Lost in Portugal: Sights around Lisboa

So, I neglected to actually write more posts while I was in Lisbon, therefore I don't really have a place to put these as my earlier posts were rather random and too specific, but I have to say that I loved Lisbon as a city, it is quite beautiful with some wonderful architecture that really reflects the different cultural groups that have lived in and shaped the city.

Even though most of the weekend was cool, rainy and grey, I adored wandering through the steep, narrow city streets. In fact, the cool, rainy weather combined with the replica Golden Gate Bridge over the harbor and the steep, narrow streets climbing up the hillside just made Lisbon feel that much more like San Francisco. Although San Fran feels more upscale in many ways.

We saw quite a bit of the city and with the less than favorable weather even made it to the Lisboa Oceanario which has a phenomenal saltwater tank as its centerpiece, including perhaps the coolest fish ever, the Mola Mola, or Ocean Sunfish, a gigantic saltwater fish that can grow up to 11ft long and enjoys drifting on its side while the currents carry it through the ocean. Plus a fair number of sharks and barracudas floating around inside.

We hit most of the big sites: St. Jorge's Castle, Belém where we saw the Belém Tower and Jerónimos Monastery (both UNESCO World Heritage sites), the Chiado shopping district (although this time I refrained from tragging Nick through another shopping marathon), the Bairro Alto, and even the Jardim Botanico, which was slightly disappointing after the immensity of Berlin's Tiergarten. That combined with all the walking around the city gave us a pretty good sense of things although I can definitely see coming back for a longer stay. Plus perhaps a bit more time on the coast . . . gotta work on my timing on the waves after all.

Lost in Portugal: Lisboa Graffiti

Saw a load of cool graffiti in Lisbon last weekend. Lots of it was stencil work with some freehand stuff, but the stencil stuff was so prevalent it made me wonder if it might be a single artist.

Lost in Portugal: Pastel de Belém

So one of the things that we were told was an absolute, must try food in Lisbon was the Pastéis de Belém, a small egg cream tart in puff pastry. According to local lore, the recipe for this particular pastry cream is a closely held secret and only three people in Belém know the recipe, passing it down from one generation to the next as each retires. Jamie Oliver apparently tried to recreate the recipe without success, he just wasn't able to replicate the silky texture of the cream.

So with that knowledge in hand, we headed to what is supposedly the birthdplace of this tasty, creamy little tartlet, Antiga Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém. And taste, and taste, and taste we did. Tiny, silky smooth tarts, still warm from the oven. Flaky and tender but still sturdy as you bit into it so that you didn't end up with a lapfull of puff pastry shreds.

We purchased two dozen with the intention of bringing them home for our co-workers, but unfortunately the pastries were left behind as an unintentional gift for our new friends at the Surf Castle. I guess we'll have to return to Lisbon to partake in the joy again.

Lost in Portugal: Sintra Views

Sintra is this beautiful little village in Portugal, a UNESCO World Heritage site in fact (I seem to be racking up quite a few of these lately), that we stopped in before heading out to the coast for my surf experience.

We didn't have nearly as much time as we would have liked to have in the town so we didn't get to see the summer palace, but we did hike up to the Moorish Castle (ruins actually) which took a good hour. The view was completely worth the time and effort (we foolishly hiked along a road instead of the trail from the village, a bit hairy now and then when the locals would come barreling around the tight, steep turns).

The castle wall was supported from below by enormous granite (?) boulders that must have been carried through the landscape by glaciers during the ice age. From the topmost part of the castle wall you could see all the way down the coastline, even to Ericeira an incredibly famous surf spot. Unfortunately I couldn't tell what the waves were like from there, but we didn't go there anyway so it didn't really matter. Next time, when I'm actually better at this crazy sport I've picked up.

Lost in Portugal: Surf Castle

So it's hard to fly all the way to Portugal, which has some of the best surfing in Europe along the coast, and not at least attempt to get in the water for a few sessions. Unfortunately this entire weekend was massively blown-out with super high winds, mostly coming on-shore Saturday and Sunday. But today, today it is better. After a grey start this morning, we headed out from Sintra to Peniche so I could once again tempt fate in the water.

I had heard about this place in Portugal called the Surf Castle from a couple I met in Famara in March. So when I knew I was heading to Lisbon, I looked them up and got in touch to see if I could get a local heads up on the wave conditions and also maybe score a lesson. Still lots to learn after all.

The owner, Joao, was incredibly helpful, besides giving me the insider update on the conditions (which led to me NOT dragging my board along with us this weekend), he also helped me set up a session with an instructor named Pedro. All in all, a pretty sweet afternoon although I was only able to get a single, hour and a half long session in and the water is sooo much colder than it was in Famara. Once you start moving though you don't really notice, besides it's going to be a lot colder in Chicago this winter. Yes, if you look very closely at that little black dot in this picture, that is me, actually surfing. Albeit not as well as I would have liked . . .

The waves were small, but Pedro said it was the glassiest day they had all weekend, and besides I wasn't complaining, it's not like I can afford to be picky after all.Anyway, even a short session is good for me. The more time in the water the better I say! Gotta work on my timing paddling into the waves though. Practice makes perfect!

So a funny bit of the day actually took place over a late afternoon snack that Nick and I had with Pedro and his girlfriend. They asked me how I had found out about the the Surf Castle, as I related my Lanzarote story, talking about this kind of crazy Italian guy and his Irish girlfriend, they said, "You know Allie and Jenny? They're hysterical. They're coming back in September."

Not that I was really that surprised that they remembered those two, but Pedro even commented on Jenny's board, which isn't really her board since Allie rides it ALL the time. But anyway, love the small world connections.

Lost in Portugal: Coffee Days

Much to Nick's delight we have discovered that Lisbon has quite the coffee culture. In fact, I think ordering coffee in Lisbon might almost be a complicated as ordering coffee in Vienna. A fact Nick found highly reassuring. That and the coffee tastes sooo good. Strong, but not burnt, deep roasts that can be served any number of ways if you just know how to ask for it. Not that we managed to figure that out in three days, but it was good nonetheless. Wish I had pictures, but sadly I have none.

Here is my quick Lisboa coffee primer, courtesy of my failed attemps and TimeOut Lisbon:

For Milky Coffee in a glass, ask for um Galao, basically like a latte but if you add the words Maquina, you should get coffee that's fresh from the machine as opposed to coming from the carafe of the stuff that's been sitting around for a while getting burnt

For a Cappucino like drink ask for uma Meia da leite (half milk).

For Espresso, ask for Bica but ask for um cafe or um duplo if you'd like a double shot.

For the really strong stuff, ask for uma Italiana, a tiny cup of sludgy coffee essence.

Granted, they don't take it quite to the levels of the Viennese, but I have no doubt that if you really know the city, one would find that the subtleties are just as extensive when you know your way around.

Lost in Portugal: Capoeira in the Street

We started the morning wandering through the streets down towards the water and the main square. As we walked down that way, pounding drums and chanting started to fill the causeway between the buildings. I always love street musicians so we made our way towards the crowd and the drumming to find the delightful spectacle of a Capoeira school doing a demonstration with the instructors and their students.

We stood and watched while the teachers and their students wove a dance of martial arts and gymnastics. It was great. I've always wanted to learn a martial art, perhaps this should be my next sport . . .

Lost in Portugal: Literally lost

This may be the worst marked subway station ever. It took us asking directions three times before we were able to locate it, and getting to it meant walking over a highway and through a roundabout. Not so convenient. . .

lost in Portugal: Caracois, caracois

OK, we arrived in Lisbon. It was kind of cold and rainy and I was STARVING! Big shock there I'm sure.

So Nick and I went wandering around our hotel to see what we could find to eat. We wandered into this tiny little storefront and ordered a couple of sandwiches. I happened to see two women behind us eating what looked like a plate of teeny, tiny escargot. So when the server came over I said "I'd like a small plate of those, please."

He looked at me, said "Caracois?"

And I said, yes, what those girls are having. With smile he returned about 5 minutes later with a steaming, garlicky pile of tiny little snails, complete with tiny, little, smiling snail heads that had antennae.

Now I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but for just a moment even I paused. But after a stern, internal pep talk, I dug in with my toothpick while Nick looked on rather horrified. Until he tried them. And boy were they tasty. As long as you can get over the little heads, these suckers are really, really good. Nick only made it through four, but I devoured a good plateful almost before I was full.

Although not for the squeamish, I highly recommend them if you happen to be in Portugal and they're available.

Lost in Spain: Sights of Barcelona

Had a few photos I just didn't know where to put. So here are a few of the sights I saw while we traipsed across the city over the weekend.

Lost in Spain: Sardanes in Squares

As we were walking around today enjoying our last hours in Barcelona, we kept coming across circles of older folk dancing outside of the Cathedral near La Rambla. I didn't take any pictures of this unfortunately, but I found this one online.

It was so sweet to watch, these groups of men and women, clasping hands and dancing what was clearly a traditional dance around piles of their bags. We saw a group of teenagers start doing what all teenagers do: mocking tradition. Until an older man, stepped forward and chastised them quite strongly. It was great, the kids just picked up their bags and suddenly became respectful again.

Anyway, I thought for sure it must be some kind of demonstration or special event, so when we got back to the hotel I asked guest reception what was going on. The woman at the front desk said that these dances, Sardanes, happen almost every weekend on Sundays. People will just spontaneously begin dancing to the music in the squares. In fact, all children in Catalan are taught these dances in school, although most of the kids think they're kind of silly.

What a fantastic tradition though. I love that people just dance in the streets here. I quite like this city.

Lost in Spain: Sleepy Park Afternoons

We've had our fill of art for the day, and now it's time for a nap. We've found a wonderful park up here on the hill where the Miro Museum is located. According to my Lonely Planet guidebook, this is supposed to be a superb place for napping. The park is called Jardins de Mossen Cinto de Verdaguer. I highly recommend a summer's day nap under the trees here. It's beautiful.

Lost in Spain: Miró

So today, we went up the hillside on the funicular subway to visit the Miró Foundation museum. I have to be honest, I didn't really know much about Miro before we went up there, but it was something Nick really wanted to see, and I do love learning more about art.

It was a great museum I have to say. I've seen some Miro pieces before, but to see them all collected together was pretty imposing. If it had been a few decades later I might have thought the man was doing some pretty serious drugs when he was painting.

Anyway, we're off tomorrow to see the Picasso Museum which I'm really excited about. Apparently the museum takes you through a progressive exhibit that starts with Picasso's early training and leads you all the way through the last of his paintings. I'm so curious to see how he developed his style over the years.

Must say, the art side of things is kind of a nice counterpoint to all of the culinary emphasis this trip has had . . . . also better for my waistline.

Lost in Spain: Shop til ya drop

Poor Nick. I've dragged him around all day hunting for shoes in my size (they grow'em too big in Germany so I can never find shoes for my itty-bitty feet). On my hunt though I did stumble by this rather fabulous clothing store called Tomate. They deal with about 60 designers living and working throughout Spain. Some very cool stuff. If you happen to be in town, I highly recommend checking them out.

Tomate

Located at:
Bayns Nous, 22
Barcelona, Spain
Phone: 93-3013788

and also at:
Capellans, 3
Barcelona, Spain
Phone: 93-3043665

website: www.tomate-bcn.com

Lost in Spain: Market Breakfasts

So to continue our culinary binge this weekend, I dragged Nick over to La Boqueria, which is one of the biggest permanent produce markets in Europe. They actually have a partnership with London's Borough market (although from what I've read La Boqueria is much bigger even if the market in London is older).

the market. I had a super lovely cafe con leche and some churrosTo avoid the other tourist types, we went over early and got a bit of something to eat to build up the strength to wander through to top it off. Can't really go wrong with fried dough and coffee in the morning. Mmmm. . . .

What a market though, I mean talk about visual, sensorial overload. Between the rainbows of fruit and the juices they were being squeezed into and the gleaming, ice pack piles of fish, I could hardly decide where I should be looking. Of course there were oodles of stands selling the ubiquitous Jamon Iberico. Newly educated after our oh so satisfying meal at Jamonisimo our scrutiny of the offers was intense. Not that we had any chance of picking up a leg of ham to bring home, but there was definitely a very vigorous discussion between Nick and I on whether or not we could swing it.

I'm sad to say that I did not win out in this particular discussion. I did however manage to convince Nick to purchase almost a case of wine to haul back in my suitcase.

Lost in Spain: Gospel Subways

OK, how random is this? Gospel singers from the Institut de Gospel in the subway? Who doesn't love that about a city!

Lost in Spain: Jamonisimo, the best ham I've ever had

So today for lunch, Nick and I tracked down another restaurant recommendation courtesy of Anthony Bourdain's "Decoding Ferran Adria" documentary: Jamonisimo.

Birgit and John attempted the same on Tuesday before we all met up for the El Bulli Extravaganza with no success. So Nick and I were a little nervous that we might also end up with nothing to show for our efforts. Fortunately we found success.

And let me tell you, it was worth the tracking and blackberry searching and wrong turns down streets with no signage. This was by far the most incredible cured pork product I have ever had the pleasure of consuming.

So for those who are not Jamon Iberico connoisseurs, there are three different grades of Jamon Iberico. The highest grade is a type of Jamon Iberico labeled with the phrase "de bellota." Basically this indicates that these lucky swine were fed a diet of acorns exclusively which gives the meat and the fat an especially buttery texture.

After a bit of finagling over the menus (only available in either Spanish or Catalan, clearly this is a place only locals go usually), we managed to communicate to our lovely if non-English speaking store clerk that we wanted to try the sampling of the house Jamon, an animal raised "de bellota" in the Salamonca region of Spain. The selection of meats comes from three different parts of the cured ham leg, each with it's own special texture and taste.

Over a couple of glasses of cava, we slowly consumed the ham, bite by mindblowingly flavorful bite. The fat on the ham slices was practically melting at room temperature. Can I say divine? I think all ham will somehow seem pedestrian after this . . . A few bites of cheese and another glass of cava later and we found ourselves stuffed to the gills with only a few hundred grams of ham and cheese and smiling and gesturing to the shop keeper that we would be back the next day to purchase Jamon to bring home with us. There is just no way I can go back to Frankfurt without bringing John and Birgit a taste of what we just experienced.

Lost in Spain: Kit Cars

OK Dad, this one is for you. Nick and I are driving along minding our own business when out of nowhere this noisy kit car comes pounding up the highway.

It does look pretty cool though. The guy was wearing goggles and everything.

Lost in Spain: Savoring the Sea

So after what was by far the most incredible meal I have had the pleasure to consume, Birgit, John, Nick and I lingered this morning in Roses to dine at another place we had heard about called Rafa's.

We found this restaurant after watching a DVD Birgit bought John as part of his birthday present called Decoding Ferran Adria with Anthony Bourdain. In this video Anthony Bourdain mentioned two other restaurants that Ferran Adria had taken him to, one was a Jamon Iberico store in Barcelona (we're hoping to find it tomorrow) and the other was this tiny little seafood restaurant in Roses that is Ferran Adria's favorite place to eat when he's not working.

Apparently Rafa won't even open the restaurant if he doesn't think the seafood is up to par, but we were lucky today, he was open and he was cooking up a storm for us. We ordered more food than I can possibly believe and consumed it faster than you might think possible given the quantities, but somehow, it was just so fresh, so pure that you could eat and eat and eat and not ever feel too full.

We started off with a series of appetizers, all very simply prepared on the grill with olive oil, garlic and some lemon juice. It was so hard to choose so we actually ended up with five dishes as appetizers: wonderfully crunchy but tender sea cucumber, grilled baby squid, garlicky scampis, prawns (stripy ones that looks like tiny painted lobsters), and grilled clams. And then for the main courses we had sea bream (deboned tableside) and monk fish. Both were excellent, but I think the monk fish had the best flavor of the two.

And of course no meal on this trip so far would be complete without some type of dessert. not that we actually had room for it, but we just couldn't help ourselves when the waitress offered us a special dessert plate to enjoy. Actually it was a combination of three desserts, a fresh goat cheese (kind of a chevre, but even fresher) drizzled with sweet Spanish honey, a chocolate torte and apple tart. Very delicious and a good way to finish the meal. If this is how the eating has started out on this trip, I can only imagine that I'll be heading back to Frankfurt with no need to eat again for at least a month.

Lost in Spain: Driving Costa Brava

We arrived and we're on our way to Roses for dinner at El Bulli tonight. I cannot believe this is actually happening. Fortunately we've had almost five hours in the car for it to sink in. . .

In the meantime, we've managed to stop off in a tiny little seaside town (Birgit has been feeling a bit under the weather after a night out yesterday), and Nick picked up a gorgeous rose for me for St. George's Day. I'm supposed to buy him a book, but they're all in Spanish so I don't think it will do much good. I suppose he'll forgive me though.

Costa Brava is gorgeous, the road winds along these immense cliffs above the shoreline, and as you drive them you look down into almost Caribbean blue water within the coves. We couldn't have had a more beautiful day for the drive too, bright blue skies and sun, sun, sun.