Lisbon

Dropped off the car and caught our flight to Lisbon. The flight was uneventful, but the plane was full.

There was an interesting shop in the airport. It looked like a kids carnival with a ferris wheel. However, it was a sardine shop! Looks like they love their sardines in Lisbon!

Airbnb sent me a service request for a ride from the airport. It would come us as $22 Euros, but turned to $44 Euros at the final screen. I tried it twice, then cancelled. Uber was charging $18 Euros, I went with them.

They have a different system here for Uber pick ups. Once you place your Uber request, you get a response giving you a range of numbers to wait at. There is an area at the airport with numbers painted on the parking spots. Your driver will take one of the open spots in the range you were given and that is where you meet them. It worked pretty well.

We are staying in the Santos-o-Velho neighborhood of Lisbon. It is one of the oldest riverside districts. It is known for its mixture of traditional streets, design shops and nightlife. We found the area to be ideal as it was full of small cafes and was a short walk to the river.

The Airbnb we rented was called Swallow’s Garden. It is on a narrow street filled with beautifully tiled houses that only allows pedestrian traffic. The only problem we had with this location was that our Uber driver did not know (or care) how to get us there. He dropped us off three blocks away. This was an issue because we had to drag our luggage over cobblestone down a steep hill. I gave him a bad review.

Rua das Mades (the street our Airbnb is on - It is the pink one on the left.)

The Airbnb was very charming. It was on the second floor up some fairly narrow stairs. We had a small balcony view of the street below and a spacious living-room and full kitchen. It has a small courtyard with a one room apartment on the other side. The apartment is included in the rental. We got this because Laura, our exchange student from Belgium, will be staying with us while we are here. She is the one that recommended this neighborhood for us to stay in.

Heim Cafe

After a quick nap, we wandered the streets and found the Heim Cafe. This is a brunch spot that serves breakfast all day. I had the daily specail that included, pancakes, poached eggs, bacon and beans. Sandy got the Avacado Toast. Bother were delicious. We had Aperol Spritz with our breakfast. Hmmm, never considered a spritz as a breakfast drink. Another new discovery!

Back at the Airbnb, we stared some laundry and took advantage of the courtyard and had a few cocktails while we waited for Laura to arrive. Laura is our exchange student from Belgium. She lived with us for the school year 2012/13. It has been awhile since we have seen her. She may have gotten older, but she seems the same to me.

Osteria Cucina di Amici

Laura had made dinner reservations at her favorite local Italian restaurant, Osteria Cucina di Amici. It was literally only one block away from our Airbnb, even on the same street ! It was a beautiful night and we got a table outside near a patio heater. Even though we had just got in from Italy, it was great having even more authentic Italian foods!

It is great seeing her and catching up. It was a late night! Our door bell was rung around 10:30 at night. A neighbor told us to close our windows as they could hear us talking. We were not that loud and we were not even playing music. Oh well, it was an easy request to make. We were just a bit bewildered by this.