Wow. Let me start off by saying that I absolutely love this country. The people, their language, the food, and just about everything else in Portugal is elegant and astoundingly beautiful. So far I haven’t had a moment where I didn’t feel like I was on a strange sort of high. I literally cannot stop myself from smiling and enjoying every second of this place in a way that I’ve never really felt before. I am the happiest I’ve ever been and it’s only been a little over a day. Allison and I couldn’t have picked a more perfect place to spend our honeymoon.
The point of writing all of this stuff down is so that I won’t forget all of the wonderful things that I encounter while I am here, so let me take a couple steps back and start from the beginning.
After a sad goodbye to the cats, Allison and I arrived at SFO in style via a towncar that we got from a deal on yelp. We made it past security with no issues (although she did get “felt up” ßher words, not mine) and grabbed breakfast at a little restaurant in the airport. Allison wasn’t hungry but I ordered eggs benedict and a coffee; it was delicious. While we were sitting in the restaurant we decided that it would be a good time to pop our drugs. Allison was given a few Xanax by her doctor to ease her flight anxiety, and I took two Klonopin. Neither of us had ever taken a benzo before but we had heard that they were the shit. We heard correctly. Not only did I feel completely relaxed but I was extremely happy and ready to take on our adventure.
The first flight from SFO to Newark, NJ took about five hours. I played Catan on my iPhone for the first two hours and slept the rest of the flight. I saw Manhattan from my my seat which was kinda cool since I’ve never seen New York before. From the air it certainly didn’t seem like such a massive city.
Once we arrived in Newark it was a bit of a clusterfuck finding our next departure gate. United Airlines made us go on two different shuttles even though our terminal was perpendicular from the one we had arrived at. You gotta love the inefficiency of airports.
Once we found our next departure gate we had about two hours to kill so we decided to see if we could upgrade our seats. The woman that we spoke to at United was a total biatch and rudely told us that we could upgrade to first class for another thousand dollars apiece. New Jersey seems like a total piece of shit and I hope that I never have to go there again. In fact, the people there seemed so rude that I hope I never have to go to New Jersey again, period. That place seriously sucks. We grabbed a bite to eat, stopped by a bookstore to get some reading material, and hit up the “Guiness bar”, the bar that was recommended to us by the bookstore dude. I had a beer and Allison watched me (I’m starting to notice a trend here).
The flight from Newark to Lisbon was mostly uneventful. Bad food, sleep, blah blah blah, etc etc. Allison and I opted to not sit next to each other which ended up working out in my favor. My row had an empty seat in the middle and a grumpy old Portuguese grandma in the aisle seat, so I had plenty of room to stretch. I watched Fargo and slept. When I woke up, we were thirty minutes from landing.
Lisbon was absolutely breathtaking as we flew over it and I could already tell that this was going to be an amazing vacation. The city was fairly sprawled out but still appeared to have that big city feel to it. This was my first trip to Europe and I half expected to see castles and cathedrals all over the place. Obviously, this was not the case.
The Lisbon airport was extremely modern and well designed. The second we walked up to the luggage carrier our luggage arrived and we were on our way. We immediately saw the driver that we had booked, so we forgot to exchange our money into Euros. This proved to be a bit of a problem, but I’ll talk about that more later on.
The driver introduced himself and greeted us in perfect English. Allison and I were both extremely happy because neither of us speaks any Portuguese, so we were both relieved that our first experience in Portugal was going smoothly. It turns out the driver basically knew the two sentences that he greeted us with, and nothing else. He didn’t understand a word of the next question we asked him and he asked if perhaps we could communicate in Spanish. We spent the rest of the drive to the hotel looking up how to ask him where we could exchange our American dollars to Euros because we weren’t sure how we were going to pay him. It was actually pretty funny and everything worked out fine. The drive from the airport to the city of Cascais was only about twenty minutes and the bellhop at the hotel spoke English. He told us that we could charge it to the room, and he helped get our bags.
For the first 5 days of our trip, we are staying at the beautiful Viva Marinha hotel. The guy at the front desk spoke English and was really nice/helpful. The hotel lobby was really elegant and I knew that we had picked a great spot to stay. We headed up to our room and were thrilled once we stepped inside. Yes, this is our honeymoon, but I seriously didn’t expect the kind of luxury that we were about to experience. Our room was breathtaking. I will include some photos to save myself from having to explain everything, but I absolutely love the simple and elegant style that seems to embody Cascais.
Once we got unpacked and took a quick shower to wash off the travel grossness, we decided to take a walk around the hotel and check everything out. The Viva Marinha is about a half a mile away from the coast and has a really tropical feel to it. The weather was in the mid to low eighties and it felt amazing. The hotel has two pools (one heated, one not) with a wooden walkway between them. The pools are situated several hundred feet away from the hotel buildings which, was kinda neat. The hotel grounds are covered with beautiful trees and grass and plants, and had such a Portuguese feel to it. Again, photos are worth a thousand words.
Once we did a proper tour of the grounds, we decided to borrow two of the mountain bikes that the hotel has available for its guests. We headed off towards downtown Cascais along the coast on a path that was specifically designed for cyclists. The water was so beautiful and the sun felt so much more intense than it does in California. We rode down to the marina and saw some amazing architecture. Portugal is much more modern than I expected, with stunning architecture that I’ve never seen before. The buildings were all a mix of two different styles. The more modern style consisted of tall concrete buildings with tall windows and minimal paint. Everything is very tall and lean looking, and you could tell that the insides were very spacious. The other style of architecture was the old world style, with ornate looking fixtures and paint that has been chipped away by the salty sea air. The mix of modern and old world added a sense of modernity as well as the city having a rich history of wealthy folks building their summer houses near the ocean. It’s always been my dream to live in a place like this. During our bike ride, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I never wanted to leave this place.
Once we got back from our ride, we decided to grab a bite to eat from the restaurant at the hotel. The restaurant had a “garden section”, which consisted of covered tables on a beautiful lawn overlooking the grounds of the hotel. I ordered a sandwich with cured ham, garlic, arugula and toasted sourdough; it was amazing. Allison had a mozzarella/tomato/basil sandwich on a delicious looking seed baquette and we both ordered cervejas (that’s beers, if you didn’t know). Up to his point, I had been too embarrassed to speak a word a Portuguese to anyone in fear of looking like an idiot, but I actually said “obrigado” (thank you) to the waiter and I felt really cool.
We headed back to the room and took a nap that ended up lasting until the next morning. Jetlag is a helluva drug! Our goal was to stay up until around nine o’clock and then go to bed early, but we only made it until about 5pm. Both of us woke up at 1am and felt wide awake, but we were able to get back to sleep with relative ease.
When we woke up, we decided to order room service to our room. They have these little cards that you can fill out with what you want, and you just hang it on your door. It said it could take up to an hour to receive our food, but I don’t think it took a minute over 30 minutes. We had the most incredible breakfast! Again, look at the pics. We were only able to eat about a third of the stuff that we ordered. The coffee was amazing, and the pastries and cheese and meats were the perfect start the day. I told Allison that I wanted to live the rest of my life like this, and she told me that I better get rich soon. At least I’ll always have this vacation.
Allison and I got dressed and decided that we had better get our money exchanged so we could actually leave the hotel grounds and pay for things. The hotel provides a free shuttle (and by shuttle, I mean a Mercedes minivan) that will take guests anywhere they want to go. It only took about twenty minutes for him to arrive, and in the mean time I talked to the super cool bellboys that we had met the day before. I told them that I wanted to catch a futbol match (soccer, for you Americans not in the know) while I was in Portugal, and I wanted to know what the best way of going about getting tickets was. The guys told me that they had a friend that used to work at the hotel that could get us tickets for half price (!!!!) so they would have it all arranged for us. They only needed to know our room number and they would leave all of the information in our room for us. We still haven’t gotten the tickets at this point, but I think those guys liked us and I’m extremely optimistic that I will be able to see a match before we leave. Europe rules!
Our shuttle arrived and drove us down to downtown Cascais. He dropped us off and we arranged to have him pick us up at 5pm. It felt like such a luxury to have our own personal driver, and he was a really nice guy. Allison said his arms looked exactly like my arms, which served as further proof of my Portuguese heritage, right?!
We found a Barclay’s bank close to where we were dropped off, and used the ATM just like we would anywhere else. It was a huge relief to finally have some Euros, since we weren’t able to even tip anyone up to this point.
The spent an hour exploring downtown Cascais and it was everything and more than we expected. Shops, restaurants, beaches and other curiosities were set along the stone streets filled with other Europeans on vacations. I particularly enjoyed hearing everyone speak Portuguese as I find it to be the most beautiful of all the languages.
[The beach was packed!]
[Even the McDonalds is cute! - Al.]
It was extremely hot out, so we decided to have a rest at a nice little park near the water and sit in the shade for a bit. From there we headed out to the Cultural Center that ended up having free admission! The docent spoke English, was extremely attractive (Allison agrees) and had lots of great information about the four artists that were currently being displayed.
The first artist was a Portuguese woman that made ceramic images of American fairytales. They weren’t that good, but it was fun trying to guess which fairytale she was trying to portray by translating the title or looking at the piece. We managed to figure out most of them.
The second exhibit was a series of love letters written by a Portuguese artist to his girlfriend-then-wife while he was serving in the second World War. The letters were voiced by two actors and played over a speaker while we sat and listened to them in a cool, air conditioned room (a television with closed captioning did the translating for us).
From there we moved on to the artist whom made large paintings of animals and humans on stage. Here is a pic of me admiring one of them
The final exhibit was by far the best, and it was by an artist named George Grosz. He did sketches of political material circa the second World War and Allison and I both found his work to be amazing. He criticized the bourgeois and rooted for the proletariat (as many artists do) in a way that really made me think of a political satirist. He was amazing and I will definitely be looking up more of his work when I get back home and have an Internet connection again.
After the cultural center, we decided to grab a drink at an outdoor English pub called the John Bull. It was situated in a small square with lots of other restaurants and lots of hustle and bustle. We sat outside under an umbrella and drank a few beers and enjoyed the warm weather (it made the beers taste especially satisfying after all the walking we had done). We said a few things to the waiters in Portuguese, which they seemed to appreciate, and we listened to a lively street performer play songs that ranged from Oasis to Van Morrison. It was a picture perfect version of a European vacation. We even met an old English couple that stumbled over their Portuguese even worse than ours.
After our beers we decided to head to Jumbo, aka the Portuguese version of Walmart. We shopped for lunch items and booze (lots and lots of booze) so that our room would be fully stocked and we wouldn‘t have to buy everything from the hotel. It was interesting to see what their grocery stores look like and Allison and I both had a great time browsing all of their goods. It’s abundantly clear that Portuguese people enjoy wine, ham and fish much more than Americans do.
[Our shopping basket full of booz-i-cals]
We made it through the checkout line without having to mutter a word a Portuguese and headed back to the agreed upon meeting spot of our shuttle driver. Within seconds of arriving at the spot, we saw the forest green Mercedes pull up and we headed back to the hotel. Allison and I were both happy that we could finally tip him, and I’m sure he appreciated it as well.
Right now we are lounging in our beautiful room enjoying some cheap Portuguese wine and thinking about what we’ll do next. I’ll be back later with more of our adventures tomorrow!
What. A. Day. I suppose the most logical way for me to continue this travel log is to begin where I left off yesterday.
After I finished typing up our adventures, Allison and I decided to head down to the spa at the hotel. The entire back room of the spa is basically a mild version of a sauna (meaning the heat was only slightly cooler than an average day in Texas during the summer). We arrived approximately forty-five minutes before it closed (the spa closes at 9!) so we were only able to soak in the hydrotherapy pool for about 30 minutes. A hydrotherapy pool, for those not in the know, is a small pool with jets that’s slightly warmer than bath water. Both Allison and I expected it to be hotter, but considering the fact that the entire back room was already hot and moist, the water temperature actually felt pretty amazing.
After our soak we headed back to our room, changed back into our street clothes and hit the hotel’s restaurant for a late dinner. I’ve always heard that people in Portugal eat late and stay up late but I think maybe I must have been confusing Portugal with Spain (or just believing some American myth about how Europeans live). We arrived at the restaurant at around 10pm and they almost wouldn’t seat us. I ordered a steak and Allison had the cod. Both of us really enjoyed out dinners, but it was definitely a bit on the pricey side. As of now, the dollar is about 1.5 times weaker than the Euro, so we were paying an additional 50% for each meal from the listed price. We were able to charge the meal to the room (such a luxury) and so it felt like the meal was basically free. Now I know why they do that!
We headed back to the room and fell asleep around 1:30 pm. The jetlag was long gone but we still hadn’t fully acclimated to the new time schedule so both of us had a bit of trouble going to sleep.
I woke up around 11am and still felt a bit tired. After a shower and a breakfast that was comprised of leftovers from yesterday’s room service, we were ready for our day. We found out the shuttle wouldn’t be available until 2pm, so both Allison and I read our books for a few hours. The plan for today was to head to another little town called Sintra, which is only about 20 minutes by car from our hotel.
We asked the driver to drop us off at the Modern Art Museum, which happens to have free admission. According to Allison, the Modern Art Museum is basically just the private collection of some rich dude (must be nice). After being dropped off and taking several pictures in front of the gorgeous building, we came to find out that the museum was closed. Apparently they close down the whole goddamn museum when they change exhibits and don’t let people browse through the permanent collection. I took a bit of solace in the fact that American museums are much more efficient than this, but I was still sad that we weren’t able to see any art.
[The museum we didn’t see :( - Al.]
We decided to head to the Centro de Historica (aka the super touristy part of the city) to check out the sites. The weather was amazing and we were both eager to see what this beautiful city had to offer. After walking in circles for close to 45 minutes, we stopped off in a little café for waters and a bathroom break. I ordered us two waters and used the bathroom, speaking only Portuguese through the whole experience. I was able to greet the barista, ask to use the bathroom, order waters, and pay for everything without saying a single word of English. At this point, things are going pretty well. Not only do I not feel like a douchey American, but I was feeling a bit more self sufficient. I mean, what’s more basic than acquiring water and using the bathroom! J
After the café, we returned to the map that we had previous viewed at least two times before to try to figure out how to get to the Centro de Historica. While we were looking at it, two English couples came up were attempting to find the same area that we heading to. Allison and I ended up stealthy following them and were finally heading the right direction.
The walk to the Centro de Historica was filled with views of beautiful houses, narrow valleys with lush vegetation and street vendors selling their various wares to the tourists. There was also a very old looking castle at the top of the mountain that looked both ancient and beautiful and I kept peeking at it, knowing I probably wouldn’t want to hike all the way to the top just to see it. I ended up buying a cool little tile that had a ship on it and Allison bought a tile with the some Portuguese buildings on it. I was able to complete the transaction all in Portuguese again, and again I felt fairly pleased with myself.
We continued along the long winding path toward the Centro de Historica looking at the various wares and statues along the path. Once we finally reached the square we were surprised by how busy it was with the hustle and bustle of tourists. There were two main museums (the Toy Museum and the Natural History Museum) as well as many different shops and restaurants. We continued to explore the winding side streets and peek inside several of the shops. Allison bought a bag and I purchased a Portuguese-style rooster for my Grandma (she collects chickens).
After that we decided that it was time for a drink so we sat down at a little outdoor restaurant right in the middle of the busy square. The service was pretty poor but we were able to order two 40cl cervejas (beers) and some french fries. Allison brought along some of the pages from one of our travel guides and found a cool museum that we decided we wanted to check out. The museum was outside of walking distance, so we made an attempt to hail down a taxi. The entire time we were sitting at the restaurant there were several cabs parked right next to us, waiting for a fare to come to them. Of course when we were done eating and ready to use one of those taxis we were unable to find an available one and gave up after about 10 minutes of waiting. The whole thing seemed futile, and we didn’t feel like putting up with the stress. Instead, we checked out the front of the Museum of Natural History and headed back in the direction of the downtown area that we got dropped off in.
On the walk back, I told Allison that I really wanted to get a tattoo from the tattoo shop that we saw near the Museum of Modern Art. After a bit of discussion it was settled, I was going to get a tattoo in Portugal. We briefly stopped by a book faire and then made our way back to the tattoo shop.
As I entered the tattoo shop, I was wondering how in the world I was going to explain what I wanted to the tattoo artist. So far I’d done a pretty good job of getting my message across to everyone in Portuguese, but I had no idea how I was going to explain the intricacies of a tattoo design in Portuguese. I’d had such an amazing time in Portugal so far and I was extremely inspired by the ship tile that I‘d purchased a few hours earlier that I decided I was going to get an old school ship tattoo on my inner bicep. I thought that it would be a really cool way to always remember this amazing trip. Luckily, after an awkward greeting, the tattoo artist working the front desk said “I speak English”. Woohoo!
The way that the tattoo shop was decorated transported me directly back to California. There was 50’s rock n’ roll playing on the stereo, tons of Coop and flash art everywhere, and the place just felt like any tattoo shop that you would see in California. I handed the artist my tile and he told me it would take about fifteen minutes to sketch it all out. Allison and I flipped through their portfolios and decided that this guy was pretty legit. I was super stoked.
I told Allison that she didn’t need to wait around and that she should continue to walk around and explore the area while I got my tattoo. The artist set up his station and we got down to work. I had a really great conversation with the guy, who was super super cool, and we talked about how much he loves Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. The man was obviously a work traveler-type, and I really enjoyed hearing his stories of visiting the states.
After about an hour Allison returned and watched my tattoo get completed. I offered the artist a tip, but he refused to take anything more than five dollars, and he gave me a free soap to wash to tattoo with. I was on a complete high having gotten a tattoo on a whim in a foreign country, and I was thrilled with how the tattoo came out.
Allison and I were both super hungry, so the tattoo artist suggested a little Portuguese restaurant right around the corner. We walked in and the place was insanely packed. Every other place in the area was completely dead or closed, but this place was completely hoppin’. We stood at the counter with several other people for close to fifteen minutes, but we were never really acknowledged and decided to head somewhere else. We had a feeling that the Portuguese people that walked in after us were going to be seated before us, so we decided to move on. Both of us were drooling from how delicious the food both looked and smelled, so we decided that we’re going to try to go there two days from now when we return to Sintra. We want to hit the Toy Museum, the Natural History Museum, and that restaurant and bypass all the aimless wandering that we had done today.
We ended up eating pizza, pasta, and beer in a Pizza Hut (yes, Pizza Huts in Portugal serve beer, wine, and liquor!) and found a cab to take us home. Our cabbie spoke no English and there was a bit of a mix-up about where we were staying, but we managed to make it back without too much trouble.
And…that brings us to the present. Right now I’m writing this journal entry while drinking a vodka/Joi (lemon soda) and staring at my tattoo every time I pass by a mirror. Allison is reading a magazine, wishing we were in bed. All in all, it was another amazing day filled with beautiful sights and tons of fun! I seriously love this country.
*Side note: I bought a cheap bottle of vodka from the grocery store the other day (surprise, surprise) and the shit FROZE! The top half of the bottle turned into some kind of vodka slurpee while the bottom half turned into a thick liquid. I guess that’s what I get for only paying a few dollars for a whole bottle.
Yesterday (Saturday) morning Allison and I woke up and decided to finally check out the free breakfast buffet that was included with our Jetsetter package. It’s located in the same beautiful restaurant that we’d previously had dinner in two days before. Wow, what a spread. This buffet had EVERYTHING. I noticed a few distinct breakfast styles from various countries (English, Portuguese, French, American, etc), which may explain the massive amount of options that were available; they were trying to please everyone. If you’re picturing a Las Vegas buffet or something like that, don’t. All of the food was super fresh and you could tell that everything was prepared with care for each individual dish. It’s obvious that this is catering to Europe’s wealthy. They even had 8-10 different kinds of fresh squeezed juice…it was amazing.
After we had a proper breakfast in us, we headed back up to our room to get showered and prepare for our second trip to downtown Cascais. One the first trip down there we had no plans other than exploring the city and taking it all in. Today we were going to try to hit a few of the attractions that Allison read about in one of our travel guides.
The first spot we hit was the Boca do Inferno (aka the Devil’s Mouth), which can best be described as a small point that had with a small cove that had been hollowed out by the ocean. The water comes crashing into the cove and was supposed to create an effect similar to what happens at Steamers in Santa Cruz. The water was pretty calm yesterday so we didn’t get to see that, but the site itself was beautiful and it was a great start to the day.
After the Boca do Inferno we walked along the beautiful Avenida Rei Humberto II de Italia, an avenue that runs right along the coast. We saw some hilarious graffiti and I took a photo next to it (see below).
The graffiti in Portugal is mostly in English and involves a LOT of swearing. Allison and I speculate that English punks who are visiting Portugal probably do the graffiti. The Portuguese people seem much too conservative to do it, and I can’t imagine them wanting to deface a place that they seem to be so proud of. None of the Portuguese people have tattoos, they don’t drink much, they go bed early, and they all seem fairly conservative. They enjoy their sweet wine, desserts, and really just seem to love food in general. Nothing is done to excess, and most of the people here seem happy.
[Photo montage of Chris with various graffiti (and G-Spot restaurant), haha - Al.]
Another interesting thing that Allison and I noticed is that they generally only serve one kind of beer, a beer called Super Bock (and it’s fucking delicious!). Most of the bars have a limited selection of whiskey, vodka, and gin, one or two types of beer, and lots of port wines. This is definitely NOT a country of beer drinkers, except for the futbal fans.
While walking along the Avenida Rei Humberto II de Italia we stumbled upon the Santa Marta Lighthouse and museum. It was a small museum about lighthouses and we checked out the actual lighthouse itself. In the passageway to get to the lighthouse an artist had photographs displayed along the walls with stories about the ocean. Lifeguards and fisherman who had gone through traumatic experiences involving the ocean told many of the stories. The photographs were marginal at best, but the stories were all very interesting. The best story involved an octopus and it’s caretaker. The octopus became so attached to this woman that when she left it to go on vacation, it climbed out of its tank to try to find her and ended up dying. It was a sad story but I found it interesting that octopuses were so intelligent and loyal.
Adjacent to the lighthouse was a historical landmark called the Casa do Santa Maria. It was a large house that a wealthy Portuguese man had built for his daughter Maria in the late 1800’s. The house had hand painted tiles with Catholic imagery adorning the walls, and all in the all it wasn’t too exciting.
Next, we headed a few blocks down to the King D. Carlos Sea Museum. This building used to be a social club for Portugal’s royalty and the wealthy elite back in the eighteen and early nineteen hundreds. Cascais was an extremely popular place for Europe’s royalty during the months of September and October, and this was the “it” place to be a member of. It has since been turned into a really cheesy museum with displays about ocean mammals, Portuguese ships, and other ocean related things. One of the rooms contained several mannequins that were dressed in traditional Portuguese clothing worn by the fisherman. One of the mannequins was dressed particularly hipster-esque, so I took a photo with him. He would have fit in perfectly at Dolores Park drinking a PBR and laying out in the sun.
One interesting thing about all of these tourist sites was that they were all free, and all had docents and attendants available to answer questions. I found it interesting that the entire country seems to be so proud of its history that it wants to make sure all of the people that come to visit are educated about it. At this point, we have not paid to visit a single museum or tourist site. Portuguese people love to show off their art and culture, and they’re very proud of their country.
At this point the tourist sites were starting to feel a bit repetitive so we went in search of a place to grab a drink and bite to eat. We stumbled upon a “chicken” restaurant and grabbed a table outside. We split an order of half-a-chicken and fries, and ordered some Super Bocks and enjoyed the afternoon.
After the restaurant we walked around a bit and ended up stumbling upon the John Bull again so we decided to pop in for another beer. We sat outside and enjoyed our beers and started feeling pretty buzzed. We decided that we wanted to go “buzzed souvenir shopping” since we were both behind on finding souvenirs for our friends and family. We were mostly unsuccessful due to the fact that all of the shops sold the kind of crap that you would find at Fisherman’s Wharf or Ghiradelli Square. It was all a bunch of dumb little trinkets with the word Portugal or Cascais on it (although, I don’t know what I was expecting to find!). I did manage to buy some chocolates for my mom from a little sweet shop, and Allison and I both bought some dishtowels for our moms/Shannon at another little shop.
After a few hours of souvenir shopping it was time for some dinner. I had noticed that there were quite a few Indian restaurants in downtown Cascais and I told Allison I wanted to try one. I absolutely LOVE Indian food so I wanted to see if it was any different in Portugal. We found a place called Masala on one of the tiled side streets and grabbed a table outside. The strong smell of curry was extremely alluring, so we knew we were in for a treat. We ordered some Indian beers called Chakra (they were lagers, and I have to admit they were pretty good!), some saag paneer, and chicken tikka masala. The food was EXCELLENT! The saag paneer was the best that Allison and I have ever had, so we ate our faces off and went into a food coma.
Allison was starting to get tired and we were both getting really cold, so we decided to head back to the hotel. This was where one of our great “dumb tourist” moments happened. We knew that the taxis all headed over near the train station to pick up people that were arriving from other cities, so we made our way over there. I tried hailing down several taxis and noticed that they all ignored me or angrily pointed at other passengers. WTF was going on? Finally after several taxis did this to me, I noticed that there was a taxi stop where people casually waited to be picked up. All of the people at the taxi stop probably thought we were trying to steal their taxis by cutting in line ahead of them. As someone that takes a lot of cabs in San Francisco, I have to say that I like the Portuguese system much better. I’m constantly battling other fucks for cabs, and it seriously pisses me off when someone gets one before me. We finally reached our turn, hopped in, and got a ride back to the Viva Marinha. It was a long day filled with lots of sun, walking, beer and food.
When we got back to the room we were both tired and decided to read for a bit and turn in early. We both slept a solid ten hours and woke up ready for another breakfast at the hotel buffet.
Right now it is around noon and we are waiting until 2pm, when the shuttle will be here to take us back to Sintra. Our goal is to check out one of the sites that we missed last time and eat at the traditional Portuguese restaurant that we weren’t able to eat in last time. The food looked and smelled so amazing, and we could tell the place is good because it was PACKED with locals and all of the other restaurants were literally empty. It’s going to be a real treat!
Allison is feeling tired from all of the running around that we’ve been doing, so we’re going to take it easy today. We both want her to be nice and rested for Lisbon, which we leave for tomorrow. I’m so sad that tonight is our last night here at the Viva Marinha, but it’s been an amazing trip so far. I’m really looking forward to checking out the big city and see what it has to offer. Everyone I’ve met here says that Lisbon is extremely similar to San Francisco, so it should be interesting to see whether that is true or not.
We’ve been so busy that it’s been hard to find time to sit down and write all of this stuff down! But I know that someday I’ll be happy to have this, so I shall persist!
The hotel shuttle took us back into Sintra and we walked over to one of the more popular tourist attractions, the Quinta da Regaleira. It’s a mansion/palace with a chapel and park that has lakes, grottoes, fountains and many other interesting attractions. The property has been owned by many different people, including members of the Royal family and a hand full of “capitalists” (I think they mean entrepreneurs). One of such capitalists, Carvalho Monteiro, hired a famous Italian architect named Luigi Manini, who spent twelve years developing new and interesting features that contain hidden symbols and references to alchemy.
The palace was a bit boring (seeing as all of the furniture has been removed and replaced with historical information and messages about the architecture) but our trip up into the sky tower via an extremely narrow spiral staircase provided an AMAZING view of the entire valley. We particularly enjoyed the well that goes 60 feet into the ground and has a spiral staircase around the perimeter of the walls (it felt like we were in the Lord of the Rings), as well as the garden. I will include some of the pictures we took instead of writing anything more about it.
After the Quinta da Regaleira we headed back into downtown Sintra and grabbed a drink at a little bar. It had a pool table and several computers that you could use to access the Internet. The guy working the counter was really nice. Allison and I both got a little cookie for a snack, and when I asked if it was a gingerbread cookie, he looked up the ingredients on his iPad and told us it was a gingerbread cookie with own-ny (honey). We sat and read Portuguese tabloids for a while (they are exactly like American tabloids, and Portuguese people are OBSESSED with their own version of The Biggest Loser), but there was too much smoke in there and so we headed back out.
We walked into the urban part of the city but everything was completely closed. All of the shops and restaurants outside of the touristy area were completely shut down; probably because it was a Sunday afternoon. Allison and I really had our heart set on eating at the Portuguese restaurant that we had tried to go to a few days before, but it was “fechado”, just like everything else.
We decided that our best bet for finding an open restaurant would be to head back into the Centro do Historico. On the way back we ran into a friendly little kitten and against my advising, Allison decided to pick him up! Sintra is full of what appear to be feral cats, and I thought this little guy might have rabies or something. He was totally sweet and floppy and didn’t mind Allison holding him at all. The grounds of the Quinta da Regaleira were full of wild cats and they were MUCH less friendly. All of the cats in Portugal are a lot smaller than American cats, with rounder eyes and smaller heads.
We had dinner in the main square of Centro do Historica and caught a cab back to the Viva Marinha. Our taxi driver was a really grumpy old man who amused us both (he was really nice to us though). Everyone in Portugal seems to speak English except for the cab drivers, so it’s always an adventure to see if we will make it back to the right place.
We spent our last night at the Viva Marinha reading our books and relaxing in bed. We woke up early for the buffet and packed up all of our stuff. It was really sad leaving the hotel, but we were definitely looking forward to our time in Lisbon. We’re city people at heart and we were very excited to get back into an urban environment.
The cab driver that took us from the Viva Marinha drove like a bat out of hell the whole way and took us to the wrong hotel. We are staying at the Hotel Britania, but he took us to the Hotel Botanica (honest mistake, right?). When we tried to check in, they couldn’t find our reservation and we quickly identified the problem. Allison was relieved because she said that the Hotel Botanica as well as the surrounding area looked “super ghetto”. (It totally was!!!! - Al.)
Instead of catching another cab we got directions from the front desk of the Hotel Botanica and decided to hoof it. At this point the weather took a turn for the worse and it started raining on us. On top of that, we could not find the goddamn hotel. We looked like all of the annoying tourists that get in my way every day during the summer in San Francisco. This was some sort of sick way that the universe was getting back at me for complaining about tourists in San Francisco and I guess I deserved it. At this point we knew that we were close to the hotel but we decided to grab a cab anyway. As soon as we jumped in and told him where we were going, he made the same mistake as the first driver. We had to repeat the name many, many, times, show him where it was on the map, and FINALLY we were en route to the right hotel. It turns out the Hotel Britania is actually on a side street (not the main avenue) and we probably wouldn’t have found it ourselves.
We checked in and made our way up to our room. The second we walked in we were thrilled with the room, and it really reminded us of home (San Francisco, not our actual apartment). The floor tiles are made of cork (Portugal’s main export) and the design of the room is beautiful.
We were expecting a double bed but quickly discovered that we were given the biggest goddamn bed in the history of beds. It could easily sleep four children or small adults and is probably made for some weird Euro sex parties or something like that. *Related side note: there is a strip club across the street from our hotel that I suggested we go to, but Allison vetoed the idea. It would have been hilarious to see what Portuguese strippers are like! Anyways, we FINALLY had free Internet access so we spent an hour or so checking email and posting photos on instagram.
Despite the rain we were determined to head out and explore Lisbon, so we grabbed an umbrella from the hotel and headed out into the streets. The downtown portion of Lisbon, as well as the Avenida da Liberdade (where we are staying), is absolutely gorgeous and extremely European. We walked down the Avenida da Liberdade and made our way to the water, looking at all of the sites along the way. The Avenida da Liberdade is filled with high-end retail shops (Louis Vuitton, Prada, etc) and the downtown area is full of large public squares and with different eateries.
One other notable/hilarious thing about Lisbon is that they have a bridge that is a total knockoff of the Golden Gate Bridge. It looks exactly the same, and even the locals are aware of this fact. It’s actually a compliment that a city as rich and cultured as Lisbon would want to borrow something from the city that I love and am currently living in, so I actually found it to be endearing. I mean, who WOULDN’T want their own Golden Gate Bridge?! It’s one of the most beautiful bridges in the world!
We grabbed a sandwich at a sandwich shop and I was able to get a beer with my “menu” (aka value meal) for no extra charge, which was awesome. They sell beer at every restaurant (including McDonalds, Pizza Hut etc) although I think only the tourists are the only ones that take advantage of this amazing opportunity. We ate out in the rain under and umbrella and decided that we were tired of dealing with the weather so we made our way back to the hotel.
After a nap, we headed back out to grab some supplies (beer, water, and snacks) from a cool little grocery store and came back to the room. I wanted to go out to dinner, but Allison’s stomach is a bit upset and she isn’t hungry. Instead, I ate multi-grain Pringles with Laughing Cow cheese (healthy dinner, right?) and we’re going to call it an early night again tonight.
It’s really great being in Lisbon. I can’t wait to see some of the attractions and eat at their fancy restaurants. We might go to the aquarium tomorrow, or check out one of the castles that they have here in downtown. Until then, goodnight!
Well, we’ve made it to the end. I can’t believe today is already our last day here in Portugal. I’m so sad that I can’t just stay here forever, but I knew this day would come.
After I finished writing in this travel log two nights ago, Allison and I ended up getting drunk on Cutty Sark and talking until two in the morning. It was a really fun night and it just reminds me about how happy we are together and how much more amazing this trip has been being just the two of us. Any woman that’s down to drink warm Cutty and wants to order hot dogs from room service at two in the morning is ok in my book (we didn’t actually order them)!
[Nasty hot dogs in a jar at Jumbo - Al.]
We woke up yesterday morning feeling a bit hazy from the Cutty Sark, so we headed down to check out the breakfast at the hotel. They have a cool little bar/reading room area (with really cool art deco design) where they set up a buffet. The food was decent but it definitely didn’t compare to the buffet at the Viva Marinha (I suppose that was to be expected).
After breakfast we showered and got ready for the day. Allison had her heart set on checking out the Ocenario de Lisboa (Europe’s second biggest aquarium) so we hailed down a cab and headed over. It was a fairly long cab ride, so we got to see lots of different parts of the city. The ocenario was located along in the water in an area that reminds me a lot of the SOMA district of San Francisco (Parque de los Nacioes). The weather was beautiful and the family tourists were out en masse.
The line to get into the ocenario was really long so we ended up having to stand in line for a solid 30 minutes. Once we got inside we headed for the temporary exhibit about turtles. The design of the museum was really cool with its glass floors, little underwater rooms, and lots of other ways to really create ways to immerse you inside the aquarium. The sea turtles were huge and looked majestic and intelligent as they floated by. We really loved the first exhibit.
After the turtle exhibit we headed over to the permanent exhibits that exist over in a separate building. The two buildings are connected by a really cool elevated walkway that provided some great views of the ocean. Once inside, we quickly discovered that there were lots and lots of families with bratty little fucks running around all over the place. The exhibits were really cool but I found it extremely distracting having those kids shoving me around the entire time.
Being around that many kids is a really effective form of birth control! Those kids were annoying as FUCK! They were pounding on the glass, screaming at the animals, running around like wild animals, and doing lots of other super annoying things that the parents should have prevented them from doing.
Despite the kids, I had a really great time seeing all of the animals. The sea otters were particularly entertaining. Two of them were wrestling with each other the entire time we were watching them and it was pretty funny.
After the oceanario, we hailed a cab and headed over to the Alfama neighborhood. This neighborhood is known as the birthplace of Fado, a music genre characterized by sad tunes and lyrics that focus on the sea and the life of the poor. The neighborhood is known as a good place to walk around and take photos of the windy, narrow streets. Since Allison and I live in San Francisco, we didn’t necessary find it overly interesting, as it reminded us of walking around North Beach or something like that. The neighborhood seems to still be a poor neighborhood, and some of the people lingering about the streets seemed a bit sketchy.
We grabbed lunch at an excellent little café at the bottom of the hill and relaxed in the shade for a while. Allison ordered a traditional Portuguese dish call Arroz con Mariscos (rice with shellfish) and I had a finely cut steak with a mushroom sauce that was absolutely delicious! We both really enjoyed our meals! As Allison said, “carbs never went out of style in Portugal”, so they serve both rice and batatas fritas (French fries) with all of their red meats and some of the fish. Basically, I’ve been in heaven.
The day was really hot and I was wearing pants and a long sleeve button up shirt (it was overcast in downtown when we left our hotel room) so we headed back to our room so I could change into something cooler.
We relaxed in our room for a while before coming up with a plan for the evening. We got dressed up a bit and headed over to a super swanky hotel on the Avenida da Liberdade to grab a cocktail in the lounge area. I had a scotch and Allison ordered a dry port (ports are the signature wine of Portugal), and they gave us some delicious little snacks. There were olives and some other kind of hard legume in an herb and olive oil dressing, dried cranberries, and flavored almonds.
After our super swanky (and super expensive) cocktail hour we headed over to a little seafood restaurant a few blocks down the avenida that we had noticed the previous day. At times, it seems like all we did this trip was eat and drink!
After dinner it was dark out so we walked around the downtown area and enjoyed the sights. There were lots of super aggressive Arab dudes trying to sell us hash and “good weed”, which reminded us of being back home in the Haight. I told Allison, “…if there’s one thing that Hollywood and Locked Up Abroad has taught me, don’t buy drugs in foreign countries!” (not that we were considering it anyways).
I bought two soccer scarves for myself at a little tourist shop and was really happy to have more souvenirs. The problem was, I was shopping for my brother and Sharon and hadn’t been able to find anything good. Portugal is a horrible place to go souvenir shopping because they generally don’t sell anything that isn’t made in Portugal, except for the trinket things that are probably made in China. We walked into the little pirate grocery store and I spotted the Absinthe section. I saw a really cool bottle of mango Absinthe that seemed right up Jamo and Sharon’s alley, so I bought it for them. I was really happy to finally find them something!
We headed back to our room and called it an early night again. With all of the eating and drinking that we’ve been doing during the day we simply have no energy to make it out at night.
We had breakfast at the hotel buffet again this morning, and are currently making plans for our last day here. I suggested seeing the Sao Jorge castle, which is located downtown and looked really cool at night. We have yet to see any castles so we figured we might as well while we still have the chance. After that we’re going to check out Rua Augusta Street for some shopping (it was recommended in one of our travel guides).
The next time I update this thing I’ll probably be back in the States, or on an airplane. I’m so sad that the trip is winding down but we’ve had such an amazing time!
This is the end, my friends. I’m currently sitting on my couch back in the good ol’ US of A. I thought it would be a relief to be back home in the comfort of my own apartment but I already miss Portugal. I really missed the cats though, so it was really nice to see my boys again (they were pretty happy to see me too!).
It was an absolutely amazing trip and I’m glad that I got to experience so many wonderful things without any hangups. We were truly blessed in that aspect. Allison was an amazing travel partner and I feel so lucky that I get to spend the rest of my life with her. Anyways, enough with the mushy stuff…
For our last day in Lisbon Allison and I decided to check out the Castle of Sao Jorge. We hadn’t seen any castles yet so we figured we should probably see at least one. What an amazing choice! The Castle of Sao Jorge sits atop the tallest hill in the historic center of the city and provides some AMAZING views of the entire city. We spent most of our time at the castle taking in the views of the city and the views of the Tagus River.
As it stands now the royal palace is in ruins and most of the remaining structures are just walls and stairs. It was interesting to look through the walls of the castle and imagine what it would be like to defend it. I’m glad I didn’t live during those times because I’m clearly not the soldier type (but I would have made a badass king!). Although, family legend has it that my great-great-grandfather was the captain of a famous pirate ship out in the Azores, so maybe I do have a little bit of badass in my blood after all.
On our way out of the castle we spotted a little, shoeless asian guy selling animals made out of reed that Allison couldn’t resist buying. The insides of the figures have wire, so you can bend them however you want and they will stay in that position. It was a strange souvenir to buy at a castle, but it was cool nonetheless.
Walking and climbing around the castle gave us a pretty big appetite so we decided to find a lunch spot. I’d seen a cool little cervejeria (beer house) in the Restauradores area (a huge plaza with lots of restaurants) so I suggested we head over there. It was REALLY hot out and we wanted to sit under the umbrellas.
We arrived at the restaurant and the waiters were very slow to acknowledge us. When they finally did, they told us to sit anywhere. We found a nice table in the shade and sat down. Then, one of the waiters came over and told us that we were sitting at a four person table and we needed to move the the two person next to us. The problem was that the two person table wasn’t covered by the umbrellas so we told him we didn’t want to move. He did a half-ass job of moving a few of the umbrellas for us but half of the table was still bright with sunlight. At this point were weren’t thrilled with the place, but you can’t let the little things get to you. Then the waiter brings over the menus…
The menu was extremely small and everything on it was double the price of all of the rest of the places! This place was obviously a total tourist trap! It would have been around thirty dollars each, and we definitely weren’t willing to pay that for what would certainly would have been a very mediocre meal, so we walked away. If you ever visit Lisbon, avoid the Cervejaria Pinoquio! That, and the Ca Des Sandes, which gave Allison and I both upset stomaches (it gave me gas that smelled like garbage, literally garbage)!
We made our way towards the Avenida da Liberdade to get away from the masses of tourists and found a nice outdoor restaurant in the the middle of the avenue. We lucked out with a really nice Brazilian waiter and some really delicious food. I ordered a “large” beer which ended up being a full liter of Super Bock. Things were really starting to look up.
At all of the restaurants in Portugal, they automatically bring bread, pate, and cheese to your table. These are not free. We’d avoided eating them for most of the trip, but we were so hungry that we decided to bust into them. Allison selected the sardine pate to crack open and I couldn’t help commenting about how it not only looked like cat food, but it SMELLED like it too. She took a bite and said it was pretty good. I put a little bit of it on my bread and I have to admit that it was delicious. If you ever get the chance, try out the sardine pate (don’t let the cat food consistency throw you off, it’s delicious).
After our late lunch, we walked around and tried to do some last minute souvenir shopping. Again, we struck out. Portugal is a bit stuck in the past and all of the things that they sell is from the old days. As much as I love Portugal, the one gripe that I had was the fact that Portugal seems so resistant to change. All of the art and music and food is the same as its been since the 1940’s, which most Portuguese people consider to be the height of Portuguese pop culture. The only modern things we saw were mostly fashion related, and as a culture they seem to LOVE the high end fashion labels. I guess that’s a universal thing.
After walking around for a while we decided to head back to the room and rest for a while. At this point we’d been walking all day, every day, and it was starting to take a physical toll. The walking combined with the heat made the air conditioning in our room sound pretty amazing.
After a few hours of resting in the room we decided to have a drink at the hotel’s bar/lounge. We sipped on Jameson and played a few games of backgammon.
After we’d each won a game we decided to end on a positive note and head out for dinner. Allison had a craving for pizza, so we got a recommendation from the girl at the front desk and headed out to a place called Valentino’s. The funny thing about Valentino’s was that it was located right next to Cervejaria Pinoquio, the overpriced tourist trap we’d walked away from earlier. It was jam packed with people and I couldn’t help but think that those people are were idiots.
Valentino’s was delicious, and we ate outside. I ordered a Hawaiian pizza and Allison had the Valentino special (spinach and gorgonzola). Our waiter seemed to take a special liking to me and seemed to be awkwardly hitting on me, especially when he found out that I was from San Francisco (the city with the gayest reputation worldwide!). I definitely think I would do better as a gay man than as a straight man, I get hit on by men a helluva lot more than women. Allison teases me constantly!
With dinner wrapped up, there was nothing left to do but head back to the room and pack. We tried to stay up as late as we could so that we would be tired for the flight but I only made it until midnight.
The next morning we caught a cab, made it through the extremely confusing Lisbon airport, and after MANY hours of standing in various lines and sitting on a airplane we made it back to SFO. It weather was cloudy and rainy and exactly how I remembered San Francisco. It was such an amazing trip, I will never forget any of it!
A few other random observations:
1. Lisbon (and to a certain extent, Cascais) is full of street artists that act like statues. If you’ve ever been to Pier 39 in San Francisco you’ve probably seen a similar version of what they do. In the US, they dress in solid gold or solid silver outfits, stand on a pedestal, and remain frozen for long periods of time. It doesn’t seem like a particularly interesting expression of art, but I guess to each their own. Anyways, the people that do this in Portugal are HORRIBLE at it!! Seriously, they’re fucking terrible! They’re constantly moving, shifting their eyes, and doing other un-statuesque things. Their outfits range from medieval to modern soldiers, as well as Elizabethan characters and priests. I felt pride in how superior American artists are compared to these European posers.
2. Portuguese people have no problem staring you down. In the US there is an unspoken two second rule about staring at someone. Anything more than that will likely lead to a fight. Allison and I both noticed that people would just sit and STARE at us. I think part of it is that they were trying to figure out what nationality we were, and the other part is that they’re not used to seeing asians that look like Allison. All of the asians that we saw here butt ugly and fobby as FUCK!
3. Portuguese people LOVE their sweets, which unfortunately extends to their wines. Everywhere you go you see Port wines and little else. I’m not overly fond of sweets and I especially dislike sweet wine. Going in to this vacation I was thinking that I would be drinking all kinds of Portuguese wine on the trip; I ended up not having a single glass. I suppose I should have tried some of the ports, but they were all pretty expensive.
4. If you like pork, you will love their food. Pork is a staple of their diet and that made me a very happy man. Pork, various forms of steak (bife), chicken and shell fish are on every menu. Again, I was a very happy man! Even Allison contemplated eating pork this trip, despite not having eaten it for over eight years now (although, one of her cravings was during a druken Cutty Sark night and she wanted a hot dog).
[Nasty hot dogs in a jar at Jumbo]
5. I found Portuguese people to be extremely, extremely attractive. I live in a city full of women that dress in some of the most retarded styles on the planet. I understand that San Francisco is “fashion forward”, but shouldn’t your fashion make you LOOK better?? The Portuguese women know how to dress themselves, and that just adds to their natural beauty. I’ve never been in a place where so many natural beauties were just roaming the streets. Also, the black guys in Portugal are extremely fashionable (even more so than all of the other guys on average). I’m so used to black guys wearing sports clothes and baseball caps in the Bay Area that it was really strange seeing how styled out these dudes were. I have to admit, I was definitely jealous…
