The trip to Lisbon was incredible! The Portuguese are very hospitable, funny and generous. Lisbon is a beautiful city, with little surprises around every corner. We tried to see as much as possible in four days, but it's a very tall order...
The food is fantastic, but we had to be careful after the first dinner. Somebody recommended a restaurant, praising the sardines, something my sister was very keen to eat. We arrived and there were only a couple of people in the restaurant, and they didn't look very happy. There were no sardines. We ordered some prawn rissoles for starters and they were still frozen in the middle. We sent them back and ordered Bacalhau à Brás. It wasn't too bad, but we had better before... The only nice part of the meal were the desserts. We decided that from then on, we were going to check the atmosphere of the restaurants, watch people's faces, see if they were eating with gusto. All the other meals were really good, it proved to be a good system.
I took my camera, but, for some inexplicable reason, I left it at the hotel for the first two days. Some of the photos were taken with my sister's i-Phone.
 |
| We had to pose next to Fernando Pessoa, a great Portuguese poet |
 |
This guy's make-up gave him the appearance of rubber.
He would stay suspended like this for hours... |
 |
| Torre de Belem |
 |
| The Jeronimos Monastery |
 |
We went to this expensive restaurant for some good food and fado. We got neither...
The food was mediocre and the woman couldn't sing to save her life!
The guys playing the guitars saved the evening. |
 |
| Entrance to the Museu do Azulejo (The Portuguese make the most wonderful wall tiles) |
 |
We think they took some mind altering substances in the XVIth century...
This panel is about the marriage of a hen, organized my a load of monkeys! |
 |
| The leopard hunt. Please note the second leopard, waiting to look in the mirror. |
 |
| Castelo de São Jorge |
We also visited Sintra, about 40 minutes from Lisboa by train. The old kings of Portugal had their summer palaces there. The village is very beautiful and well preserved.
We took a tour on a very old jeep and went to Cascais to get the train back to Lisbon.
 |
| This is Cabo da Roca. It's the westernmost place in Europe |
 |
| Dora has a cheeky smile |
The next three photos are of a place called Boca do Inferno (Hell's Mouth). We found it quite dramatic.
I was so impressed with the friendliness of the Portuguese, so taken with the beauty of the country, that I wouldn't mind moving to Portugal...
