Lovely Lisbon...it's all about the food!

After my harrowing day yesterday, I was due for sleep-in and sleep in I did. The shutters were closed to my balcony so my room was pitch black and cosy. When I did wake up, I had no idea where I was or who I was with. It was scary for a few seconds, until I worked out where I was and dragged my weary body up to have a shower, and buy some groceries for breakfast. There was a supermarket just round the corner. I stocked up on food and it only cost 16 euro altogether. It’s cheap to live here.

After speaking to Stacey who confirmed Max was coming too, I booked a hostel for them and changed the accommodation for the rest of the trip. Luckily for me, the Unreal Hostel was not too far away from my airbnb so off I set with my phone with googlemaps loaded in my hand. I took the scenic route of course, and it was after 2 when I arrived at their hostel, as the plan was to meet them there. The receptionist allowed me access to the common room on the first floor, where I stretched out on the lounge and promptly fell asleep!

I woke up when Stacey and Max arrived and there was some upping and downing till we finally met up. They thought I was on the sixth floor and had walked all the way to the top because the lifts weren’t working; I went up to the second floor where their room was, but in the meantime they had come to down to the first floor where I had been. I yelled to them as the lift whizzed past! Luckily no one was around, as they would have thought we were three crazies for sure.

I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and had found a restaurant serving “the best francesinha in Lisbon”. It was only about 2kms away. Stacey looked at the map and led the way. Max and I followed, trusting in her impeccable sense of direction. I didn’t want to have to walk any further than I had to. Stumbling over “paralelepipedos” (try saying that three times – the Portuguese word for “cobblestones”) and undulating kilometres of footpath we had definitely worked up an appetite. Lucimar is a simple restaurant in a small, local neighbourhood just beyond the area you would normally go to. Just as well they’re rated highly on Trip Advisor or you’d never find them!

The gentleman was very friendly and brought out bread, olives (the best I’ve had yet!), cheese, soup and finally the francsinha (a huge sandwich soaked in tomato soup) which Stacey and I shared. There’s no way one person could eat a whole one. We had two bottles of the loveliest red wine from Borba to wash it all down. The dessert cupboard looked inviting and I couldn’t resist. I don’t know what it was called but it was really yummy, sort of like a crème caramel/baked custard but not quite. All of this including the wine was 51 euro! I hope all the restaurants are as cheap and delicious as this! We caught a taxi home, which dropped Max and Stacey home first and then me for just 7 euro, due to Max’s negotiating skills. I sat chatting to Daniel who was telling me all about Lisbon’s graffiti and decided that’s what we’d do tomorrow as I had no other plans.

I slept in the next morning knowing Stacey wouldn’t be there at the crack of dawn, and still was ready and waiting for hours. We set off in search of the graffiti, but didn’t find much. We found lots of beautiful places though. We walked through back streets, found a cable car and rode it to the top, then sat down for a beer and a delicious egg custard tart.  Then down, down, down to the centre of town, the Triumphal Arch and the river where we caught a ferry to the other side, and looked for a restaurant. It was rather run down, with old fishing factories, laying  abandoned.

We found a restaurant and had some seafood soup, but decided the rest of the menu was quite expensive, and the soup was enough to sustain us until dinner, so back on the ferry to the city, and on the tram to a restaurant that Max remembers from previous visits to his Mum, who used to live nearby. More delicious food! I had the famous “black pig” followed by a fabulous dessert, which Stacey and I shared, and of course, more red wine! After taking the tram back into the town centre, we caught a taxi which dropped me off first.  I skipped a shower (I’m not attempting that gas heater!), hopped into bed where I feel asleep almost immediately. I had walked far today! We pick up our hire car tomorrow at 10am for our tour round Portugal.