Here we are in Lisbon! The connection seems to be much better here, as we expected, so I’ll try to catch up on Tomar tonight. Be looking for several posts popping up!
But as for today so far…
Our last look at Tomar, the beautiful garden where we ate our breakfast this morning! It was such a relaxing way to start the day…then we were off to the train station!
2 hours later, we pulled into Lisbon and took a taxi to our hotel.
The drive in wasn’t as far as we thought it would be from the map – and to our great delight, we realized we’re extremely close to the river mouth and coastline. The hotel said we should even be able to see the water from our room once it’s ready for us to settle into. We can’t wait to see it!
But it was definitely time for some lunch, so the hotel clerk told us to try an “old river market that’s kinda like a food court” that was just around the corner maybe 5 minutes’ walk away. He also warned us not to stick to our diets in Lisbon and that we should eat all the cake we wanted, because all the steep hills we have to walk would burn off everything we ate. You don’t have to tell me twice to eat more cake!
When we first got here, we weren’t sure if we were in the right spot. It looked like a farmer’s market, with produce, meat, fish, etc. all for sale in various stalls. But if you keep going…
This is where you end up! There are 30 little restaurants back here, all making various kinds of delicious food from the stalls you just walked past, including sandwiches and burgers but also steak, soups, sushi, pastries, ans anything else you can think of. It is somewhat like an American food court in that you can pick which restaurant you want to eat at, get your food, and find a seat. But the food is all extremely freshly made and the service is closer to a restaurant, with real dishes and people to clear your table for you and all of those sorts of things. We can even watch the Switzerland-Poland soccer game on the giant screens. Honestly it has been a bit of a shock after we got used to sleepy Tomar, but we’re finding our feet quickly and it seems like there is no end to the interesting things we’ll see and do here!
Madame Brenner Goes to Europe! 