After a long night of much needed, first-night-in-Europe sleep, we wandered back down the steps and hills toward the river to purchase our Hop On Hop Off tour bus tickets to get our bearings around Lisbon. We always take the HoHo to start a new city, because it is a great way to get a quick overview, then visit the places of most interest.
Overall, the Lisbon tour was the least satisfying of any we have ever taken. The commentary was sparse, and what little we heard was filled with loud static, making listening painful. Nonetheless, we persevered through the crowds and the traffic and the construction to see the highlights of Lisbon, of which there are many.
Just about the entire mainland side of Lisbon’s riverfront is under construction. The fences all sport banners saying “Building a better Lisbon,” and from what we could tell, this is a major municipal project to transform the riverside into a series of parks and promenades. In five or ten years, this will be a beautiful linear park. Today, it is a twisted construction site choked with dust, snarled bus and car traffic and hordes of tourists (mostly from cruise ships) trying to navigate the narrow spaces that formerly were sidewalks.
Inside the construction fences, workers peck through what look like either ancient Roman ruins or maybe the shattered remains of old buildings that fell in the great earthquake that leveled Lisbon in 1755.
Our HoHo route ran in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go, but it gave us a good look at the higher end downtown area of designer shops and office buildings. When we stopped at the central monument honoring Portugal’s Marques de Pombal, the ruler who rebuilt Lisbon after the disastrous earthquake, no fewer than five tour buses parked alongside. Most of the accents and languages overheard are distinctly not American. Which we take to be a good sign.
When we arrived at the museum complex that includes the Maritime Museum, the planetarium, St. Jerome monastery and church (where Vasco da Gama is entombed) and Belem Tower, we stopped first at the pleasant cafeteria for a lunch al fresco. As we ate lunch washed down with excellent Portuguese beer, we noticed the expansive courtyard was empty except for a number of black cars parked along the perimeter and dozens of sailors and local police on guard. Something was going on, and it obviously involved a bunch of high authorities.
The police guard shooed me away from taking a photo of the old launch on display in the wide plaza, and we were ushered away from the Maritime Museum, which was closed for whatever event was being held. So we walked down to St. Jerome Church, where da Gama’s tomb rests across from one of Portugal’s great poets who wrote about da Gama’s exploits.
After touring the church, we inquired about the museum again, but it was still closed. By now, we would not have had enough time in the museum, so we gave up to try the next day. After waiting nearly an hour for the HoHo to show up again, we repaired to the huge commercial square overlooking the river for a visit to the Cerveza Museum restaurant and its namesake beverage.
The walk back up the hills of Alfama took us through the heart of riverside construction, then up the hills and stairs to our neighborhood, where we stopped at the Restaurant Farol de Santa Luzia to inquire about the request I had made earlier in the day for reservations. We were informed that our request had been granted.
This and one other restaurant we had tried the night before insist on reservations, even though the small dining room may not be full. Our meal at Farol was excellent, even as we watched other hopeful and hungry diners turned away as we had been the night before. After 9 p.m., management seemed to allow walk-ups, as perhaps that is the more likely local dining hour.
Our dinner was excellent and a bargain. My octopus salad was ceviche style, tart with a citrus flavor that complemented the seafood flavor of the octopus. Lynn started with a cream soup with shrimp that she declared delicious. Our entrees of a large grouper filet (Lynn) and steak and frites (me, of course) were excellently prepared and more bargains at 13 and 16 each. We enjoyed a bottle of Pousio Reserva regional wine from Alenteneja, one of the pays d’oc of Portugal. It too was a bargain at 23.50. That’s easy to get accustomed to in Europe and easy to miss when we get back home to U.S. restaurant wine prices.