wtf?
    having dessert with Soledad!
    look at these kids!
    having fun?
  • Heather and Kevin take Lisbon

    Heather and Kevin take Lisbon

    The main thing that we orient our trips around is eating.

    Good food is a big deal to us, and so we’re often looking to try new restaurants, in hopes that they impress. In Lisbon in particular, where we hadn’t spent much time, we were looking to try new places, in search of some future favourites. We make our choices based on online research, recommendations from friends, and TripAdvisor lists.

    We were in Lisbon for 2 nights, staying in our friend Soledad’s beautiful apartment while she was away on a business trip. After our long drive, we got settled into her apartment, took a quick nap, and then headed into downtown Lisbon for dinner. Kevin knew I was having a bit of a craving for my grandmother’s perogies, so he took me to Stanislav Avenida, a well reviewed new Russian restaurant in town. And let me tell you, those reviews were well-earned. The food was amazing, as was the selection of specialty vodkas.

    Before heading back to the apartment (I’m working, you know!), we took a short walk through Lisbon. Because Kevin and I speak english to each other, we’re often mistaken for foreign tourists. People selling things on the street often call after us in English, and they’re always surprised when Kevin responds in Portuguese.

    On this particular day, this resulted in us getting free entry into the House of the Alentejo (a remote farming province in Portugal, known for being rather traditional). We definitely didn’t expect just how traditional the inside of the club would be. It was like travelling back in time. The decor throughout the building was beautiful, and obviously hadn’t been changed since the decadent days when it was built. And to top it off, upstairs was a dinner with traditional Portuguese dancing. We took a bunch of photos, otherwise we might have thought it was all a dream.

    Despite working till after 4am, we were up bright and early to explore the sites in Lisbon. This was a really fun day for me, because Kevin planned everything and I was just along for the adventure. We started off on the west side of Lisbon, in what’s known as Belem. We saw Lisbon’s famous Jeronimos Monastery, the very old Tower of Belem, and a great big monument built to commemorate Portuguese exploration. After lunch, we headed to the Aquarium, which I’ll write about separately.

    In the afternoon, we went right into Lisbon proper, where we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. Eventually, we stopped at a pretty unique bar called Pavilhao Chinese. Their claim seems to be ‘collections of stuff’, and they have that in spades. I’ve never seen a bar quite like it, and I definitely recommend stopping in at least once.

    The last destination on our list that day was obviously dinner, and we had some of the best seafood that Lisbon offers, at Cervejaria Ramiro. Since coming to Portugal, I’ve become a complete and total seafood monster. That night we had goose barnacles, multiple types of shrimp, and clams. And we even met a fellow Canadian!

    After a full day of activities and amazing food we headed back to Soledad’s apartment. Worth noting is that this is probably the cleanest apartment I’ve ever been in. While Kevin slept, I took some of my phone calls in the bathroom, where I spent a lot of time sitting on the floor. If you can keep your bathroom floor spotless, then you’re probably the cleanest person ever. Thanks Soledad!

    If a picture is worth a thousand words, and I’ve already written 600, then you should probably just look at the photos below. They’ll tell you much more about the amazing-ness of our trip to Lisbon!

     

    getting ready for dinner at Stanislav Avenida, a new-ish Russian restaurant in Lisbon
    our starters at Stanislav Avenida
    Russian perogies (Vareniki?) and Steak Tartare at Stanislav Avenida. Seriously amazing.
    in the wet streets of Lisbon
    time travelling at the Club do Alentejo
    traditional dancing from the Alentejo province
    me in front of the Jeronimos Monastery
    a giant sword!
    exploration is cool!
    portuguese explorers
    me in front of the Ponte de 25 Abril
    yachts? meh, who cares?
    it was windy!
    the tower of belem
    at a cafe, obviously
    inside Pavilhao Chinese
    me, being amused by all the stuff.
    so. much. stuff.
    who dusts this place?!
    illustrations on the menu
    eating (and loving) goose barnacles
    me and some cute little shrimp
    not so cute anymore!
    as we drove over the vasco de gama bridge, en route to the Algarve, we spotted people fishing on the flats. probably the same people who caught last night’s dinner!