Winding down

Thursday was my second to last day and this is typically a time to be aimless. I located this place in my book I had overlooked. The time to go would have been Sunday because they have a market there but I missed that so....
I started the day going to Starbucks to write and having salad for lunch.
Then I looked up how to walk to LX Factory, a bunch of abandoned warehouses turned into art studios, shops, galleries, design companies, etc. It took almost an hour each way. In the morning it was raining but by time I made the trip, it was hot again. The walk on the way there was along a major roadway, on a narrow sidewalk. But it was worth the trip.

I went to a cafe named Landeau which has chocolate cake (it might be the only food they serve.) As much as I love chocolate, I would not usually opt for a plain chocolate cake, but this one is almost famous, so I did.

It was a pretty damn good after I brushed off the excess cocoa powder.
Then I went to a bookstore called Ler Devagar. It's a beautiful space and they have art installations on the upper level.

I wish I'd taken more pictures of the art. The artist's name is Pietro and he gave me and a few other English speakers (from New Zealand and Turkey) demonstrations of all his mechanical art.

They were all these little mechanical pieces that included gears and levers that moved things back and forth. They all had a story. I didn't know if it would be disrespectful to take pictures or video when he was talking. I asked if I could take his picture after and he wanted me to post with him.
There was another store I didn't buy anything in, but it rotates its merchandise every 12 weeks and only sells environmentally friendly and socially aware products.
I walked back to the center. This route was much nicer because it went through the neighborhoods and I got to see pretty streets.

I decided I was going to see Fado. I made an 8pm dinner reservation (music starts at 9pm.) I didn't want to go back to my guesthouse because I was afraid I would not leave. So I had cappuccino and fruit salad. Then it occurred to me what would be perfect to kill time. Remember that elevator I said I was not going to go on because of the wait? I did it.

There was a brief moment when I was going up that I reminded myself that I am afraid of heights. I think it's five stories up. I think we went up a few and then walked up a tiny spiral staircase for another two. But the view was really great.

I walked back into the Alfama, where the restaurant is. This is where I confessed I'm obsessed with a store called By Nunes that sells handmade tiles and other ceramics. They are beautiful and unfortunately I discovered them after I bought most of my souvenirs. I just did a preliminary bag-packing and I think I still have room. Will I go back for a third time today for more useless stuff? Perhaps. They have 5-6 locations and I have been to two. I might just try to find them all. Anyway, I bought a Christmas ornament for my parents' tree.
Then I stumbled into an amazing art gallery that was showing work by a Romanian artist named Tudor Banus. I might go back there today as well. At this point I had used the GPS on my phone a lot and had very little juice. I would like to get a book of his art.

This month is a festival and there are celebrations all over the city. So the streets were lined with food vendors and booze and general merriment.

I killed time by drinking wine in another restaurant. They also had Fado and started while I was there. I considered ditching my reservations and staying, but their menu didn't look great. While I was sitting there, I was feeling somewhat self-conscious about being there alone and refusing their food, and at the same time grateful that I got to have this 4-euro glass of wine while a woman sang Fado and the rain was lightly coming down outside.
I got to Boteca Da Fa for my 8pm dinner, along with two other women from the US (from Long Island and PA originally, but now both from Brooklyn.) We spent dinner talking and it was very nice. One had been in London for her new job at the Guinness Book of World Records (so cool) and then Scotland, and the other had been in Spain.
I had octopus rice and it was yummy. We all had rice pudding which was also good. I tried to take a picture but it was dark in there.

The guy, who I assume is the owner, also sang and tried to get us to by his CD. I splurged on a cab home. A very nice day.
Right now it's Friday morning and they just restarted construction on the roof. I'm not here all day so I don't hear most of it.
Tonight, I hope to have the good seafood meal I've wanted, although I probably won't go to the ridiculously popular place that you have to wait on line for. Then I am coming back early and watching the last episode of Handmaids Tale. I already checked in for my flights tomorrow and I think I have to get up at least by 4am. So this may or may not be my last posting. Depends on how eventful today is.
Thanks for reading!

The Alfama, part 2 (Wednesday).

So I'm not even sure how much I was actually IN the Alfama on Sunday. Today I walked right in like a person.
On the way there, an old woman stopped me to tell me my skirt was caught under my bag. It wasn't like I was flashing ass or anything, but she was kindly advising me so I could readjust. This was all in Portuguese. I thought it was kind of sweet.
The Alfama is has a labyrinthine road system and it's easy to get lost or find stuff my accident. I found shopping by accident (at an incredible pottery/tile store) and then I found Museu Do Aljube by accident.This museum is housed in an old prison from centuries ago but that was used again
during the dictatorship under Salazar when they imprisoned and tortured people thought to be communists.
(Blogspot is being especially difficult this morning so this might be a mess.)

There was a lot of information to read - rooms and rooms of it - along with great displays and photographs.

Afterwards, I ate lunch at a place I sort of found in my book (I think it ended up not the map by accident.) Then I went to the Museu do Fado.

Fado is a famous music that is specific to Lisbon. There are restaurants the feature live Fado. My trainer's brother lived in Lisbon and did a whole project on Fado; I got recommendation from him. Most of the Fado places are in the Alfama. When I checked in with one of them, they said the music didn't start until 9am (information that is really hard to find on the restaurant websites.) I'm not sure I'll be up and out that late, but we'll see. 

The Fado museum was also very information-heavy. They had an audio tour although the number system confused me and I think I missed a lot of it. But again, great displays, very informative.

Afterwards, I drank coffee for an hour. There are many pastries here but the famous one is called Pastel de nata. It's a egg custard tart. It's very good but when you get the the middle, the egginess is very obvious. The weather was overcast today and it drizzled on and off later in the afternoon. I walked around the area for some time. Here are some nice streets.

The World Cup is happening here, so a lot of locals are watching it in front of little restaurants.

I went back to the main center and found a place that serves this cheery liqueur

It was very sweet and very alcoholic.

I again saw the Elevador de Santa Justa, that I will not be going up because the wait (regardless of when I get there) is always over an hour

And I got a better picture of the Arco da Rua Augusta at the Praca do Comercio.

I drank sangria and had dinner at a salad place. I had a coconut pastry at a cafe. I attempted to go to this rooftop bar but when I got there, is was crowded and people looked well-dressed and happy, so you know.... not my scene.

I got a couple of days left and there is nothing I'm dying to see. It's Thursday right now and it's been raining, although it might be burning off. I might try to write today.

Belem!

On Tuesday I finally hit a place on my trip where I am ok not seeing everything and being more low-key. Ok, the whole day wasn't like that but still....
My plan was to go to Belem, a neighborhood that would necessitate metro trips, to see three sites. I saw two.
I initially had a hard time finding the right bus to take there. I stopped and had a pressed ham and cheese (and butter) sandwich for breakfast. Then I started walking in the general direction until I found a bus that would take me there, along with a butt-load of other tourists.
I was going to go to the contemporary art museum first but when I got off the bus, I saw the line for Mosteriro dos Jeronimos was quite long. So I waited on it. And waited. And waited. And waited for the better part of two hours. In the sun. (Yes, I have been wearing sunblock, Mom.) The line moved very slow. I thought I was being smart but when I looked in the afternoon, the line was quite short so apparently getting there early was not the way to go. I was concerned that when I finally got in there, it would be packed, like some of the other places I've been to. It was not, which might be a function of the size of it.
There is no way to take a picture that captures the exterior or interior, but I did my best:

This is a monastery built in the 1500's in the Manueline style. I didn't look that up. I actually remember. I actually read stuff when I have time. They did have a room with extensive info about the history of the monastery and what was happening in world history during corresponding periods, but it was a lot to take in.

Fernando Pessoa is buried there. When I was hosting Poet As Radio, one of our guests was a Pessoa expert and translator. Pessoa wrote in different personas. I did not get a book of his from the gift shop but I definitely want to check him out.

If I remember correctly, this is the room the monks meditated in. I don't like the painting but I took a picture of it because it looks like the cat is plotting something.

This is the church as seen from the second story of the  monastery.

And the second story of the monastery

And another attempt at the outside.

I then had another sandwich (chicken) for lunch. I wanted to go to this pastry place my book recommended but when I got there, the line was down the block. Being as I have had pastries here that I was able to get immediately that I thought were awesome, I was not about to wait who-knows-how-long in the sun.
I did not take a picture of my sandwich. You've all seen chicken sandwiches, I'm sure.
I headed to Museu Coleccao Berardo, a contemporary art museum. I liked their door:

The museum starts around the surrealist (yay!) and then gets more into cubism (eh!) so that first part was the most interesting to me. There was some good photography too. This painting is by Giorgio De Chirico. I have a book by him. I don't remember how I'd heard about it but it's supposed to be trippy and I acquired it during my Amazon Wishlist purge last year.

At this point I was ok missing the Torre de Belem, which was some distance away. I got a bus back to the center, walked around, bought souvenirs.
As I said, it's hard to find a vegetables around here. Lonely Planet usually recommends vegetarian restaurants and I also have a habit of stumbling across really great ones by accident. Not the case here. The one vegetarian place was in a neighborhood I had not been to, which I had a hard time finding on the map, and which took two trains to get to. When I got on the first train, there was a group of people from the US wearing vegan t-shirts. Yup, they were heading there to. They had reservations. I didn't. The restaurant staff let me sit in the garden if I promised to be out by 8:30 but I moved into the restaurant for dessert just to be safe. This was my tempeh shwarma, which was very good. I had an apple and prune crumble for dessert and this ridiculously sweet almond liqueur.

I headed back to my guesthouse. On Monday a guesthouse staff showed me how to use the air conditioner. She set it at 16 celsius which is chilly. I raised it to 22 which is very nice. Tuesday was cooler than Sunday and Monday. I've been mostly appreciating the heat. Despite my daily use of sunblock, I have gotten some color.
At night I have been reading a totally nonsense and entertaining YA novel I bought while drinking too much at an event at Green Apple. As some of you might know, I read YA when I travel. I used to do it because I found it helped with anxiety. Now I just do it because it's fun and I'm on vacation damn it!

Sintra, etc

There are going to be a lot of pictures of yesterday (Monday.)
I went to Sintra, a town about a 40-minute train ride away. First off, I confused the metro station for the train station so couldn't find it. I hate asking for directions, not because I think it puts me in a one-down position to the person giving directions, but because I have an idea that it taints my badass- independent-traveling accomplishment. The guy in the metro station told me the train station is in the same building as the Starbucks. I was very excited to hear there was a Starbucks. It's not that I love their coffee, it's that I want a big, American coffee I can walk around with. I want a coffee I can be ashamed of. (If anyone has a better adjective to describe someone/something from the US besides 'American,' I would be grateful.) Anyway, of course I get to the station and it looks like this:

Well, I get my ticket and the next train leaves in five minutes so no big coffee for me.
I get to Sintra, which has a number of historical sites. There were three I wanted to see and I managed to buy the correct combined ticket to see he correct sites. Then I purchased a bus ticket for a bus that does the circuit to all the sites; the ticket lets you get on and off where you want. At one point, I'd thought I missed one of the sites and would have to re-do the entire route (which is lengthy and winding) to get to all three, but luckily this was not the case.
The first stop was the Moorish castle. It was the emptiest of the three and necessitated the most climbing (my Achilles tendon was not happy with me afterwards.) There was a lot of traversing stone walkways next to short walls which acted as the only barrier keeping one from certain death. At one point a woman (from Australia, I think) informed her companions that several people die there every year. But I was not afraid, because I can walk straight. The castle had many look-outs with impressive scenery. Oh, and there was a cat. I call her Cat. She is obviously used to people (and appropriately negotiating Moorish castles.) A nice American (again, vocabulary help please) took my picture.

Next I went to Palacio Nacional de Pena, which was what I was most looking forward to, for obvious reasons. The wait to get into the actual palace was at least 1/2hour. It was crowded inside but not I-just-got-intimate-with-a-stranger crowded. The rooms were incredible. Ornate ceilings seem to be a common theme.

Last was Palacio Nacional de Sintra which is in the Village of Sintra. By this time it was a long day and the palace was filled with obnoxious French tour groups. (They weren't obnoxious because they were French, but because they were in my way!) I pretty much rushed through. So back to this theme which I have explored every time I go somewhere (and blog,) which is my having an experience vs consuming it. And I was feeling pretty bad about myself but then I realized, these sites are not set up for slowly meandering one's way through the halls, soaking up history and smelling old plaster. I kept trying to get ahead of the tour groups and was feeling especially rushed. There are so many people who come to these places that it's hard to experience them for what they are; I was as much experiencing the droves of people surrounding me. So I let myself off the hook on this one. (The next post will discuss how today's site avoided this conundrum. Hint: it involves baking in the sun for very long time.)
Oh, and check out (who I assume is) Jesus trying on some evening wear. I did a little shopping (very little.) There is also a picture of one of the little streets in Sintra.

This was the first day I had a good amount of energy, which I used to splurge on a (somewhat) fancy dinner at a place that specialized in port and Douro wines (wikipedia says Douro is a Portuguese wine region.) I ate calamari stew, sitting down with a napkin on my lap. Then I went looking for dessert. I went to a pastry shop (you can't spit without hitting a pastry shop.) I felt like the staff person was annoyed about answering questions so I got the 'apple' pastry. It was not 'apple,' it was 'an apple,' I can only imagine, baked with cinnamon and covered in dough. I ate all the dough; can't say the same about the apple.