Lisbon's back streets
After picking myself off the floor, I enjoyed the next 11 hours sleeping.
Oh yeah... that's a nice way to start a holiday!
Our first activity - "A Culinary Crossroads". Ruth booked us in for a gourmet foodies tour of the back streets of Lisbon. I can't wait to describe this day for you. It was wonderful.
It started with having to meet our tour guide outside the main gates of the Estrela Gardens at 10am. Google Maps says allow 37 minutes to walk there, however, it didn't tell us about the steep gradients along the way.
I should have twigged to what lay ahead when coming out of our hotel after turn 2 we find a funicular. Here's Ruth at the base of the first "hill" on our return.
So our first learning is that Lisbon is nothing like Melbourne's topography.
Of course we hadn't purchased Lisbon's version of a Myki, so we had no option but to walk.
It wasn't just the steepness. The footpath is made of the most slippery rock material possible. I can't over-emphasise how treacherous it felt coming down this hill. We later find that this lime-stone type of footpath is all over the city.
Onwards we march to the instruction of Google Maps.
I'm afraid to inform you that my ability to interpret the walking instructions was not fully up to the task.
I'll put it down to the combination of jet lag together with an unscheduled detour due to a non-Google-Maps-aware construction activity. It meant that our 37 minute task took us 47 minutes.
That doesn't sound like much, but this is where we really came to understand how the hilliness of Lisbon with the silliness of Julian can be most precarious. The result: much unnecessary expenditure of energy. Not the sort of start to a gourmet tour we really wanted.... but... thankfully, we arrived at the appointed place with a few minutes to spare thanks to my dear wife's need to allow plenty of time for the commute.
The extended walk meant we gained an appreciation of the architecture of Lisbon.
And another street corner:
I must say, I can appreciate how well Australia has deployed the NBN now. For all the complaints at home, check out the way its done in Lisbon. Unsightly cables destroy what otherwise is impressive architecture throughout.
Our Cullinary Crossroads tour guide arrives on time. His name is Joao. He tells us his name is pronounced Joao, but we can call him John if its too hard.
Nice chap, spoke very well with an excellent command of English. He started off by proclaiming that it was our lucky day today. I couldn't help but wonder after my navigation display to get here, whether Ruth was prepared to accept that this day could be considered lucky. Maybe the fact that we were at the right spot at roughly the right time we could qualify as being VERY lucky.
Joao informed us that nobody else had booked this tour today; So we had a private guide for the day.
I must admit that my fear of being ripped off by Internet scams rang alarm bells inside my head; Was everyone else a wake-up to these bastards? But, ever optimistic, woohooo... our lucky day.... here we go!
First stop of our walking gourmet tour was coffee, sorry, "bica" and cake.
We crossed the busy road, encouraged to jaywalk and play hookey with the traffic, and walked into a typical, local, corner cafe. Inside, Joao interrogated us about our background and our level of knowledge about Europe and world history. He started by asking us to draw a map of the world.
Ruth wouldn't dare, so I drew a map showing a huge Australia covering most of the available space on the piece of paper right in the middle of the map of the world, with a rather small Europe in the top left of the corner.
Until then, he hadn't realised that Australia was front and centre of all civilisation in 2017, and so he then took up the mantle and introduced us to the tour, Lisbon the city, and Portugal the country. Until then, I hadn't realised that it was the Portuguese who was responsible for the development of what we now know as Western Civilisation. Touche!
Well not exactly, but he gave us an interesting explanation to how the Portuguese explored the world (I'll let you google Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan to name a couple of important identities he relied upon as evidence) and how these exploits introduced coffee, tea, and other staples to Europe and to whom I am forever grateful.
Bica and cake were absolutely excellent. And Joao turned out to be a wonderful guide. And bugger me... it turned out to be a lucky day!
I'm talking too much.
Along the way I snapped a few interesting things. Here's a small green grocery selling fresh fruit.
Generously, Joao bought us a clementine (what I would call a mandarin) each, but Ruth was taken by the Ox Heart cabbage. Apparently Queenslanders call these "sugar loaf" cabbages. I was taken by the fact that this green grocer had quite a selection of digestive tonics to complement the fruit as seen backing on the fresh food selection.
Joao explained that people from Ireland enjoy Lisbon coz their whiskies are cheaper here than back home. A bit like our natural gas hey?
We passed a BP service station - check out the impressive vertical garden.
Next stop was a general store run by an 89 year old gentleman. He had run his shop since 1945 - some 72 years serving his local community in the best way he knew - selling cold beers, local wines, and an array of groceries, including coffee, washing powder, canned vegetables, sweets, etc. The local council has decided that this store must be heritage protected, and the chap is so happy and proud, even though he can't possibly make a profit any more, he does little else. Here's Joao with the elderly retailer (Sorry, I forgot his name).
Having enjoyed an aperitif here, we set on our way to the location of our first gastric extravaganza - Entree is being served.
Here's the proprietor serving us a mixture of sausages and stew - You'll have to ask Ruth for the details. He runs the place with just himself and his daughter - been doing so for 37 years apparently.
This was a rather small place; It had 8 tables that could seat a max of 4 passengers at each table, plus a bar that could take another 6 on stools, plus standing room that could take a few more.
Meals are discounted if you eat standing at the bar, but extravagantly, we took stools at the bar, giving me great access to the cooking preparation process.
The price of the daily meal was EUR8. While we were there, a chap came in with his container to take lunch back home to his wife - Only EUR5 for that. He explained this was way better than cooking at home - this was his daily ritual. You can see the customer's container coming in from right of picture about to get filled with a colourful Cod stew. And in the background, you can see the stove and oven.
Next stop was a food market - first the seafood. It's hard to see, but in the background there is a cafe with a group of grey-haired gentlemen - we'll come back to them in a jiff. But some interesting items of seafood were available here.
Ever seen pencil clams before?
And this eel started growling at me:
We entered the cafe I mentioned before - another course of our lunch was consumed - stuffed squid. By this time, it was stuffed Julian too. The beer was most welcome indeed.
That group of grey-haired gentlemen were enjoying a drink here too. These guys, retired, meet regularly (could even be daily), discussing politics, sport, and their latest conquests. I fitted in perfectly.
Notice how I refrained from referring to this group as "old" grey-haired gentlemen.
Along the way to our next course, I couldn't help but notice more groups of "grey-haired" gentlemen discussing politics, sport, and conquests. These guys had the benefit of viewing the passing parades of citizens going about their every day business.
Next course for lunch was a seafood restaurant - Cafe Europa was the name. Named after the cinema that used to be there right opposite - it made way for an apartment block. The sardines are highly recommended.
Onwards and upwards... yes there was more.
On the way to the next culinary experience we came across an interesting innovation - a free book exchange housed in telephone-box-sized libraries. Simply bring a book and take a book - no fees, just a service to the community supported by the local council.
A Cullinary Backstreets tour wouldn't be complete without a serve of chicken and chips. Joao and Ruth referred to the meal as Peri Peri chicken. A secret recipe of herbs and spices of which both the Colonel and the owners of Nandos would be proud. The proprietor of this place has been running his one and only chicken shop for 27 years now.
I managed to pick myself up from the table - time for a burger maybe?
You'll be pleased to know we walked straight past the "ham bur gueria"....
and into a bakery for a coffee, sorry bica, and cake.
Enough already.
No... time for some schnapps.
But it was our lucky day... we couldn't be served at the bar because there was a wedding... phew. But, the proprietors let me take a couple of snaps in lieu of serving me schnapps. Here's where the ceremony was going to take place...
And here's the reception room ready for dining. Hope it works for them!
Time to visit a wine bar.
Joao selected a range of wines for us, and of course, you can't have wine without local cheeses can you.
An interesting supplement here was dripping honey onto the cheese. I think it was just an excuse to have a second round of wine tastings.
You may recall that our Culinary Backstreets gourmet tour started at 10am. It was now approaching 5pm. Unfortunately lunch was coming to a close.
But still time for a Portuguese tart to be accompanied by bica of course. Here's the helicopter view:
But these are not just your ordinary Portuguese tarts. This place has won the award for best Portuguese tart three years out of the last seven years. And Portuguese tarts are everywhere in Lisbon, so when I say these were the best Portuguese tarts I have ever tasted, I am sure I will never ever taste Portuguese tarts as good as these ever again,anywhere in the world!
Its now about 5:30pm. The tour has ended.
It's time to walk home.
It will come as no surprise that dinner consisted of an apple eaten in the confines of our room at the Torel Palace.
So ends day one.
What does tomorrow offer? Another lucky day?
Oh yeah... that's a nice way to start a holiday!
Our first activity - "A Culinary Crossroads". Ruth booked us in for a gourmet foodies tour of the back streets of Lisbon. I can't wait to describe this day for you. It was wonderful.
It started with having to meet our tour guide outside the main gates of the Estrela Gardens at 10am. Google Maps says allow 37 minutes to walk there, however, it didn't tell us about the steep gradients along the way.
I should have twigged to what lay ahead when coming out of our hotel after turn 2 we find a funicular. Here's Ruth at the base of the first "hill" on our return.
So our first learning is that Lisbon is nothing like Melbourne's topography.
Of course we hadn't purchased Lisbon's version of a Myki, so we had no option but to walk.
It wasn't just the steepness. The footpath is made of the most slippery rock material possible. I can't over-emphasise how treacherous it felt coming down this hill. We later find that this lime-stone type of footpath is all over the city.
Onwards we march to the instruction of Google Maps.
I'm afraid to inform you that my ability to interpret the walking instructions was not fully up to the task.
I'll put it down to the combination of jet lag together with an unscheduled detour due to a non-Google-Maps-aware construction activity. It meant that our 37 minute task took us 47 minutes.
That doesn't sound like much, but this is where we really came to understand how the hilliness of Lisbon with the silliness of Julian can be most precarious. The result: much unnecessary expenditure of energy. Not the sort of start to a gourmet tour we really wanted.... but... thankfully, we arrived at the appointed place with a few minutes to spare thanks to my dear wife's need to allow plenty of time for the commute.
The extended walk meant we gained an appreciation of the architecture of Lisbon.
And another street corner:
Our Cullinary Crossroads tour guide arrives on time. His name is Joao. He tells us his name is pronounced Joao, but we can call him John if its too hard.
Nice chap, spoke very well with an excellent command of English. He started off by proclaiming that it was our lucky day today. I couldn't help but wonder after my navigation display to get here, whether Ruth was prepared to accept that this day could be considered lucky. Maybe the fact that we were at the right spot at roughly the right time we could qualify as being VERY lucky.
Joao informed us that nobody else had booked this tour today; So we had a private guide for the day.
I must admit that my fear of being ripped off by Internet scams rang alarm bells inside my head; Was everyone else a wake-up to these bastards? But, ever optimistic, woohooo... our lucky day.... here we go!
First stop of our walking gourmet tour was coffee, sorry, "bica" and cake.
We crossed the busy road, encouraged to jaywalk and play hookey with the traffic, and walked into a typical, local, corner cafe. Inside, Joao interrogated us about our background and our level of knowledge about Europe and world history. He started by asking us to draw a map of the world.
Ruth wouldn't dare, so I drew a map showing a huge Australia covering most of the available space on the piece of paper right in the middle of the map of the world, with a rather small Europe in the top left of the corner.
Until then, he hadn't realised that Australia was front and centre of all civilisation in 2017, and so he then took up the mantle and introduced us to the tour, Lisbon the city, and Portugal the country. Until then, I hadn't realised that it was the Portuguese who was responsible for the development of what we now know as Western Civilisation. Touche!
Well not exactly, but he gave us an interesting explanation to how the Portuguese explored the world (I'll let you google Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan to name a couple of important identities he relied upon as evidence) and how these exploits introduced coffee, tea, and other staples to Europe and to whom I am forever grateful.
Bica and cake were absolutely excellent. And Joao turned out to be a wonderful guide. And bugger me... it turned out to be a lucky day!
I'm talking too much.
Along the way I snapped a few interesting things. Here's a small green grocery selling fresh fruit.
Generously, Joao bought us a clementine (what I would call a mandarin) each, but Ruth was taken by the Ox Heart cabbage. Apparently Queenslanders call these "sugar loaf" cabbages. I was taken by the fact that this green grocer had quite a selection of digestive tonics to complement the fruit as seen backing on the fresh food selection.
Joao explained that people from Ireland enjoy Lisbon coz their whiskies are cheaper here than back home. A bit like our natural gas hey?
We passed a BP service station - check out the impressive vertical garden.
Next stop was a general store run by an 89 year old gentleman. He had run his shop since 1945 - some 72 years serving his local community in the best way he knew - selling cold beers, local wines, and an array of groceries, including coffee, washing powder, canned vegetables, sweets, etc. The local council has decided that this store must be heritage protected, and the chap is so happy and proud, even though he can't possibly make a profit any more, he does little else. Here's Joao with the elderly retailer (Sorry, I forgot his name).
Having enjoyed an aperitif here, we set on our way to the location of our first gastric extravaganza - Entree is being served.
Here's the proprietor serving us a mixture of sausages and stew - You'll have to ask Ruth for the details. He runs the place with just himself and his daughter - been doing so for 37 years apparently.
This was a rather small place; It had 8 tables that could seat a max of 4 passengers at each table, plus a bar that could take another 6 on stools, plus standing room that could take a few more.
Meals are discounted if you eat standing at the bar, but extravagantly, we took stools at the bar, giving me great access to the cooking preparation process.
The price of the daily meal was EUR8. While we were there, a chap came in with his container to take lunch back home to his wife - Only EUR5 for that. He explained this was way better than cooking at home - this was his daily ritual. You can see the customer's container coming in from right of picture about to get filled with a colourful Cod stew. And in the background, you can see the stove and oven.
Next stop was a food market - first the seafood. It's hard to see, but in the background there is a cafe with a group of grey-haired gentlemen - we'll come back to them in a jiff. But some interesting items of seafood were available here.
Ever seen pencil clams before?
And this eel started growling at me:
We entered the cafe I mentioned before - another course of our lunch was consumed - stuffed squid. By this time, it was stuffed Julian too. The beer was most welcome indeed.
That group of grey-haired gentlemen were enjoying a drink here too. These guys, retired, meet regularly (could even be daily), discussing politics, sport, and their latest conquests. I fitted in perfectly.
Notice how I refrained from referring to this group as "old" grey-haired gentlemen.
Along the way to our next course, I couldn't help but notice more groups of "grey-haired" gentlemen discussing politics, sport, and conquests. These guys had the benefit of viewing the passing parades of citizens going about their every day business.
Next course for lunch was a seafood restaurant - Cafe Europa was the name. Named after the cinema that used to be there right opposite - it made way for an apartment block. The sardines are highly recommended.
Onwards and upwards... yes there was more.
On the way to the next culinary experience we came across an interesting innovation - a free book exchange housed in telephone-box-sized libraries. Simply bring a book and take a book - no fees, just a service to the community supported by the local council.
A Cullinary Backstreets tour wouldn't be complete without a serve of chicken and chips. Joao and Ruth referred to the meal as Peri Peri chicken. A secret recipe of herbs and spices of which both the Colonel and the owners of Nandos would be proud. The proprietor of this place has been running his one and only chicken shop for 27 years now.
I managed to pick myself up from the table - time for a burger maybe?
You'll be pleased to know we walked straight past the "ham bur gueria"....
and into a bakery for a coffee, sorry bica, and cake.
Enough already.
No... time for some schnapps.
But it was our lucky day... we couldn't be served at the bar because there was a wedding... phew. But, the proprietors let me take a couple of snaps in lieu of serving me schnapps. Here's where the ceremony was going to take place...
And here's the reception room ready for dining. Hope it works for them!
Time to visit a wine bar.
Joao selected a range of wines for us, and of course, you can't have wine without local cheeses can you.
An interesting supplement here was dripping honey onto the cheese. I think it was just an excuse to have a second round of wine tastings.
You may recall that our Culinary Backstreets gourmet tour started at 10am. It was now approaching 5pm. Unfortunately lunch was coming to a close.
But still time for a Portuguese tart to be accompanied by bica of course. Here's the helicopter view:
But these are not just your ordinary Portuguese tarts. This place has won the award for best Portuguese tart three years out of the last seven years. And Portuguese tarts are everywhere in Lisbon, so when I say these were the best Portuguese tarts I have ever tasted, I am sure I will never ever taste Portuguese tarts as good as these ever again,anywhere in the world!
Its now about 5:30pm. The tour has ended.
It's time to walk home.
It will come as no surprise that dinner consisted of an apple eaten in the confines of our room at the Torel Palace.
So ends day one.
What does tomorrow offer? Another lucky day?
Comments
Post a Comment