Portugal (Spring 2023) - Lisbon (Day 1)
The way I describe Spain in the “I could live here” manner also applies to Lisbon (I assume this is true of the rest of Portugal but I only came here this trip). A lot of Americans must also feel this way because Portugal has a booming expat population which is also angering the locals as it drives up property prices.
Lisbon is affordable, friendly, and provides a great restaurant and bar scene. The place also has a ton of history from when it was one of the dominant forces in the world when they were a maritime power. It sports a temperate climate being right on the ocean. The only downside I guess is that it is very hilly so walking some places is a bit of a haul but I guess that’s a plus to get your cardio? (which is the important first rule of Zombieland).
Square in Lisbon - the town is filled with statues from the old empire
You can take a bus from the Malaga city center close to the park to the airport for 4 Euros. It was very convenient. Once at the airport, everything is 2x the price like all other airports in the world.
We flew Air Europa which does not have a baggage fee so it made for a cheap flight. Looking at the destinations, it seems like you can access all of Europe from here and Malaga may be my choice as a future travel hub.
Once we got to Lisbon, we got a taxi outside because it was convenient and we could then figure out the transit system later. The cab was reasonably priced. The quote he gave us was pretty much spot on for what the meter read. People are pretty honest here.
Perola de Sao Paolo
Hungry from a day of travel, we just walked down the street to find some food and found this place just a short distance away. It is a locals type place where the folks were super friendly. A lot of people coming in after work to get a beer standing at the bar. Got some fried fish and roast suckling pig dishes.
A side note about dining in Portugal, sometimes they automatically bring you these appetizer plates of olives, cheese and bread which you can then refuse because they are not free.
Time Out Market Lisbon
Place was very big and busy
We strolled through here a few times since it was close to where we were staying but didn’t eat or drink here. The place was always packed. I can see the appeal but I was looking for a different type of experience in Lisbon.
Manteigaria
Mmmmmm…Pastis de Natas. It is all they do here and I think they do it the best. They have a few locations in town. This one was the closest to us which was up several hilly blocks to get to but worth every upward step to get there.
I went here almost every day. Mostly in the morning. This first time was at night because we just arrived.
The Pastis de Natas were delicious and were like a Euro each. I guess you can get them in San Jose for like $4 each but nothing beats a place like this that does nothing but make this heavenly pastry and churns them out fresh constantly (especially at that price).
Monkey Mash
The next place we searched for was a place called The Red Frog which is a cocktail bar. It turns out when we got to the address that it was a speakeasy type place and you needed a reservation (which we did not have). The main bar is called Monkey Mash so we decided to have some drinks there and made some reservations for the next night for Red Frog.
The quality and inventiveness of the drinks was excellent. The cucumber water was a nice touch.
One downside of some of the places is that they are adopting some American habits so it is one of the few places on the trip that asked for a tip in the bill.
Strolling around Lisbon on the first night
On the way back to the room, we picked up a good bottle of wine at the convenience store for 4 Euros to enjoy in the room