En Reconnaissance de Paris: Lisboa: Quel rêve!

Don't worry everyone, I'm back and have not forgotten about you!

Since my return from Portugal on Sunday night, I have been so busy with compositions, exams and presentations that I have not had one moment to blog. But here I am with a full update on my weekend:

Thursday evening I flew into Lisbon. The flight was about two hours and actually beautiful. We passed over the Pyrénées and could see the snowy mountaintops. Eventually, the ocean came into view and we landed in Portugal. Brian arrived a short time later.

We checked into our hotel and had our dinner there. As Lisbon is on the water, they prepare some excellent fishes. I tried a very traditional codfish dish, which I enjoyed very much, and Brian had the sea bass. We then went down to the downtown area, Barrio Alto, where we had heard there would be some St. Patrick's Day festivities. It was a really cool area in which the streets were really just packed with young people, all of whom appeared to be Portuguese. We really enjoyed immersing ourselves into this environment that first night.

On Friday, we packed a ton of activities into our day. We began by taking the metro back downtown. From here, we walked down to see the water. The layout of the city reminded us a bit of San Francisco at first with it's very hilly streets, but it was obviously more European with its cobblestone pavement. Once down by the water, we ate lunch at a small place where they cooked their meats on an outdoor grill. We shared clams and both had a very Portuguese-style sirloin steak. We finished it off with mango for dessert.

Then, we decided to take a long walk in which we intended to ultimately reach the famous Castle Sao Jorge. Along the way, we came across a building that really interested us, so we decided to go in. This was the Carmo Archaeological Museum, the mediaeval convent wrecked by the earthquake in 1755. The convent had been restored a bit, but it was still left in its somewhat wrecked form. The Gothic style of the church was evident, the architecture that survived was very impressive, and the view of the open ceiling with the remaining arches and the blazing sun above was absolutely stunning. For me, this was really one of the most breathtaking monuments I've seen this far.

After leaving this site, we got a bit lost while exploring the streets. We asked a nice Portuguese man for directions. We asked, "excuse me... castle?" He understood clearly what we were looking for, but somehow managed to launch into a five-minute long description in which he pointed North, East, South, and West, signaled to go up and then down, and ended with a smile and a "ciao!" Fortunately, the next man we encountered explained simply that we needed to continue along our street and up a big hill.

We walked a bit more until we finally reached the castle. The views from here were absolutely incredible, and we sat for a while looking out over the city.

Directly next to this castle happens to be the number one ranked place to eat in Lisbon, so we needed to stop in. This place, Wine Bar do Castello, is primarily all about its Portuguese wines. Having been learning all about French wines for two months now, I was really interested to taste a Portuguese wine and to learn about it from the expert who worked there. This man was very helpful and recommended to us two glasses of a certain white wine from the Douro region. It was fruity but not overpowering and went beautifully with the plate of cheeses that the man provided us with. Although this place did not serve any real food and was only a tiny room on the side of a mountain, it was such an authentic and unique experience. I do not think it was something that I will soon forget.

Exhausted from our day of walking, we returned to our hotel and took a nap before heading out to a late dinner. The location we chose to eat at was one we had walked past during the day, called Sacramento. It seemed attractive, and it was only after we decided to go there that we realized it was a highly regarded, while not overly expensive, restaurant in Lisbon. For a reasonable price, I started with a fish soup, had a swordfish with scallop sauce as my entree, and finished with a lemon sorbet. Brian had a salmon salad, a brie cheese burger, and vanilla gelato for dessert. This was all paired nicely with a red Portuguese wine. Overall, we loved the meal and the ambiance of the restaurant, but the very clear highlight was my swordfish. I kid you not (honestly, I know how much I talk about my food), but this was the single best dish I have eaten thus far in my semester abroad. The fish was prepared to perfection, and the sauce itself was shockingly smooth and flavorful. If I could have just one dish again, it would be that swordfish.

Anyway, we finished our night shortly thereafter in order to wake up early enough to celebrate Brian's 21st birthday. We began by drinking our morning espressos outside in the hotel's outdoor seating area. We then took a trip to Costa da Caparica. This is technically not in Lisbon-- it's over the Tagus River-- but the beaches here are considered some of the best in the area. We were certainly not disappointed. The weather was perfect-- about 70 degrees-- so it was not too hot, but extremely comfortable. We pretty much soaked up all the beach had to offer for the next few hours. We enjoyed some toasted sandwiches and a bottle of wine from the restaurant, Sacramento, over the course of our 5 hours of leisure. There was not a cloud in the sky all day, the sand was perfectly grainy and smooth, and it remained relatively uncrowded until later on in the day. The water was too cold to go into, but we watched the surfers and dipped our toes in for a minute or two.

We finally returned to our hotel, exhausted from the sun. We took a quick dip in the hotel's pool (how could we not?), showered, napped, and prepared for an enormous birthday dinner.

We traveled down to the Docas de Santo Amaro. This is the docks area below the Abril Bridge, right along the river. Late-night, it's a great area that is full of life and offers some amazing seafood restaurants. We chose to try Doca Peixe based on the menu we saw offered. After having not eaten much all day and given the occasion, we jumped into this dinner with two feet. Here is what we ate:
- bread with salmon pate, cheese sauce and olives
- appetizer of clams
- remarkable Portuguese white wine
- shared entree of lobster rice with clams and shrimp
- shared entree of curry shrimp with pineapple
- apple crumble with vanilla ice cream (and a candle, accompanied by my phenomenal vocals)
You can imagine that we left happy and not a bit hungry. While my swordfish from Sacramento still stands as my favorite dish abroad, this may have been cohesively my favorite overall meal. Each of the elements worked wonderfully together, and we could not complain about a single thing.

The night was not yet over, and we were in a great location to continue exploring. At this point, we came across a great little bar in which there was a man performing live music. We went there for a little while where we enjoyed some of Brian's Bob Marley favorites and celebrated the final minutes of his birthday together.

On Sunday, we were very depressed to be leaving, but enjoyed a final brunch at our hotel first. Our food was very good, but the best part was our vanilla risotto dessert with raspberries. It was truly exquisite and the perfect taste to have left in our mouths as we headed to the airport and out of Lisbon.

We said our goodbyes until one month from now, but it was nothing to be sad about. We had had an extraordinary weekend together and both have a lot of exciting things to look forward to. On Friday my parents will be arriving in Paris (and Abbey's on Thursday). We can't wait to show them around and watch them fall just as in love with this city as we have.

I will be sure to fill you all in again soon. À la prochaine!