Last weekend, Karen and I flew to Lisbon for a sister holiday. It’s my first time visiting Portugal (her second). I love the feel of European cities, with their narrow cobblestone streets, historic buildings, and laundry drying on the balconies.
I was surprised to see how touristy Lisbon is, right up there with Paris and Venice. In fact, I’ve heard almost no Portuguese since arriving as the streets are full of English and French-speaking tourists. Even the homeless people have bilingual cardboard signs, indicating that they’re “HOMELESS”. On the ride from the airport, our driver told us that AirBnBs have taken over Lisbon, making it unaffordable for most locals to live there. Trams intended for commuter transport have also been co-opted by tourists who use them for a quaint site-seeing experience. I don’t think I’d want to be here in high season if this is what it’s like in the off-season.
We spent much of our time wandering through the narrow streets without any particular destination in mind, but we also hit a few tourist sites along the way. Lisbon is a very hilly city.
It wasn’t. The drinks, pretty as they are, were lukewarm and the food was…not good.
The $100 Photo
It was right around the corner from where we stayed.
Karen and I are fairly seasoned travellers and had done our research before coming. We knew, for example, that the olives and bread on the tables in restaurants are not complimentary. We knew about the risk of pickpockets, as is the case in any touristy European city. We knew that, while most places in Lisbon accept credit cards, some only accept cash.
As we were out walking on our second morning, I noticed Karen’s backpack was unzipped. She immediately checked for her wallet and found the euros missing. We were shocked and confused. We’d only been out for a couple of hours. We hadn’t been in any even remotely crowded place. No one had ‘accidentally’ bumped into us, or asked us for directions to distract us. We’d had our packs with us at all times. How could it have happened? Where? When? Retracing our steps, the only place that seemed possible was when we’d stopped to take pics of the funicular above.
Her cash was in a zippered wallet, in a zipped inner pocket of a zipped backpack with a buckled strap holding the backpack closed. The pickpocket would have had to unbuckle, unzip, unzip, find the wallet, unzip again, pull out the cash, and drop the wallet back into the bag (her credit cards and ID were untouched, but the wallet was at the bottom of the bag, not in the inner zipped pocket where she’d left it). And it all had to have happened within a very short timespan, while she was wearing the pack, without her – or anyone around – noticing. We were flustered by how easily we’d been hoodwinked, despite our awareness of the risks. A money belt worn under the clothes would have been the safest option, and I made sure to use mine after that, but they can be a pain when you need to get money out, and pickpockets have been known to cut and grab money belts too. Fortunately, we’d left our passports and larger bills in the room safe, and the thief was ‘kind’ enough to leave the rest of her wallet intact, but the experience was very disconcerting.
After that, Karen became hyper-vigilant. At one point her backpack strap got caught on a piece of metal as she was passing through a gate. After a brief moment of confusion, she realized what had happened, and we were both in tears of laughter, picturing her whipping around to deliver a karate chop to a metal post.
Pasteis de Nata
Emma Stone claimed that during the filming of Poor Things, she had to down sixty Pasteis de Nata – “the first bite is delicious, but by the end you really want to puke.” We knew we had to try these iconic Portuguese pastries, but based on Emma’s advice, we agreed to eat fewer than sixty. Moderation is important.
Not one to leave something this important to chance, I’d done my research and read a blog post by a couple who’d taste-tested the famous tarts at all the top-rated Lisbon locations. A place called Mantegaria was the clear winner, so that’s where we went. It’s the only item they serve and they were making them by the hundreds. They were warm and tasted amazing!
The Sites of Sintra
We took a day trip to the town of Sintra, which was at one time a summer retreat for Portuguese royalty and nobility. Sintra is renowned for its castles and palaces, the most famous of which is Pena Palace.
We wandered through parts of the 200-hectare Pena Park before walking down into the historic centre of Sintra for lunch. It’s a tourist town – all tourist shops and restaurants – but we enjoyed meandering through its narrow cobblestone streets and resting our feet over lunch.
After lunch we carried on to the Quinta da Regaleira, which is known more for its whimsical gardens, steeped in symbolism and mystery, than for the palace itself.
The highlight is the Initiatory Well (Poço Iniciático), in the shape of an inverted tower, possibly used for initiation rituals associated with Freemasonry. Visitors can descend its nine levels to reach the bottom of the well, on which is embedded a compass rose on a Templar cross. At the base, you can travel through a labyrinth of cave-like underground tunnels, emerging at the Waterfall Lake (Lago da Cascata). Karen was a bit creeped out by it so she skipped the well and tunnels and met me back at the palace.
After the city portion of our trip, we rented a car and drove three hours south to Lagos in the Algarve. It’s cold, rainy and windy today but our apartment came with a welcoming gift, so I’m sure we’ll figure something out.
