Lisbon--Central

Beyond its immediate sense of faded glamour, Central Lisbon had its charms.  We discovered these charms by foot and, our personal favourite, the tram car.  Tracks crisscrossed various neighborhoods, up hills and exposing delicious views.  At euro 1.40, it's a bargain way to see the place without navigating hills.  

Our first stop was in the Alfama neighborhood, which we're not even sure we managed to properly find.  But views, winding cobbles and a tram-themed and shaped restaurant were on the cards so no complaints here: 

Restaurant, if you look closely: 

Between the weather playing games with us, we managed to find lots of charm.  I don't remember names of things or places so photos will have to suffice: 

 Beautiful, beautiful tiles adorned the fronts of houses, shops, garages.  It must be hard to maintain but it looked gorgeous.  Chuck even made his way to the Tile Museum, a feat not for the faint of heart.  Happy to know it exists though.

The Funicular near Bairro Alto, the party district.  We did too much walking to enjoy the latter and opted for later evening wine instead.  

Stairs! 

In one of the oldest parts of the city, Chuck decided his Portuguese was good (it's not) and stopped here for a sandwich and a natter with the barman.  The conversation made it off the ground when another local stopped by--this local had a working knowledge of French (as does Chuck) and the rest of us played lexical ping pong between the French to Portuguese to English translation that took place.  Truly memorable. 

 

  Further testament to the love of the sardine:

 

Our two-day stay in Lisbon ended rather unceremoniously and I don't think we got the best of the city.  I think this came down partially to the time of year and partially down to trying to organise four different agendas (and morning routines).  I can't quite put my finger on it but there's a lot of quirk here, a lot more to be discovered.