Portugal - Lisbon

I expected to love Lisbon. My mother lived there in her mid-20s, teaching English as a second language; it was one of my sister's favourite cities when she visited Europe last year; and Heidi of Apples Under My Bed  has recently done a series of glowing posts about her time in Lisbon on her honeymoon.

The thing about expectations, of course, is that they can be let down. Shortly after our arrival, we were unsure if we would even like Lisbon, let alone love it.

These sorts of views gradually won us over...

Part of this initial lacklustre experience, other than the aforementioned expectation issue, was probably due to the time and nature of our arrival. We came by overnight (sleeper) train from Madrid, arriving at the central Lisbon train station at 7.30am on Sunday morning. Few cities look their best at a train station on 7.30am on Sunday, and Lisbon was no exception. It didn't help that the walk to our accommodation, in one of the older parts of town, was  graffiti lined and smelt of urine.

In truth, Lisbon is grubby. Many European cities are. It grew on us - it is that sort of city, really, the growing on sort - but it remained dirty and I never did fall fully in love.

I did, however, fall in like with Lisbon. I can also see that with time, it would get under your skin. Lisbon is full of surprise views and glimpses of beauty, but they present themselves in stages and around corners rather than dazzling you straight up.

Belem Tower, Belem, Lisbon - in mist

Belem Tower, Belem, Lisbon - mist cleared

We started Sunday at Belem, a world heritage site with a renowned fortress tower and monastery. The day started misty but cleared by mid-morning, allowing the sunlight to lift things from slightly gloomy to quite spectacular.

Belem Tower, looking down

The Jeronimos Monastery was popular enough to involve a queue for entrance (although it was also free entrance, given it was Sunday), and the popularity was deserved.

Truly beautiful architecture.

Belem is also the site of the most famous of Lisbon's pasteis de nata (custard tarts). Pasteis de Belem was recommended to us by my sister, Lonely Planet and the owner of our accommodation, and on arrival was sufficiently busy to drive home its reputation.

Mr Bite bought two tarts and proclaimed them good. I tried about a quarter of one, a serious vegan exception, and could see how they would be good if you liked egg-y custard and pastry. I have lost the taste for egg-based desserts and was never a big fan of pastry (a terrible thing to say in Portugal) so appreciated them in theory but not so much in taste.

Fortunately, Lisbon provided plenty of other food that was to my taste. Portugese cuisine is largely meat focused, but this is balanced out by plenty of fresh produce, including gorgeous summer fruit and vegetable dishes or salads at restaurants and even corner stores. They also have good bread, which Spain really didn't!, and wonderful coffee. Gelatine-free yoghurt is something Europe does brilliantly, and that was also the case in Lisbon.

Cafe lunch at Lisbon castle; salad, fresh mango, baguette.

Another pleasant Portugal discovery was the friendliness. Several times, people stopped to ask us if we wanted help when we were consulting our map on the side of the street. Smiling was common, people were courteous, and as a bonus - most spoke English. 

The rest of our Sunday was spent wandering, an activity that Lisbon is highly suited to.

Coloured tiled walls, a characteristic of the city

Praca do Comercio (central plaza)

More tiles...

On Monday, we did more wandering, but in the old part of town, the Alfama. The area incorporates incredible views, the castle, and roads that are even narrower and steeper than those in the main part of the city.

We loved that the castle could be explored independently. It has retained its walls and turrets and is open to public meandering, no museum or set route involved.

Castelo de Sao Jorge

Our accommodation in Lisbon was B&B style, at Casio do Patio Bed & Breakfast, and was picked by virtue of glowing reviews on TripAdvisor. The reviews and pictures were entirely accurate and it provided a great base, not far from the central shopping and transport stretch. 

Casa do Patio B&B

The morning courtyard breakfast, with freshly squeezed orange juice (note that Mr Bite has two, below!) and wonderful coffee, was an added bonus.

Lisbon was a short stop, and we moved on to Porto yesterday, which is 3 hours north of Lisbon by train. In contrast to Lisbon, we have already fallen half in love with this city...more on that another time.

Sadly, my focus now switches to work for three days from tomorrow. It sounds terrible to say you have a conference in the middle of your honeymoon, but the trip was originally planned around this conference (before we even got engaged!) and was turned into a honeymoon later. Three days of work seems a small price to pay for externally paid airfares, but I will be glad to return to a holiday focus after Saturday.

Have you visited cities that turned out differently to your expectations? Or done much exploring in Portugal?

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