Saudade for Lisbon

Praça Dom Pedro IV

How could I forget Lisbon?

A hidden European jewel unknown for many and well worth a visit. Facing Tagus River, Lisbon offers a beautiful view from any of its hills making almost unavoidably to fall in love with. A city for those who enjoy great foods and drinks, within a relaxing atmosphere surrounded by friendly people. 

This is how my Lisbon urban adventure started: Due to the lack of direct flights from Caracas to Barcelona, I had to make one stop and take another plane at some point in Europe. Alternatives were four: Madrid, Rome, Paris, Frankfurt and Lisbon. I thought Lisbon would be the best option for geographic location and for the lowest ticket price available at that moment, so decided to give it a try and get to know this city. Well, I stayed there for a week and I wish could have stayed longer! 

Food is delicious in Lisbon, dishes are generous and tasty. Feijoda and bacalao (codfish) are among my favorites. Portuguese cuisine is mostly seafood-based, but it's not limited to it, there are many options in the streets of Lisbon. As South American, I love heavy food, but when looking for something lighter, I had salads in Vitamins, there are several of them in the city. Malls are also good places to eat and hang around, Portuguese people love eat well and none of the fast food restaurants you may find will disappoint you. Don't forget to accompany your meal with a glass of wine, vinho verde (green wine) and the unforgettable (at least for me) vinho do Porto (Oporto or Port wine), much better while listening to fado, a traditional music very popular in Lisbon.

View from Castelo de São Jorge.

Places to visit are Baixa, Chiado, Alfama, Convento do Carmo, Elevador de Santa Justa, Castelo de São Jorge, Jardim Zoológico and Belém. At the top hill of Alfama, there is Castelo de São Jorge, from which a wonderful view of the city can be enjoyed, with its red roofs, the Tagus River, 25 de Abril Bridge and Cristo Rei Statue. Alfama is the oldest neighborhood in Lisbon, and it can be noticed by the narrow streets, churches and nicely decorated balconies. In Baixa-Chiado there are many restaurants and shops, beautiful places to walk in the cobblestone streets. 

Balconies in Alfama.

Hills, hills and more hills, Lisbon is known as the city of seven hills, so be prepared to walk. After a day visiting different points of the city, Bairro Alto is the place to go out in the night. During the day, everything is closed in Bairro Alto, but in the night it surprised me all the people walking all along the narrow streets, many restaurants and bars. I didn't know which one to choose! People love to drink Caipirinhas and Caipiroskas, as I of course did. I highly recommend travelers that like partying to stay in Bairro Alto, you can have a drink and get to your hotel easily; however, it's your decision, taxis in Lisbon are not expensive. I stayed in BA Hostel, it is a great place to stay in, you don't hear any noise from people drinking outside, it's very clean and staff is wonderful, always willing to help.

The options to move around the city are taking the bus, the subway, the old electric tram or just walking. The vintage yellow tram is a "must-do". I took one from Miradouro de Santa Luzia to Campo de Ourique, it's a scenic trip that took me back in time. There are several routes, all hop-on hop-off, most popular is eléctrico 28. For more information, click here: http://www.lisbonlux.com/lisbon-transport/electricos.html

Tram in Alfama.

Next place to visit is Belém. To get there, I took eléctrico 15 in Cais do Sodré, but can also be taken in Praça da Figueira and Praça do Comércio, get off at Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in Belém.

Honestly, the reason why I went to Belém was to try the world famous pastéis de Belém, a "must-eat". It is a small custard tart, so delicious, one is not enough!

The Mosteiro dos Jerónimos is really beautiful, the decorative features carved out the walls are stunning.  Torre de Belém and Padrão dos Descobrimentos are next to the monastery, after crossing a square. From these landmarks, I enjoyed a great view of Tagus Rives, 25 de Abril Bridge and Cristo Rei Statue. 

Praça do Comércio.

There are many things to see in Lisbon. Fátima, Cascais, Sintra and Estoril are recommended to visit for a day trip outside the city. Tour operators in Praça do Comércio offer this and more services for group travel, sightseeing tours and private trips. I will visit these places next time. Before Lisbon, I had been in Barcelona where I spent much money. 

I really enjoyed my trip to Lisbon and hope to go back some day. Porto and Coimbra are also among my next traveling plans. Portugal has so much to offer, towns, beaches, beautiful landscapes, vineyards and foods.

What does the word saudade mean? While and after writing this post, I felt saudade, a word that doesn't have an exact meaning. I found many opinions about its meaning on the internet, most descriptions are longing , yearning and simply nostalgia. 

                                                                                                                               Nostalgia for Lisbon.

Discovery Cooking

      Eating is one of the greatest pleasures in life, especially when enjoying a delicious and mouthwatering dish. Food can make us evoke many things, can make us remember our childhood memories as in the film Ratatouille, maybe a trip, a special occasion, a person, also emotions...

      Why am I writing about cooking? It's about inspiration rather than recipes. I was watching the movie Julie & Julia and felt identified with the character played by actress Amy Adams (Julie Powell). Like me, she wanted to try something new, she was excited of creating a blog, she was stuck in a job, so cooking turned into a way of having happiness in her daily life.

      I always hated to cook, constantly avoiding kitchens, used to go out to eat most of the time, which is ok, but at some point I was getting tired of this lifestyle. Never tried different dishes when cooking, it was a duty, a way to save money.

      After quitting my last job and doing some traveling, realized that an enormous amount of free time was not good for my emotional health. I needed to find something new to do, otherwise I would go crazy. So one day I found by chance an article on the internet about Indian food. I don't know how many hours I spent in the supermarket, I bought vegetables, exotic sauces (already bottled of course) and spices. Long time for cooking chicken curry with vegetables, the kitchen was a mess, well, nothing is supposed to be easy in the start. Next, I tried Arabic cuisine, made tabbouleh and falafel, but I don't what happened, mixed all the ingredients in the blender to prepare the falafel, added too much parsley because the paste was extremely green and for some reason wasn't thick, It is not necessary to mention that I had only tabbouleh and bread for lunch that day. However, falafel is still on my mind and soon I will try to make it again.

My chicken curry with vegetables was supposed to look like this one.

Falafel: I will try it again!

      Sometimes, on Saturdays, I visit a Libanese restaurant in Caracas to try all those different dishes they cook, so delicious, which give me an idea of what I could make. Cooking is an excellent way to have a busy mind, for instance, I have bough several cooking books and also keep searching for new recipes on the internet, going to the supermarket, looking for ingredients, going back home to cook, reading the recipe like 20 times while in the kitchen. It's like magic, the mind is just focus on what I do, eager for a final result. There are so many cooking books, workshops, TV programs, recipes and tips on the internet, that one can feel overwhelmed, finding hard to decide where to start while becoming a culinary autodidact. I started with Indian and Arabic food, and there is so much more to try, creativity is endless when cooking.

      It's a surprising new skill, I hated cooking before and now love it, I can't wait to make an exotic new dish. Next goal is Mediterranean cuisine: Greek food! Sorry if I don't have any photo of the dishes I've done, but the art of food presentation is not mastered yet, still learning! 

      I'll be searching the internet for recipes that are easy and not so expensive to make while getting familiar with the cooking world.

                                                                                                                                          Till next time!!!