We are back in Lisbon, after spending the weekend in the little sea-side town called Sesimbra. What can I say - it was lovely and very relaxed. The fellow at the Sesimbra tourism office said the weather was not very good when it could be almost 40 degrees in the summer. He had such a deep tan already at this time of year as he was telling us this; I am thinking it must be really rough living here! Christian and I were very happy that it was in the twenties.
We left London last Wednesday; London was especially miserable on the Tuesday that week; I recall how on that day, I went to a local pub for lunch; I remarked to the lady publican that this is supposed to be spring but it was so cold and rainy outside; she agreed with me and when I told her I was off on holiday the next day, she remarked how jealous she was but she still smiled when she said it. We arrived in the morning in Lisbon after having very little sleep; the flight was at 6 in the morning which meant; I got a 3 hour nap before taking a taxi to the train station to then catch a train to the airport; Christian was up all night mixing his latest album; the project is called UK States.
Anyway, back to Portugal, we had spend a few days doing the sights and eating seafood on a regular basis. Over the last week, we have eaten things like:
swordfish
red mullet
prawns
tiger prawns
monkfish
prawns in a fried pastry
tuna croquettes
bacalhau - dried salted codfish
In fact, most of the restaurants that we ate did mostly seafood, with some pork and beef dishes. Chicken was not something we saw on the menu typically. The cooking is basic but very good. The portions here are huge; sometimes I thought they made a mistake and brought a dish meant for two. Last night, I ordered a monkfish and prawn stew; I could only manage to eat half of it. I asked the waitress if this was a mistake and she said no this is how it is in Portugal. We also stopped in cafes which is what you do here. We had some of the custard tarts that Portugal is famous for. The Portuguese do get more elaborate when it comes to cakes. We also went to Brazilian restaurant for lunch and after we had polished off the meal the waiter asked if we would like more. The food kept coming; we did say bring us a little not too much.
We did go out for a curry one night in the “Barrio Alto”; I kept with the seafood theme and had a prawn dish. The restaurant is called Calcuta . Thinking about it, Portugal has a long standing relation ship with India. Did you know the masochistic dish called a Vindaloo actually is named from the Portuguese dish "Vinha d'Alho"; in Goa they added chilli to the dish. The one and only time that I tried a Vindaloo was in a Indian restaurant in Windsor; it was an ordeal to eat.
In Lisbon, we went to the Casteljo do Sao George and took in the view of the city; the castle is situated on a hill near the coast on the first day.
On our second day in Lisbon, we went on a tour bus and stopped over in Belem to see, one of the funkiest fortresses that I have ever seen, the Torre del Belem. It is situated on the water just offshore. We also went to a museum of modern art and saw the Frida Kahlo exhibit that was on tour; it was recently in London and I missed it and I was so chuffed to get a chance to see it here. Thee exhibit was laid out like a biography following Frida’s life with her works and photographs. She is an artist I have heard of and knew a little about; the exhibit was very good and quite heavy with all mention of the tragedies in her life. To lighten the mood, we then took in the design exhibit in the same complex. The exhibit had pieces by Philip Stark and Ettorio Sostas to name a few.