Portugal! Part 1

It had been a long time since I had been in Europe.  1998 to be exact.  So when my good friend (since 7th grade), Leslie, suggested a trip for this fall, I was all in.  We debated a bit on the where since we were hoping for decent weather but also knowing it wasn't going to be "hot".  We landed on Portugal.

As I packed, I amused myself that my packing skills have advanced to the point that I could pack for a week away in a smallish carryon suitcase and my backpack and still have room leftover in both.  And I ended up not wearing one shirt, a pair of shoes and a jacket I brought...

First stop Amsterdam!  Sadly, I have flown in and out of Amsterdam several times and never left the airport.  But a lovely airport it is selling tulip bulbs and tulips!

After a short delay of needing to land in Porto instead of Lisbon because of rain storms (and a shortage of fuel in the airplane), we made it to the airport.  Another short delay in finding our ride to the apartment (apparently he left when our flight was delayed) and taking a taxi, we made it to our 2 bedroom AirBNB which was much bigger and nicer than we expected.  But boy were we tired!  It was evening and getting dark so we ventured out the front door about 100 yards to a restaurant that we had spotted advertising hamburgers and beer.  Perfect.  I had a tuna burger with fries and an awesome sangria and Leslie had a mushroom burger with beer.  A quick stop at the market across the street for some snacks and breakfast foods and we were ready for bed!

One of the amazing things about Lisbon are the streets and sidewalks.  All are paved with these small squarish stones.  Easier to walk on than the more traditional cobblestones you find in other European cities!  They use all sorts of patterns but this one was popular.  In this direction it looks flat.  Walk across these squiggly lines and it looks like  you are walking over small hills!

Our first full day started out bright and perfect for exploring on foot to "get the lay of the land".  We didn't have much of an agenda but it was a great day of exploring Lisbon.   The first thing you notice about Lisbon are the hills.  While it is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean hanging off the western edge of Spain, it's truly the opposite of our sloping down gradually to the Atlantic seashore towns.

Since we stayed closer to central Lisbon and started our walking heading towards the Ocean, we did more downhill walking to start but everywhere you turned, there were these stairways taking you back up!

The "Lisbon Story Center", this was near the ocean and seemed to be almost like a gateway to the city.

But just a hundred yards away... It was a bit too cold and windy to spend any real time on the beach but had it been earlier in the year, Portugal had some very lovely beaches.

As we wandered through the city, we came across the very old buildings and many that had been remodeled or were new. But always, the hills going up!

The top of this church claimed to offer some amazing views over the city and the line wasn't long so we bit.  After climbing up some very steep stairs to the bell tower, we were certainly rewarded for our  efforts.

The typical Mediterrean red tile roofs are in full evidence in Portugal.  However the history of Portugal has influences from many places including Africa.

A close up view of one of the many sets of stairs we climbed.  Being that they were pretty helped!

I never did take a picture of the apartment building we actually stayed in but this one was directly across the street and was quite typical of the neighborhood.  Most were 5-6 stories tall and often pretty colors like this pink.  Many more are covered in beautiful tile - a hallmark of the area.

Having slightly more energy than the first night, we ventured out slightly further to a true Portuguese restaurant.  (Lunch found us at a really popular vegan restaurant which had been delicious!)  I opted for a split bottle of Portuguese wine tonight and it was good!

Dinner was steak and olives with rice and spinach - delicious!!

Checking my Fitbit at the end of each day became a bit of a laugh.  Not so much for the total steps since we knew we were walking a ton but for the floors of stairs.  On a typical day at work I will get in about 6 flights of stairs because I force myself to use the bathroom one flight down.  Leslie probably does more daily flights of stairs than I do because she has a house with stairs but neither of us comes close to what we did in Lisbon!