Let’s get down to it: Lisbon has excellent food. Everything I’ve eaten thus far has been a delight. Everywhere you go here, there are restaurants of every nationality next to Portuguese fare. There are obscene numbers of cafes and gelato shops. The waterfront has unbroken rows of seafood restaurants that …
One of the most iconic sights of Lisbon is the Rua Augusta Arch, a massive triumphal arch that faces the river on one side and a large promenade of shops on the other. Thousands of people buzz around the place at all times, shopping, eating at restaurants, and watching buskers. …
I’ve long believed in visiting flea markets and thrift stores during travel. There are few better ways to really know a place than by digging through its junk. Thus, when I learned that there was a flea market in Lisbon every Saturday and Tuesday, I knew exactly what I was …
Today, I slept unexpectedly late, coming to life around 11am. This cut our Lisbon adventures of the day considerably, as many of the museums and tourist sights close around 5pm. But it was a lovely (and windy) day, so we quickly put ourselves together and did as much as we …
I was talking in previous posts about finding layers of history in these very old cities in Europe, where foundations have been built on other foundations for thousands of years. In our search for archaeology sights in Lisbon, we found a very modern hotel that had incorporated the former Roman …
These are just a few more random things from today in Lisbon.
Sardines are a thing in Portugal, a culinary icon of the country. In Lisbon, you’ll see the fishes represented in tourist shops next to shot glasses, tiles, and a particular rooster. (More about the rooster in later posts.) In fact, at the Lisbon airport, there is a sardine throne. A …
Back when I lived for a very, very short while in Spain, I was housed only a couple blocks from the grand cathedral of Toledo. 25 years ago, there was something I saw in the cathedral that I’d never seen before: a wooden table/box with lines of light bulbs on …
I wrote yesterday a little about the unusual sidewalks in Lisbon. Today, I have better photos. The sidewalks in the older parts of Lisbon are made entirely of hand-hewn and hand-placed bricks. This started after the earthquake of 1755. During reconstruction, someone realized that it would be nice to honor …
Tucked into the heart of Lisbon is Livraria Bertrand. It is a bookstore, which is already great, but what makes it truly special is that it is the oldest operating bookstore in the world. Established in 1732, the business even survived the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755, though not in …
