Checking in tonight from the (walled) city of Obidos, Portugal. This morning we work up fairly early (checked out before 10:30) and walked from our hotel down into down-town Lisbon (the old center or Baixa). It was great to walk up and down hills again. Katie and I each remarked several times that the whole area is reminiscent of California: green, hilly, by water, has Golden Gate bridge (complete with Rio-esque giant Jesus statue at one end - apparently the architect of the actual GG is also responsible for this replica)… We could live here, in other words.
Along one of the main plazas looking out on to the Tejo river, Katie bought some hand-painted porcelain for a friend from a street vendor while I looked on and was continually asked if I wanted to purchase cheap imitation sunglasses or hash marijuana from sketchy fiftysomethings clad all in black. I thought this might be a one-time occurrence but it turned out to be the norm. Sorry, no hash for us. Strangely, I couldn't find these guys on the one sunny morning I forgot my own Fake-Bans.
We worked our way up picturesque hilly streets until finally arriving at St. Jorge Castle. Jorge is an incredible old fortification in the Alfama neighborhood overlooking much of the city. For lunch, we stopped at a restaurant recommended by our trusty guide, Mr. Steves, where we enjoyed a fish lunch (Katie had grilled sardines and I had a swordfish fillet) and a bottle of ‘vinho verde’.
Up until then, I’d only read about the ‘young’ wine, which is white but with a fruity effervescence ('green' just means the wine-making-to-drinking process transpired pretty rapidly. It’s definitely one of the most refreshing things I’ve ever had to drink, despite the fact that we’d already been up and walking for several hours and were probably a little dehydrated. The food was decent but the restaurant also featured periodic ‘fado’ guitar + vocal performances. Actually, one of the more memorable aspects of this lunch was that from our seating to asking for our ‘conta’ (bill), there was one female proprietor (she never actually waited on us, though she did help set our table, manage seating traffic and sing a few fado songs herself) who just made great, discreet, cool eye contact with us to move things along efficiently. Katie remarked a number of times that they seemed to run a tight ship, despite the super French couple next to us apparently not getting their entrees fast enough and shoving off after just an appetizer. Aww, muffins. Hat tip, Mr. Steves.
We didn’t spend the entire day in Lisbon, however. At the suggestion of Mr. Steves, we rented a car from the Lisbon airport and drove one hour north to the walled, becastled city of Obidos. We may think of Den Bosch as ‘walled’, but this place has (or at least had) an honest to goodness Roman aqueduct running on to its premises. Sorry, Dutch canals, but this was something else.
It’s amazing – it looked like we were driving up to Camelot. The streets are cobbled and curve around one another in a hilly maze, making it one of the most interesting driving experiences I’ve ever had. They were definitely not built with cars in mind. Or knees, for that matter.
Our GPS didn’t actually know where our hotel’s address was, but based on a few educated guesses and a lap or two through the city to get our bearings, we eventually stumbled upon our quaint little hotel and parked, next to a castle wall, just a dozen or so meters away.
The city is really kind of a time capsule: it almost seems wrong that there’s running water and electricity in our room. Why aren’t the street lamps candlelit? We had a great dinner in a side of the road restaurant – Katie had grilled black pork and I had grilled squid and shrimp – and then we retired to a Ginja bar that we’d passed earlier. This hole in the wall had all the best old, musty, generations-old glass and stone smells, in addition to large quantities of the Portuguese-special cherry liquor ('jean-ja'). It’s close to port, I suppose, but with a very fresh, natural cherry sweetness. It had me longing for New Glarus' Belgian Red.
Back in the hotel now, as mentioned previously. Tomorrow the plan is to wake up, again fairly early, do a little more walking around and picture-taking in Obidos (which, by the way, is missing an accent on the 'O' and is pronounced ‘oh-bee-dosh’) before hitting the road and going a little further north to the city of Nazare (missing an accent on the 'e'). Naraze is known for having amazing views and pretty nice beaches, even for a coastal country, and since it’s been pretty warm (70s, probably 80s), looks like we might even get to do some beach-bumming (Katie’s dying to try out her brand-new swimsuit). That’s the plan, anyway; then spend the night in Nazare and move on to Coimbra (a little further inland, then farm for the next day/night.
Amazing day, this, though. Feels like we were in at least three different cities. Portugal has already won us over with its charming mix of big/small cities, friendly people, hills, close proximity to a large body of water, greenery, amplitude of fish and delicious wine and less expensive standard of living/touring than basically any city/country we’ve ever been in. And we’ve only been here 24 hours; bring on Monday thru Sunday! Of course, it didn’t hurt that today was seriously God’s gift, weather-wise. We've already been spoiled in the Netherlands with long, sunny days, but this was something else. The lazy sun, life-affirming breeze, big sky clarity, coastal freshness – it was just awesome. You can’t, just can’t, ask for anything nicer. This vacation could end now and I would be 100% content with what we’ve done, what we’ve seen. So everything that happens from now through the next 6 days? Bonus.
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