Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Our day started in Lisbon, Portugal. Andi wanted to go out to breakfast this morning since there’s so many restaurants options within walking distance of our rented apartment in the Campo de Ourique neighborhood.

The morning was fresh and bright on the walk to the restaurant. It felt like spring! Finally the sun was shining in Portugal. Andi picked to eat at a place called Amelia for our breakfast. What a cute, cozy cafe this was with a covered patio in the back of the restaurant. We picked to sit on the patio under heat lamps built into the ceiling. Bright sunshine filled the space, and felt so good on our faces.

The restaurant offered a long list of fresh smoothie options, so we each ordered one to drink. Aden was excited to see acai bowls on the menu, so he decided to have one for his breakfast … with a side of bacon. Tory picked pancakes, and I chose tomato and spinach toast and two soft-boiled eggs. Andi raved about his chicken & roasted vegetable bowl. The food at Amelia tasted healthy, wholesome, and delicious.

Aden’s looking pretty sharp with his new haircut, too!

After breakfast, we decided to walk around our Campo de Ourique neighborhood. This area feels like a community within a big city with people bustling to work, families commuting to school, and people walking their dogs on the sidewalk. It seemed very safe and family friendly; not at all toursity.

We stumbled upon Mercado de Campo de Ourique, and popped inside to check it out. This building is a traditional food hall / market, but it was pretty empty on a Wednesday morning. We browsed through the aisles to look at the offerings and mostly found restaurants preparing for the afternoon meal, a bar, and a few vendors selling cheese, sausage, and fresh fish.

“Let’s go to Pink Street,” Andi said when we walked outside. The Alfama neighborhood is one of Lisbon’s oldest, and is where the infamous Pink Street is located as well as the iconic No. 28 tram. One great thing about traveling in big cities is how easy it is to get around. Andi uses a ride-sharing service called Bolt in Portugal (it’s much cheaper than Uber pricing), and within minutes the four of us were riding in the back of a car on our way to Pink Street.

There was traffic, of course, but it only took us 15 minutes to reach the Alfama neighborhood. We enjoyed the ride along the way there, thankful not to be navigating ourselves through the tiny one-lane streets in the old part of Lisbon. The city is known for its steep streets, and tram cars ride up and down them carrying passengers to places like the 11th-century São Jorge Castle overlooking the city. Cars are able to drive right alongside the tram cars which made driving here chaotic.

Our Bolt driver dropped us off at the entrance of Pink Street. “Obrigado!” we said, thanking him for the ride. Once full of seedy bars, brothels, and gambling halls, the city’s urban renewal project painted the street pink as part of a recent revitalization campaign. Now, this area of the Almafa neighborhood is one of the most famous streets in Lisbon, and is the center of nightlife in the city. It was pretty quiet when we walked through around 11:00am.

Suddenly, Andi felt sick and needed to find a bathroom quickly. His stomach has been feeling so much better lately, but it did not agree with the digestive enzyme pills he took with his breakfast. The four of us popped into one of Portugal’s many snack bars, and I ordered two waters from the service counter giving Andi permission to use the restroom. He returned to the kids and I waiting outside a few minutes later reporting that he’d just thrown up his healthy, delicious breakfast. Shoot.

Andi said he felt better now, so we continued walking through the historic neighborhood. The warm air and sunshine felt so good! The four of us were in heaven walking along the waterfront soaking in the city life and its views. Lots of other people had the same idea as they lounged on park benches and chairs in the many squares. We laughed at the number of Lime scooters (those scooters you can rent and ride in big cities) that were abandoned (or crashed?) in the water. There were at least a handful! Tory and Aden keep asking to rent those, and Andi and I always remind them they aren’t safe.

The four of us continued walking along the boardwalk toward Praça do Comércio. This is one of the largest plazas in Lisbon, and overlooks the Tagus estuary. During the time in history when all visitors to Lisbon reached the city by sea, this was the plaza that greeted them. The Triumphal Arch, overlooking the plaza and connecting to Rua Augusta, is a symbol to commemorate Lisbon’s reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake leveled the city.

Andi, Tory, Aden, and I wandered through the arch and onto Rua Augusta. Andi bought a couple pastéis de nata custard tarts to refill his belly after he threw up his breakfast. He offered to share with the rest of us, but only Aden was hungry. Pastéis de nata originated in Lisbon, and are sold all over the city. They are really tasty when they’re warm, and especially when sprinkled with cinnamon.

While we browsed the city street, I bought a couple Portugal postcards for the kids to send to their friends. There was a good energy in the air with lots of tourists milling about and people so happy to feel the sunshine. We saw several street performers on the avenue, including one of those human statues that come to life when you come near them. It startled Tory and Aden at first because they didn’t comprehend it was a real person standing there. Then it became a game to run up to the man dressed as an angel and throw a couple coins in his cup to get him to move. Tory liked it, but Aden wasn’t such a big fan.

Believe it or not, we all felt hot and sweaty after walking around wearing all our layers of clothing! Aden, in particular, was overheating big time and asked if we could go back to our apartment. Andi and I decided that would be fine since he had to work this afternoon anyway, and the kids and I needed to do some school. We hopped into a Bolt ride-share car and rode 20 minutes back to the Campo de Ourique neighborhood.

The internet is not very good in our rental apartment, so Andi decided to go to a co-working space for his afternoon calls. It cost him €20 to work there, but they had super fast internet and plenty of spaces and desks to work.

Meanwhile, Tory, Aden, and I got ready to do schoolwork in the apartment. The kids wanted to order take-out from the Glovo app, but I didn’t think that was necessary with so many options located right outside our apartment. I convinced them to buy something easy from the grocery store across the street for lunch, and then we’d go somewhere for dinner tonight.

Aden and I walked across the street to a small grocery store there, and purchased gnocchi, tomato sauce, frozen chicken nuggets, and a pre-made soup. We returned to the apartment and I made them lunch, and then we worked on school work until 5:00pm. I’ve been really proud of Tory and Aden for their willingness to do school work in the afternoons without any complaining. It can be hard to shift our brains to learning after exploring all morning, and they’ve done really well with it.

Andi returned to the apartment after work around 5:30pm. We decided to walk around our neighborhood to enjoy the last bits of sunshine. Aden didn’t want to come, so we left him alone in the apartment while Andi, Tory, and I walked around. Tory’s learned that she usually gets a treat when she walks with Andi in the evenings, and as expected he bought her a bubble tea drink from the Yoyo Tea store. There were so many locals out and about as we walked — people having beers in the park at the little kiosk there, kids and families hanging around the playground, and lots of people out walking their dogs. This neighborhood has a great feel about it.

For dinner, we decided to order chicken from the Churrasqueira. We ate at one of these restaurants last week in Moura, and loved it! The offers are basic — a whole chicken, grilled, and chopped into pieces with choice of salad, rice, and french fries as sides. We ordered two family meals which was more than enough food to feed all four of us for dinner with some leftovers for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Lisbon, and I’d really like to take a day-trip to Sintra. I hope the weather is as nice as it was today.