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 10 - Madrid

I woke up pretty tired this morning, most likely due to the fact that my bed was on a slope and I spent most of the night dreaming I was sliding downhill...

We headed downstairs for the continental breakfast which couldn't compare to our breakfast in Porto but it wasn't that bad.

After we ate, we headed out to Plaza Mayor. It was pretty but since it was a bit early for the Madrid locals, we just saw a bunch of delivery trucks heading to the various cafes situated around the Plaza.

We spent some time searching for the Mercado San Miguel but it was being gutted so that market visit was a no-go. Instead we walked up to Puerta del Sol, where again we found ourselves S.O.L. for finding a market. We did stumble upon a nice deli where we stocked up on some meats. Then we finally found an indoor market and bought some fruit, bread, olives and cookies for our day of exploring.

With our goodies in tow, we went to the Jardins Botanico where we wandered around and I took a ridiculous amount of pictures. There were a lot of beautiful flowers, plants and trees but not everything was in bloom - so I can only imagine how gorgeous it is in the spring!

From there it was a short walk uphill to the Park Retiro. I expected the park to be a lot like Central Park but instead found it to be more lush and peaceful. We stopped there for a picnic lunch and recharged our batteries since we were all a bit weary - I think yesterday's big travel day caught up to us!

RRR and Mr. RRR headed back to the hotel for a siesta and Mitch, Sharpie and I headed off to the Reina Sofia to enjoy some modern art. One of my favorites was Dali's Girl and the Sea and I did the touristy thing and bought a postcard of the painting in the museum gift shop. We also enjoyed Picasso's Guernica, a depiction of the 1937 attack on the small town in Northern Spain that Picasso painted for the 1937 World's Fair, and the sketches that lead to this work of art.

We eventually made our way back to the Hotel Opera and took a much needed siesta. We were a bit restless, so RRR, Mr. RRR, Sharpie and I took a short walk up the street and settled in at a sidewalk cafe for some drinks and to soak up the late afternoon sun. After blowing about twelve Euro on two plates of potato chips and a dish of olives (you would think we learned our lesson in Sintra) we enjoyed some potent sangria.

Later, we headed to the area of Salamanca and had tapas at Jose Luis. We shared a delicious tortilla (one of the better ones of the trip) which was served on toasts with a creamy potato center. We also had salmon with cheese on toasts, cured jamon, a couple of ham croquettes and our requisite shrimp and garlic.

We were going to order some more but our waiter told us that we had ordered enough for the five of us and basically our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. (Little does he know!) Mr. RRR departed from his usual meat-fest and enjoyed some delightful green beans with ham.

After a detour through Puerta de Sol we finished the evening off with a trip to Chocolateria San Gines in Royal Madrid for some wine, chocolate and churros. Much better than our churros in Sevilla! By this point the sangria and wine from dinner had gotten the best of me and I couldn't even finish my last glass of wine.

We stumbled home and I had a restless booze-filled sleep...