A Love Affair with Lisbon

Right now, as I lay back in bed to write this blog post, I am debating if I want to get ice packs for my calves. If you ever need a good leg work-out, book a 3-day trip to Lisbon, Portugal and just walk from your hotel to the grocery store and back each day and you should be set for the next month. One reason why the city is uniquely gorgeous is the way it is built on rolling hills. From a distance, houses seem to be built one on top of the other, with a sparkling river in the foreground and bridges and mountains mixed between. Now insert yourself inside the city and it's a never-ending visit to the gym, treadmill incline: 10%. But hey, I'm not complaining. The city is still beautiful and the pounds of cod and Portuguese cheese are all worked off. Or so I hope.

My friend Leigh and I booked this trip almost of out nowhere; no high expectations, no set plans, besides a walking tour Saturday morning and a food and wine tour that night. Other than that, we had no idea what to expect from Lisbon. And wow, were our minds blown. As soon as we stepped into the city center and almost got hit by a big yellow tram, we fell in love. The atmosphere, the people, the way of life: all so Portuguese and all so amazing. The city is one of the most interesting cities I've been to, with so many fun facts. So now after only three days in Lisbon, I've come back with sore calves and much more knowledge about this enticing city.

Here's my top 10 FUN FACTS OF PORTUGAL:

1. Portugal is the oldest country in the world.

2. Most of Lisbon's colorful tile-covered streets date back to the period of the Roman Empire, when the roads were constructed to actually lead one back to the city of Rome. The designs of the tiles point the way, coining the popular phrase, "All roads lead to Rome."

3. When given a choice to learn physics or Portuguese, one should always choose the former. The language, that often sounds like a mix of Chinese and German at a pace of 60 mph, is actually a combination of Latin and Arabic with its "nasal" sounds derived from French.

4. Years ago, Lisbon started to have a major problem with graffiti. Currently however, the city has taken a turn and now considers its old problem an "art form." Graffiti is now transforming the city into a literal canvas, where in years to come, the city will designate certain walls to showcase the work of up-and-coming graffiti artists. The walls will be painted over again every 6-7 months, creating a new canvas for the next set of creative eyes.

5. Ask any Portuguese what their country's most important word is and they will immediatley reply, "Saudade." This word has no direct translation in English, but according to our tour guide, it describes the deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for an absent something or someone. Portuguese live a way of life in which they carry a repressed knowledge that an object of longing may never return. It sounds extremely depressing, but Portuguese just seem to live more in the past than to think about the tomorrow.

6. Portugal's most common (and most popular) dish is bacalao, or cod, but the fish cannot even be found in Portuguese waters. Portugal imports all of its cod from Norway, making itself the 3rd largest exporter of cod in the world.

Honarary cod fun fact: There are so many ways to cook cod that you can literally eat cod in a different way every day of the year. In fact, people say that there are over 1,000 different recipes for this popular fish dish just within Lisbon.

8. Lisbon is known as the tram city and some would say that the trams seem awfully familiar. For good reason...the trams of Lisbon are actually from the same company as the San Fransisco trams. Also, Lisbon has a bridge that looks almost identically to the Golden Gate Bridge.

8. J.K. Rowling taught in Porto, Portugal in the 80s, while working on a series called Harry Potter. Rowling was extremely influenced by the Portuguese culture, even basing the Hogwarts uniforms off of Portuguese school uniforms.

9. The character of James Bond was born in a casino in Portugal. Author Ian Fleming literally hit the lotto with this character.

10. Lisbon neighborhoods are known to be quite close-knit. In fact, in the Alfama neighborhood specifically, old women can still be heard having very loud and personal conversations with each other from their windows down the street. Everyone knows everything...There is even what you could call a "battle of the hoods" that takes place during the first two weeks of June where the neighborhoods compete in food, nightlife, beauty, etc. The winning neighborhood (chosen June 12th), has the duty to party every night of June. No resident is excused.

Walking tours can always be a little risky, depending on your tour guide. But Leigh and I got very lucky. Hugo was a short, goofy Portuguese character with a huge personality. He led the tour with an immense amount of local knowledge, joined with funny zingers and a witty sense of humor. For over two hours, we marched our way through Lisbon, mostly the popular Alfama neighborhood. Built on a very, very steep hill, this artsy and quaint neighborhood is definetely worth the sore calves. At the top, we got some of the best views of the city.

In the photos above, you can slightly make out the bridge resembling the Golden Gate Bridge!

Other tour pics:

Follow the road to Rome!

Graffiti in Alfama

One of the best examples of the city's graffiti. Fado is a type of music specific to Portugal. It has very melancholy lyrics and is known to be quite depressing (the word "saudade" in almost every line of every song).

That night, we hit up our second tour of the day: the food and wine tour. All I can say about that is "Mmmmmm." Okay no, obviously any reader of my blog by now knows that I have MUCH more to say about anything pertaining to food and drink; therefore, stay tuned for an entire blog post dedicated to just this tour.

After the food and wine tour, with full bellies, Leigh and I rallied and set out for a second night out on the town. The night before, we got into Lisbon pretty late, so we decided to drop off our bags and immediatley set out to explore the area. It only took us a short block of huffing and puffing up a steep hill to realize that our hostel was in the perfect location. We were only one minute away from great nightlife: street after street of bars, restaraunts and clubs. Groups of friends were out strolling the streets with drinks in hand (legal there), hopping from one doorstep to the next. We quickly joined in!

For a second I felt like I found a little piece of Fort Worth, Texas in Lisbon.

Just a day and a half and Lisbon had already worked its Portuguese magic on Leigh and me. We loved the city so much that we even considered staying back from a daytip we had been contemplating after an ever-so-convincing Hugo told us that it was a must-see. But after talking to hostel roommates, other tour guides and for whatever reason feeling a strange loyalty to Hugo, we eventually caved and finalized our plans to go see the most beautiful castle in the world. [Insert plugger for future blog post here.]

Oh, Portugal...

#travel