Portugal Day 3 - Day Trip to Sintra

My eye was still puffy this morning but has deflated somewhat, so today's goal is to hit a pharmacia!

RRR and I started the day at the "mini gym" which had one treadmill, one stationary bike, one recumbent bike and a rower. Well, it served its purpose; all this eating and drinking is certainly having its affect on my waistline and it is getting tougher and tougher to find the energy to work out.

We got ready and finally got through to Delta - we've been extended one day! I'm so excited! Now we just need to extend our hotel in Madrid and we'll be golden!

It was a bit of a mess getting the train to Sintra since I screwed up and sent to the wrong train station (Oriente instead of Rossio). Ooops! Good thing no one held it against me!

We made it to Sintra and found it was overrun with tourists. We jammed on a bus that went up a very, very narrow winding road and then Mitch, Sharpie and I huffed and puffed our way up to the Palacio da Pena. (RRR & Mr. RRR went on their own adventure) The views were spectacular and the castle was a mix of architectural styles. There were some beautiful rooms decorated with furniture of the time and we marveled at how tiny and ornate everything was. After jamming on another bus that came down the very very narrow winding road, e eventually made our way back to town and met up with RRR and Mr. RRR.

We hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we took a bit more time in Sintra and had lunch at the Restaurante a Taverna. After blowing 19 euros on appetizers, a restaurant practice that my Lisbon book warned me about where a server comes around with a plate of tapas and whatever you choose you get charged through the nose for, I decided to have the frago de cerveja which translates to... chicken in beer.

It was tasty thigh meat cooked in beer, garlic, oil and a bit of white wine. The chicken was tender, juicy, simple and delicious. Mitch had a delightful pork with bread stuffing. The stuffing was absolutely sublime! Perhaps it's been that long since I've had stuffing but it was moist and bursting with flavor!

Before catching our train, I made a pit stop in the aforementioned pharmacia, to get my puffy eye some relief. I was a bit nervous getting an eye wash whose ingredients were only in Portuguese but eventually it helped my eye get back to normal.

On the train back to Lisbon, we discovered that we were on the wrong one! The tunnel to Rossio was closed and we had to get off, switch trains, head back one stop and catch the Metro. UGH!

Once we got back to Lisbon, we started wandering in the neighborhoods of Chiado and Alfama. I was pretty beat but since our time in Lisbon was limited, I wanted to see as much of the city as possible and I don't think we've experienced much of its beauty. We went inside the Se Cathedral and in the chapel off to the side of the main altar, a priest was saying mass in Portuguese. Even though I had no idea what he was saying, it was pretty cool.

After that we walked past the Praca do Comereio and took some pictures of the arch. Eventually, we made our way to Rua Augusta, a very long pedestrian street, and there was an interesting group of bohemians with packs of dogs. I tried to be stealth in my photo taking (since they were asking tourists for money) but didn't do such a good job with the photo clarity.

Now we were really tired but continued to walk to Rua das Portas de Santo Antao, a street full of restaurants and people trying to get you into theirs a la Little Italy. We stopped in a small modern ice cream shop/bar where RRR and I shared a light sugary pitcher of sangria and then we continued to aimlessly wander around to find a place to eat.

We finally settled on a place to eat and RRR and I shared arroz de marisco (shellfish rice). It was actually pretty good but no where near as good as our monkfish rice from a few days ago. Still for a touristy restaurant in a high trafficked area it was much better than I had anticipated.

Over the course of the evening, we had decided to take a later train to Porto tomorrow, so the RRR's and I can do a bit more sightseeing and Mitch & Sharpie could hang out and relax.

Once again, we are on the move!

Portugal Day 1 - Okay, technically Day 2

I woke up to Frank (pronounced: Fronk) saying "Hello, time to wake up"... can you ask for a better wake up call than that?

RRR, my still-swollen eyeball and I got up early and went for a run along the boardwalk on the beach, up to the main road and down along the line of hotels, admiring the beauty of the area. This stop has been the highlight of the trip so far for me and I was really bummed that we didn't have more time to spend in Praia de la Rocha.

As depressing as my swollen eye and the thought of leaving the Algarve was - there was at least some good news to be had this morning since we learned via email that we were able to move our Delta flight back one day, giving us an extra day in Madrid!

Breakfast at the Vila Lido was pretty nice. We sat outside and enjoyed a healthy serving of fresh fruit, orange juice, rolls, croissants and some very sweet cakes (my Dad would have been in his glory!). The coffee was pretty good too, but not as good as the cafe con leche we had in Spain.

After we ate, we packed up and headed to the Faro airport to return the rental car. We hopped into the Avis shuttle, headed to the airport, jumped into two cabs and went to the Faro train station. Sounds like a lot of transportation? It was! But we were becoming experts in juggling luggage, planes, trains and automobiles.

We hit the ticket counter and after some confusion got our tickets and boarded the train for Lisbon. It was roomier than the Spanish trains but first class service was much better in Spain. After splitting a suspect ham sandwich and Diet Coke with RRR it was time for a nap. I needed my energy for Lisbon!

We arrived without incident and checked into our hotel, the Holiday Inn which was surprisingly pretty decent. We cleaned up and got ready for dinner.

Tonight's meal was at Bica do Sapato, a modern Portuguese restaurant part owned by John Malkovich. It was in a remote part of town near the Santa Appolonia train station that was reminiscent of a run down South Street Seaport-meets-the-piers-on-the-West-Side- Highway. Inside the restaurant, the decor was modern with funky accents and house music provided the evening's soundtrack.

I ordered the codfish cakes as a starter and shoulder of suckling pig for my main course. Our meal began with some microgreens and an icy light lemon-basil sorbet to cleanse our palates.

The codfish came in a wax-sealed roll of paper and the interesting presentation continued inside with four small filo lined tarts holding the whipped cod. One seemed to have garbanzos, another tomato, another with mushroom and yet another with a mixture of herbs.

When the pig arrived tableside, I immediately smelled the fresh rosemary. While it was not as succulent as the pig in Segovia, it was quite good. The skin was crisp with a small glistening layer of fat underneath and lots of tender stringy meat. At this point, my dining companions were looking at me as a bit of a pork barbarian, however, that didn't stop them from poking into my dish for pieces of the juicy pig. The palate was rounded out by some crisp potato slices, spinach and broccoli (how exciting! more greens!).

We finished our meal with our usual helping of ice cream. This time it was cinnamon and Madagascar vanilla in a sweet cone-like bowl. A plate of pineapple passed by and we were swayed by our lack of fruit and ordered that as well. Definitely one of our more expensive meals but a nice departure from the traditional Spanish and Portuguese fare we've been having during our trip. As we were leaving, the main floor of the restaurant was getting crowded and I'm sure the upstairs sushi bar would start to be crowded as well. Once again, the city's coming alive as we are going to bed.

Oh well, we need to be rested for tomorrow's adventure... a day trip to Sintra!

Spain Day 8 - The Big Drive to Portugal!

I woke up around 5:30am to a very large swollen eye! Good thing I was today's designated driver! We left under the cover of night and it was a bit tough to navigate out of Rota in complete darkness but after second guessing ourselves a few times we finally we on our way!

Even with the odd route of having to head north to Sevilla before heading west to the Spain/Portugal border we made good time. Not quite sure what I expecting (machine gun touting border patrol perhaps?) but the actual crossing over to Portugal was pretty anti-climatic.

We set our watches back an hour and found our way to Praia de la Rocha. I dropped the ball a bit and neglected to print our directions to the hotel - oops! Good thing we bough the map in Spain and ironically, the one hotel we did not have directions for was the easiest to find!

The Vila Lido was absolutely adorable! It was at the very end of a street filled with high rise hotels and across the street from the beach. And Frank, our delightful host, couldn't be friendlier. We checked in and decided to explore the Ponta de Piedade (Point of Piety) in Lagos.

Before we hit the point, we stopped for some lunch in town. After our usual debate, we wound up at the Bar Milenium. There a mother and son waited on us and RRR and I decided to share a shrimp omlette and some pork piri piri. The pork was a thinly sliced grilled chop and was decent but most importantly hit the spot!

After lunch, it took a bit of work to find the Ponta de Piedade, but it was well worth it! You simply could not drink in enough of the natural beauty of Lagos! The natural caves and deep blue water of the grottos was breathtaking! We snapped at least thirty photos each!

And since this wasn't enough, we headed back to the hotel and hit the beach across the street. The beach was wide and there were sections of chairs and umbrella rental stands along the beach with some small snack bars as well. We walked down the many stairs, forked over a few Euro for some chairs and checked out the water.

It was a bit windy but Mitch and I sucked it up and went in the water. The ocean wasn't as warm as it was in Spain but it had less rocks and the waves were a bit calmer. We all did our own thing: RRR and Mike hit the snack bar, Sharpie read, Mitch swam and I went for a walk. I stayed on the beach a bit longer than the gang to soak in the natural beauty and peaceful atmosphere of the beach until the jarring tantrum of a British child disrupted my moment of tranquility. Thanks kid - you little wanker!

But I digress... we showered and went to the Dockside for dinner, a restaurant recommended to us by our congenial host, Frank. It was a short walk through a fort located at the end of road and past the exclusive Nikki Beach club. First impressions of the Dockside was that Frank sent us to a tourist trap, but it wound up being one of the best meals of the trip! NOTE: Looks can be deceiving!

We ate like champs! We had two bottles of a delightfully big bottles of wine, a 2004 Casa de Santar Reserva from Dao. After a few visits from our waiter we finally decided on our meal. For a starter, I had delicia de Mexilhoes ('delight of mussels') and Sharpie and I split the arroz de Tamoril (monkfish rice) as our main course.

The mussels were excellent! Large, plump, juicy and drowned in a creamy seafood broth reminiscent of a seafood bisque with a teeny tiny dice of carrots and onions. The rice arrived tableside in a large ceramic pot with two large prawns to put it over the top. We asked for an extra bowl since it was much more than two people could handle. The rice had more broth than this paella-eating girl expected and you could totally taste the sea in every bite! I basically had to stop myself from cleaning the pot since we needed to save some room for our evening ice cream.

We walked down to a small shop and finished the night off with a double scoop of banana/chocolate and tiramisu gelato.

One of the best days of the trip! I seriously could have ended the trip here and been completely satisfied. This was paradise!