tuxette's Journal: Trip Report - Lisboa Day One

Day 1 - 15th of October

TUXETTE'S PERSPECTIVE
Flight to Lisbon: Generally sucked, especially the London-Lisbon flight. Among other things, we were never told on the Oslo-London flight that we were supposed to pick up meal vouchers for the London-Lisbon flight, as there's some conflict with British Air's caterer. So we didn't have any food. And to make things worse, there was a lot of turbulence. But fortunately I managed to pee before the seatbelts sign flicked on...

Lunch: Very hungry, we jumped into a taxi to our hotel, tossed our stuff into our room, and went out to look for a place to eat lunch. We walked around a little, and then found a place that looked interesting - O Carteiro (The Postman). What an excellent choice! When we were seated, we were given some bread and a little plate of goat cheese. We ate this, but beware! In Portugal, the bread and stuff to have with the bread is not free. It's not expensive, just a few Euro for the whole lot, but some tourists are met with an "unpleasant surprise" if they're not aware ahead of time. And I suppose it's also quite uncool if you're a tourist on a tight budget. So be warned. Anyway, we ordered food and wine...

Wine: BSE Vinho Regional Terras du Sado, Brano Seco, 2004. Producer Jose Maria da Fonesca (we visited them - you'll read about that later). Color - golden. Nose - flowers and melon. Palate - oak, round, refreshing, sitrusy aftertaste. Rating: :-)+

Food: I had some grilled fish (robalo - some kind of deep sea bass?) and boyfriend of tuxette had a deep fried bacalhau (dried cod) dish that had lots of coriander and cheese sprinkled on top. Now dried cod is big in Portugal, and most of it comes from Norway. Anyway, my dish came with steamed dark greens (not spinach...kale perhaps) and boiled potatoes, and boyfriend of tuxette's came with homemade chips and the same dark greens and some carrots. Both dishes were very very tasty...

Coffee avec: After our meal, we ordered some coffees (café com leite - coffee with milk). The waiter brought us our coffees, left, and then came back with two glasses and a bottle of Madeira! On the house! It was very good! *writes on shopping list - buy Madeira!*

I don't have a website or e-mail address for the restaurant - but if you're interested it's on Rua de Santa Marta, 53 D and the phone number is 213547330. Highly recommended!

General first impressions: Portuguese are very small in stature, not just the women but the men as well. I felt bigger than most of them and I'm not particularly tall. They also have quite distinguishable features, especially the women. You can see that most people are poor. You can tell in lots of different ways, from the state of the buildings (lots in shambles) and the clothes on most of the people, and it's difficult to truly explain it unless you have the reference points of travel here and there. Lots of kitschy Chinese shops with all kinds of knick-knacks and cheap (as in really cheap) clothes, shoes, purses, etc. We have similar type shops here in Oslo, though typically run by Pakistanis. Oh, and the water here in Lisbon stinks of swimming pool...

Afternoon: Walked around Marques de Pombal and Restauradores areas, mostly to explore and stretch our legs.

Dinner: I was the only one interested in having some dinner - and just a salad at that. Something light so that I wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night hungry. So I had goat's cheese salad. Very lovely. We also had some beer. In 0,2 liter glasses. WTF?

Where do you get a drink around here? We can't seem to find a pub anywhere. My impression is that places are set up with a stainless steel bardisk for whenever you just want a drink, not food. boyfriend of tuxette seems flustered. More on this later on...

RING OF FAT PERSPECTIVE
Where's the food? How dare you starve me on the plane! I want food now! ... What's going on? Wait...what's this? Bread! Tasty bread! With cheese? Is that goat cheese? Finally! Something very tasty! And wine! Oh yes, dry, citrusy white wine! And *sniff* *sniff* Here comes lunch! Grilled fish! No, no, no! Don't eat those vegetables....noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! Hmm... Madeira? OK, I'll forgive you for the vegetables... wait... why are you leaving? Why are you walking? You're not supposed to exercise! Feed me some more! ... Oh, yes! Finally! Beer! And more goat cheese! Noooooo, don't eat the green stuff!

sounds fun

[sparky4]

glad the food was tasty at the restaurant. I have been able to eat goat cheese and yogurt since being gluten free. I may have had to give up some foods but the way for others has opened , like brocolli. And, I am able to drink wine again.

No food on the airplane ? Does not sound as if you missed anything there. I tend to pack my own munchies and just get bottled water from the foodcart lady.

When do the pictures appear ? You always have pics. You write great descriptions but I want visual aids, of an

Re:sounds fun

[tuxette]

No food on the airplane ? Does not sound as if you missed anything there. I tend to pack my own munchies and just get bottled water from the foodcart lady.

I would have brought my own food had I known I wouldn't be getting any :-/

When do the pictures appear ?

Sometime during this week or next weekend... dealing with that takes time...

Flights

[Tet]

Among other things, we were never told on the Oslo-London flight that we were supposed to pick up meal vouchers for the London-Lisbon flight

See, that's one of the good things about living in the UK, that you just tend to take for granted. You can get a direct flight to anywhere.