Lisboa: Baixa & Bairro Alto

Last week, I was lucky enough to meet and take care of whom I believe to be one of the most influential persons in the last few decades of American history. I was scheduled for a trip that lasted one week, flying to various destinations around Europe. Unfortunately, the stopover at our first destination was much quicker than I thought it would be. I decided sleep was more imortant than seeing the sights of Amsterdam - plus our accomodations were closer to the airport and I couldn't bring myself to venture out of my hotel room in the rain.








After Amsterdam, we spent a few days in England in both Leeds and Luton, but the BEST part of the trip was ending up in Portugal! The city had amazing culture, interesting history and a beautiful language. We left our hotel for lunch, where we sat at the side of river, with a view of a bridge that looked very similar to the Golden Gate. There was also a view of the Cristo Rei monument (Christ the King) with his arms open, overlooking the city which also looked a lot like the monument in Brazil. We enjoyed some sangria, and a variety of tapas including cheese and crackers and garlic olives. After lunch, we decided to check out the Baixa (downtown) which is full of both older and modern restaurants and shops, built sometime in the 1700's. My favorite part of the city was the Bairro Alto, which is probably the most popular for tourists. It is in a central area of Lisbon and one of the oldest districts in the city. It is particularly known for its Fados, which are traditional Portuguese singing bars. There were also many trendy shops, restaurants, art galleries and clubs. We stopped into a bar called Lgare Cafe , where we tried some traditional Portuguese port wine.


















It was delicious! We were the only people in the bar, and pretty close to the only people walking around the streets. We discovered that the Portuguese don't come out to dinner and drinks until after 10pm! The streets were deserted and it seemed like we were the only ones around. Portugal is definitely a place I would like to go back to spend more time.