More walking and more hills – hopefully we’re counteracting the delicious food we’ve been eating…

Today started nice and leisurely, with breakfast (or brunch really by the time we got to it) on the terrace of our lovely B&B, complete with yogurt, meats, cheeses, breads, OJ and coffee, reminiscent of the breakfasts that we had in Brazil. The only thing Brazil’s breakfasts have over this one is the fresh papaya and mango. But given that we’re not in the tropics, this will do just fine.

Breakfast on the terrace

You’ll notice today that there is a theme of rooftops in many of the places we visit as well as the places we eat and drink. That’s primarily because Lisbon is very hilly, probably even more hilly than San Francisco, if that’s possible. And the Lisboans (is that what they’re called?) really make use of this space by having restaurants and cafes on these hills overlooking the rooftops below.

We were not in a hurry today, so we decided to wander the streets of Estrela, Bairro Alto, Chiado and Baixa, all neighborhoods in Lisbon. The hostess at our B&B gave us a scenic and relatively easy path to follow. There were still some almost-lost moments, though, once again due to the poor maps that we have. The streets can be one street name, then turn into another street name, and then another, though many times the street name change is not listed on the map. Completely confusing. Though, like San Francisco, it’s impossible to be totally lost because you can always go to the top of a hill and look towards the water and important landmarks to get your bearings.

Looking over Lisbon from a different perspective – the Castelo that we visited yesterday is there on the right

Tram/funicular taking tourists up the steep street. We were fortunate to happen upon this from the top and just walk down.

Another one of the infamous trams winding down the streets

We just “happened” upon the main shopping area of Lisbon in Baixa and Chiado and just had to do a little damage. 🙂 Just a little. The most interesting store I found was one called “Women’Secret”, the name, of course, reminding me of Victoria’s Secret back home. I thought it was a cheesy spinoff, but then I noticed they had cute Arthopologie’esque type clothes. For a fraction of the price. So of course, I had to visit.

After shopping, we walked over to the waterfront and the Praca do Commercio. It’s a really cool cluster of yellow buildings facing the waters. I forgot to mention, yesterday they had a “Brazil-Portugal Now” music festival and we could hear the Brazilian music all the way up at the top of the Castelo. Thankfully, today it was much quieter.

Praca do Commercio

Looking at the Ponte 25 de Abril (or 25 of April Bridge – weird name, I know), aka the Golden Gate Bridge of Portugal (at least that’s what I call it)

Comfortable sea gull on his perch

We then hiked all the way back up to Bairro Alto (or “High Neighborhood” in Portuguese – and we can see why). We found a quaint little restaurant with (what else?) a terrace overlooking Lisbon rooftops. There, we had drinks and a nice light dinner.

A “CapiLost”: Vodka with blackberries, blueberries, mint, lime – delicious and a bit nutritious!

After this, we walked about another 20 minutes back to our B&B. Waiting on our beds was a bottle of Vihno Tinto (or red wine) as a welcome gift from our B&B. So we had a mini-glass while sitting (where else?) on the rooftop overlooking (what else?) the Lisbon rooftops. I could easily get used to this…

Wine on the roof

Basilica da Estrela, taken with an outstretched arm from our rooftop

Boa noite! More of Lisbon awaits tomorrow…