Groovy Atmosphere on a Perfect Morning

Perfect morning, perfect blue sky, perfect huge flea market behind St. Francis church. By "huge" I mean "sprawling."

I overheard a tour guide tell a group to come to this, so therefore was treated to this perfect morning.

Street musicians, artists and a cool, groovy atmosphere.

Below - your daily dose of graffiti, found on the way to church.

"Sorry About Your Wall"

Spectacular Street Car Views and Back in a Castle Again

After the Octopus and prior to the Urban Art, I went back to Alfama, the winding, ancient neighborhood, because I only saw a bit of it before the sun set last night. Here's what it looks like when the clouds burn off:

And this is St. Vincent:

Earlier I tried to catch the famed street car, E328, but the line was long. So I started wandering, and what do you know...the small stops along the way were not long at all; in fact, they were non-existent. I hopped on and was treated to some spectacular views - so spectacular that after disembarking 40 minutes later, I re-traced the route on foot to get these photos.

What a fascinating ride. Hard to believe that this ancient form of transportation exists. And the tracks seem so shallow, the hills so steep, the cars so full (I was pressed up against a metal bar for most of my ride). I sat up front where I watched the operator CRANK the dial to switch our course and screech the brakes when a truck  - with emergency lights flashing - continued to load huge pieces of furniture while we waited. Or when a car tried three times to parallel park in our path. The driver had nothing but patience for all of these shenanigans on his tracks, and gave a friendly "thumbs up" to all of the street cars that passed us. It was so much fun I think I will do it again tomorrow now that I know the secret to catching it without waiting in line.





Here is a view from my smashed viewpoint - he is cranking the gears, I guess:


























Prior to the Octopus, after my breakfast Pastel (egg custard tart - yes, delicious, but not as divinely crispy as that first one), I climbed back up to the castle to see all of it. Yesterday I only saw the big line to get a ticket in, but this morning it was empty. Not only is February a great time as far as lines go, it is the perfect temperature - for me, at least. It's between 55-60 degrees, a little warmer when the sun comes out.

Having lived in a castle for two years in Vietnam, it was especially fun to see this one - Castelo de Sao Jorge - a Moorish castle which has overlooked the city since the 11th century. It's a great landmark for me since it's by my hotel - I cannot get lost - and it's in almost every city view.

Anyway, I spent two hours climbing up and down a bunch of ancient, steep, scary stairs that America would not allow us to climb to get "the best views of Lisbon" (according to the toothless-yet-smiley guard at the archaeological site). One of the best things about this castle - its inhabitants include dozens of regal peacocks who roam around freely. I tried desperately to get a good shot of one, but was reminded of the days when Angie and I would take countless bad pictures of zoo animals. Here is one, even though everyone hates pictures of zoo animals:

And here is a very old house not far from the castle. I could take pictures of streets and houses here all day. In fact, that's what I did. I walked for about ten hours and took too many pictures of streets and houses, only a few of which I am sharing with you.






















I came in at 8 pm to rest my feet. Now I will venture down the eight flights of stairs (I'm on the fourth floor, but there are two winding flights per floor, so I'm claiming all of them!) and find something to eat. This city is small, walkable, tasty and beautiful.

"Urban Art"

Octopus: I Finally Get It~

I am devoting one entire post to what I had for lunch: one grilled octopus tentacle wrapped around a smashed baked potato crispy-fried in butter, laced with spinach. From the front:






































And the back:




I've had octopus once before- in a Korean pancake. It was rubbery/fishy and the aftertaste stayed in my memory (and made me gag) for days. But I know if it's done right it can be delicious, so I tried it in the busiest of the restaurants in the "Time Out" plaza that Marcos suggested yesterday. It's far enough from the tourist center that mostly locals find their way and choose from about twenty different classy "stands." The one I chose had the biggest crowd, and now I know why. The octopus was tender inside and crispy outside. In fact, I think the Portuguese excel at "crispy."

One of my best meals, ever. Top 50. Someday I will make a detailed list.

And now I have had three out of the four food items I displayed in my first post: now to find grilled sardines...

OK, that's it for my lunch break.

I Thought I Ordered Paella

 ...but I got this, which was more than fine. Setting the stage for this first meal: after waking up from a very short nap, I headed toward Alfama - the oldest district of Lisbon - a labyrinth of narrow, steep streets. Lots of little bistros to choose from, but I knew this was the one because of the food displayed in the window and because a half dozen Portugese men were eating soup and watching futbol. Had to order the house red wine and the "Arroz con Mariscos" - a saffron based stew full of clams, shrimp, mussels and cod. Bread, olives, house wine and stew came to 12 Euros - or about $14. That stew could have fed two people, easy.

And more graffiti - fascinated by it:

So tired. Going to collapse and hopefully sleep all night. I'm on my own tomorrow, but on Tuesday I will do some sightseeing with Carolina and Marcos in Sintra. Tomorrow, I think, will be all about grilled seafood and art museums. But who knows where these narrow, winding streets will lead.

Graffiti, Eight Flights of Stairs and Really Flaky Pastries

You've all seen enough castles and statutes, right?

Then how about some of Lisbon's graffiti? "It's everywhere," Carolina says as she gestures widely from the car. She and her boyfriend, Marcos, drove me around after picking me up at the airport at 8 am (since I had five hours until I could check into my airbnb). But the best graffiti is right next to my apartment, up a narrow staircase that leads to more apartments. I found myself there with several Chinese tourists, who also made up most of the line outside of the famous Pasteis del Belem - where the best pastries in Lisbon are sold - and which was our first stop this morning.

"For some reason, the Chinese LOVE these pastries," says Marcos. I tell them it's probably because something that looks similar is sold in China - at least there is that custard tart that Brian referred to in the last post's comments in Seattle's International District - but that these taste nothing like those. These are fluffy and custardy and are contained inside the ultimate flaky, crispy crust. Those - well, they are yellow "somethings" that are contained in cold, soggy dough. So the Chinese are discovering the divine kind, and I'm really lucky that these two took me to taste the divine of the divine first. I will run experiments so I can report on the quality of the others, all over the city.


Carolina and Marcos dropped me off near the river with two hours left to wander (my airbnb host's friend picked up my luggage at the airport. "It will be waiting for you upstairs at 13:00," he told me). So I went to the Modern Design Museum, hiked up to the castle (just five minutes from my apartment), then checked out the grocery store and bought European yogurt, always a highlight. By the time I got up the eight flights of stairs to my apartment (the picture is taken from the ground floor looking up), I had decided that Pam's "No Jet Lag" pills don't work - at least not after being up at 4 in Seattle with a five-hour layover in Newark and flying all night. So I just woke up from a two-hour nap, and am ready to go back out. Lisbon is beautiful, and I'm staying right in the heart of it. Here's a view similar to the one from my apartment window - lots of red rooftops:

I really enjoyed meeting Carolina after months of intermittent emails. She had been volunteering for IPAV until they received their grant in October, when she became a full-time, paid employee. She embodies everything you hear about Portugese people: she is warm and laughs easily. We talked a bit about the program that will take place on Wednesday - enough for me to know that she is very passionate about her students. It's going to be a great week, filled with many good stories and flaky pastries. I am feeling very lucky.