lisbon

we arrive around 2 pm, after taking the roundabouts a few times to get our bearings. we find a quaint little place, and they can take our boards and show us where to park. we get lunch at a little cafe and i face my fears and eat bacuala (salted cod). Its good but heavy. i say face my fears because this fish got me sick in Porto.
we take off walking and our five hour journey takes us through downtown, to the water, then up a hill, to a some grand buildings and the famous church "Se" of Lisbon. we hike up to the castle getting lost on the way. how we got lost i am still trying to figure out. its at the top of the hill. we got so lost that we found a place to have a beer and think about what we did wrong. this bar has the most amazing views. once in the castle we walk around and see lots of stray cats . The views are amazing from the top of the hill. in the castle we get the most amazing views of Lisbon, well worth the hike up the hill. we take our time walking down through Alfama and back to our hotel. we have been offered pot and hash about a dozen times. I guess we look the type. Laurie just runs away when the men come toward her. our legs are exhausted and we got a lot of walking out of the way. we have a traditional Portuguese dinner.

next morning we wake up and stretch out our legs. with a little coffee and breakie, we head out. we first go to modern art museum, but they only have a small exhibit going and want 8 euros , forget it. so we walk around the area and decide to cab it to the tile museum. we loved the tile museum. laurie is now in love with tiles. she loves the blue and white ones the most. we then walked to lunch. i have pork ribs and laurie had a steak. we had a cute little lady helping us order, she spoke no english, and i would just nod my head and smile. she enjoyed our company. we adored her back. she told laurie to protect her purse on the metro. we walked over to the Fado museum. fado is the blues of lisbon. Its absolutely beautiful, usually just a singer and a guitar. it always sounds sad. we then walk around alfama some more and sneak in and out of stores. i find a great pastry shop and have an amazing walnut cake. i love my sweets. we head back and shower. drink a few beers in the room and blast vh1. we walk to dinner. I try a local specialty of sepia (big squid) with tinta (ink). its intense and the man who i ordered from feels bad for not warning me and gives me apple dessert. laurie has a nice steak and egg dish, her go to menu item. we then walk up the hill to barrio alto and have some beers. happy and tired we head back to our hotel.
day three i wake up more sore than the day before. laurie once she has had her caffeine fix is ready to hit the day running. she never takes escalators and runs up the stairs to keep up with me on the escalator. people just look at us. sometimes i take the stairs. when i know i will get to shower soon. we head out to east lisbon to the Oceanario . its their big aquarium. laurie falls in love with the sunfish and then stalks it for pictures the next 45 minutes. they have one huge tank and a bunch of small tanks with three floors of live seafood. seeing all fishes made me hungry so we quickly go through the water garden near by. laurie and i play on all the water wheels and pumps. we then get lunch at the mall. we find a surf shop and laurie finally gets her portugal surf shirt. she has surf shirts from all the countries she surfed in. we then bus it to the big bridge. Ponte De Abril . we find out you can not cross it, so we settle for a beer under it. we then head back to town. get offered pot twice. shower up and head out to dinner. find a seafood place, and we have garlic shrimp , amazing, clams, amazing, crab, good, and bbq tiger shrimp, very good. we get a few beers around and then decide to crash out. legs tired, stomach filled, lisbon has been great. great place, great people, great vibe.
in the morning we pack up , say our goodbyes, and head off to spain.