Tuesday, 9/23

This begins our first visit to Portugal, starting with 4 days in Lisbon, staying at Hotel Metropole (great location on Rossio square) arriving in the morning.

Our room was ready, so we dropped off the luggage and took the subway to El Corte Ingles, where we bought some port and sherry, and then had a light lunch in one of their restaurants, Cafetaria.

We enjoyed our dishes, shrimp salad and smoked salmon salad. These were generously portioned and very reasonably priced. The bill, including a lemonade and a ginger ale, came to 32 euros.

After lunch we returned to the hotel for a much-needed nap.

Before dinner we stopped off for cocktails at the Hotel Mundial rooftop bar then headed to dinner at Prado.

We had a superb dinner. It’s a small-plates restaurant, so we ordered 5 to share, mackerel, sea trout, eel (all served at room temperature). sweetbreads and alentejano pork. With a bottle of wine for 45, the total was 140 euros. Service was attentive and sincere, atmosphere beautiful, overall perfect.

Wednesday, 9/24

Took an uber in the morning to the National Tile Museum.

This is a fascinating museum, very worthwhile if you are interested in ceramics.

Next was lunch at O Velho Eurico.

Arriving at around 12:15, we waited nearly an hour to get in but it was worth it. Others who arrived around 12:30 were turned away, so be warned. We ordered blood sausage, chicken hearts with grapes, and sardine toast. It was a lot of food and delicious. With a beer, a glass of wine, coffees and water, the bill was 42 euros.

After lunch, we took an Uber to the Fronteira Palace, north of the city, in Benfica. This magnificent palace and gardens is now occupied by the 14th generation of the original family. Photos are prohibited inside the house but I got shots of the exterior and the gardens. We had a wonderful guide, an art historian, who made the whole visit very special.

Back to the hotel and then another rooftop bar, in the hotel Altis.

Following that, dinner was at Solar dos Presuntos.

This was another exceptional meal at a very reasonable cost. We started with lobster soup and clams, then roasted kid goat and veal in puff pastry. The wine the waiter recommended when I told him we prefer very full-bodied reds, and that I was looking in the 30 to 40 euro range, he came out with what turned out to be stunningly good, for 29.50 euros. The total was 138 euros. Service was flawless and the atmosphere is elegant.

Thursday, 9/25

This was the day of our small-group tour to the Pena Palace, Sintra, Quinta da Regaleira and Cascais, beginning at 8 AM. On the whole it was a nice day, but not without a couple of disappointments, though our guide, Xavier, was wonderful.

Here’s what happened. I had booked a tour that did not include the Regaleira palace, because in my research I found it to be not very interesting. The tour would have included more time in Cascais to see the town and have a leisurely lunch. The day before, I received a call from the tour operator, Inside Lisbon, telling me they had added Regaleira to the tour and that consequently it would be an hour longer. That was fine with us but I asked if everything else remained the same and she said it did. This was not true. We spent over 2 hours at Regaleira when it could have been seen in under an hour. This left us with only 15 minutes in Cascais, and our only choice for lunch was to get a sandwich in Sintra.

I assume what happened was not enough people booked the same tour I did so they decided to substitute the one I had decided against, and lied to me about the differences.

First stop, Pena Palace:

This was a very interesting and informative tour, led by our guide Xavier. By the way, unlike the other guides we observed, he spoke nearly flawless English, in addition to being very knowledgeable and charming.

Next stop, Sintra:

We had a quick sandwich lunch before walking up to the Regaleira palace.

Regaleira palace:

The interior was not fascinating but here are a couple of exterior photos:

Dinner was at Federico in the Bairra Alto.

Note the height of the room, looking up to the skylight.

Another impressive dinner. Here is what we ate:

Foie gras, crusted goat cheese on toast with ham, cod, sea bass, pistachio sponge cake with raspberries, strawberries, raspberry cream, strawberry ice cream (scrumptious!).

With wine and cocktails the total was 175 euros.

Friday, 9/26

We began with the Museum of Decorative Arts.

View of the harbor from across from the museum:

Then lunch at Taberna da Rua das Flores.

We arrived a few minutes before noon and there were just a few people waiting for it to open. They don’t accept reservations or credit cards. Everyone who came during lunchtime got in without a wait.

This is another small-plates restaurant, where it makes sense to order 2 dishes per person. Everything was perfectly done. I started with 6 oysters, and we shared baby squid with garlic sauce, veal tongue and pork belly. Stanley had a glass of red wine from the Douro and I had a white, Albarinho. The bill was 75.50 euros.

And after, the National Museum of Ancient Art.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Santini for ice cream.

Wonderful ice cream. He had chocolate and dulce de leche. I had pistachio and chocolate. What a treat!

Dinner was at Palacio Chiado.

This was yet another fabulous dinner, set in a true palace. We arrived early and had cocktails at the bar, then moved to our table, where we had perfect service, and great advice on wine. I forgot to photograph the wine but here it is from their list:

HERÉDIAS
CASTAS | GRAPES: TOURIGA NACIONAL, TOURIGA FRANCA,
TINTA RORIZ, TINTA AMARELA 26

We had tiradito of amberjack, shrimp and fish soup, rack of lamb, and duck breast. All were superb.

The total with water was 156.50 euros.

This concludes our time in Lisbon. Train to Coimbra in the morning.