A long weekend in Lisbon, Portugal

Our youngest daughter flew on a low cost flight to spend a weekend with us in Lisbon which is one of her favourite cities. Although we live in Portugal, her journey time by air was considerably less than our road trip!

Our first stop was for late lunch at ‘docas’ which is one of the old docks now being used as a marina with one side being lined with restaurants for open air and indoor eating. It is under the high level bridge across the river and the background noise of the traffic sounds like angry bees. Before the meal we had to have a drink at the Irish pub to see the end of a football match on Sky Television!

We stayed at the five star boutique hotel, The Beira Alta, which is the conversion of an old city stately home. It has an open air terrace bar with food and snacks on the top floor which looks over the city roofs to the river.

We chose this hotel since it is central. Nearby is the Brazileiro café where the famous Lisbon writers used to meet over 100 years ago. Also close is the ‘elevador’ which is a lift that takes you down to the main shopping area of the city.

This was a change from our usual hotels of As Janelas Verdes and York House which are two small hotels in interesting old buildings in the quieter embassy area of the city.

The following evening, we had a drink in the unusual Pavihâo Chinês where the walls are covered with old collections of many themes. This was followed by a taxi ride up the hill on the other side of the city almost to the castle. Here we went to the Chaperto restaurant which is reached through a graffiti painted door and through a courtyard full of students. A spiral staircase leads up to the high class restaurant where we had a table in the widow with an excellent view of the nighttime skyline to accompany our good food.

The next day we discovered Café no Chiado in Largo do Picadeiro near the hotel. An excellent small place for a snack or a light lunch.

The afternoon was spent on one of the trams which took us down to the city and up the streets in the old area on the other side. After a coffee, we made the return journey. A more structured sightseeing journey (and more expensive) can be made by the tourist tram leaving from the square by the river.

That evening we had another memorable meal in the A Travessa restaurant next to an old convent near the French Embassy. This is definitely a place to go by taxi since if you manage to find it, the parking is limited.

On Sunday morning, we visited the Jerinimos Monastery which with the nearby Monument to the discoveries and the Torre de Belem are the buildings in Lisbon most visited by tourists

Another night we went to a ‘Fado’ restaurant. The singing was excellent but when the bill came we found that we were being treated like tourists and I do not want others to share our expensive experience so the details are not given here.

Next day it was time to say goodbye to my daughter and we had a meeting scheduled at the Pestana Palace hotel followed by another at the nearby attractive town of Sintra. The Pestana Palace is the flagship hotel of the group that runs the Pousada hotels and many of their promotional rates apply at this splendid hotel.

What a difference was this visit to Lisbon compared with staying in one of the modern hotels. We did have the benefit of having been there before and the experience of someone who had worked in the city. Although the places were expensive by the standards of Portugal, prices were cheap compared to other European capital cities.