Portugal, Day 1: Chocolate Overload in Baixa

recently consumed

vacation: baixa in lisbon, portugal

tasting notes

No matter how tired we always try and make ourselves, we are never successful at falling asleep on an overnight flight. We arrive in Amsterdam through a cover of thick clouds, unaware if we are hungry for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Weren’t we just having burgers at Ashley’s with Tom’s parents?

KLM feeds us strange sandwiches called “bloomers” as we arrive over Lisbon. The landscape of Portugal is soft rolling green hills that look like giants tucked under thick mossy covers. Spattered throughout are small beige houses with red roofs and graceful spinning blades of towering wind turbines.

Luis meets us at the Lisbon tour office and guides us to the apartment. As we approach, I can hear the faint call of a woman saying “TOM”. It’s Alyssa running with backpack on back to catch up as we pull into the parking lot. The sun is warm as we look over the balcony and plan our excursion for the remaining part of the day.

We navigate the bushy mazes in the Parque Eduardo VII, as we make our way down to the Lisbon city center. The city feels like a cross between California and Paris as we walk the Avenida Liberdade, Lisbon’s Champs Elysses… which is lined with palm trees and gorgeous tiled sidewalks. All of Lisbon is tiled in varying degrees of restoration, some shiny and some chipped away and bumpy. Not the place for high heels.

We veer off our path to have some ginja, a cherry liqueur, at Ginjinha Sem Rival. Tom is the only one adventurous enough to eat both of the liqueur soaked cherries at the bottom of the glass. We sit down to eat at Restaurante Bonjardim, as people continually try and offer us hash. We try and order the specialties of the house… chicken piri-piri and frango no espeto. We get one meal, one glass of wine, and two waters for three people. Looks like we need to work on our translation issues.

Tummies stuffed full of delicious roasted chicken and fries, we venture into Praoa Dom Predo IV and Elevador Santa Justa, where we happen upon our first tourists taking pictures. Still no flower sellers or scam artists like in most big cities. We are tempted by a 2 euro chocolate tasting at Labooka on Rua Santa Justa. The cheap entrance fee gets us more chocolate than even we desire in exotic flavors such as mango and avocado, rice and red currant, goat’s milk, and delicious Madiera. A marathon of indulgence.

The sun was setting and the night life was beginning just as we were getting tired. We crawled our way up into Chiado, past Café A Brasileira, and down into the metro station. We found our way back to the apartment along the beautifully graffiti-ed city walls… beautiful near our apartment, not so beautiful all over the city. We sipped wine and fell asleep talking about the next day while watching bad comedy shows on the television.

Tomorrow: Lisbon Day 2 in Belem, Alfalma and Barrio Alto