LISBON

Tight, steep, windy streets, unbelievably friendly people, and some of the most amazing seafood I´ve seen or eaten ever. We have arrived in Lisbon! Transport to Portugal went as smoothly as the rest of it has, and we´ve had a fantastic couple days since arriving here. This city is just beautiful, magnificent, like something out of a dream. We´ve walked enough to wear holes in our shoes, and Cathy´s taken so many photos that I think we could assemble them into a flipbook of a virtual tour of the city. It´s hard to not take a photo of everything we see.

Our first couple days here have been spent getting acclimated (read: sleeping in and sitting around and drinking coffee and wandering the streets). Our room is on the largest square in the city, the Rossio, and our windows look out onto the giant statue in the center and the surrounding buildings, all adorned with outrageous flashing and strobing Christmas lights, complete with recorded carols playing from 10am to 11am daily. Feliz Natal! It´s a very celebratory atmosphere here, EVERYthing lit up, everyone walking around with shopping bags and smiles on their faces.

Last night, we stumbled into a tiny restaurant (Aimbra de Roques, I think it was called), the doorway just below street level, brimming with locals and smelling of heaven. We got a table right away--luck was on our side, as within 10 minutes of our sitting there was a line out the door for the rest of the night. We know, because we were there for a LONG time. We started with some oysters stewed with tomatoes and onions and spices, and followed that with loads of crusty bread and a stew of various fish and shellfish (Seafoods Cataplana) that made my jaw drop. Just fantastic. A bottle of the house white rounded out the meal, and then we moved to a chocolate mousse with espresso for me and a glass of reserve porto for Cathy--her first here in town, and it did not disappoint. Ruby colored and sweet to perfection, it was fantastic. We shared a table with a group of 4 girls from south of Madrid, very nice folks, who we were able to talk to quite a bit. All in all a great first night here.

We´ve just finished strolling the mazelike streets of the Alfama, an old neighborhood that feels like we´re way back in time. Now, we´ll head back to the room and get ready to go out and eat again. Oh, the joy!

Tomorrow we begin the more touristy part of the trip, taking daytrips out to Sintra and Cascais, one day each, and then hitting all the museums we can, especially the maritime museum, which should be quite interesting in a city with the seafaring history of this place.

More later!