So now I'm in Lisbon. After twenty-four hours on planes and in airports, we arrived at our room in the Sheraton. Nice hotel; dark, floorlit hallways and a weird zen gym. All glass and heavy brown things - very calming. It's currently day four, so I'll have to cram all the incredibly wonderful things that have happened into this one post, which is sad, because every day in this amazing city deserves its own special post. It's actually not that amazing. I've been to Porto before, which was actually more interesting than Lisbon. Not that Lisbon's a terrible place or anything, but Porto was definitely a scene: hundreds of stumbling Portuguese drunk on port. A people after my own heart. No wonder everyone was so friendly there.
Lisbon's nice enough - it's got some wide, pretty boulevards and it's neat layout-wise. Lots of hills, and cool cobblestone roads and sidewalks. Go wiki the history, and it turns out that Lisbon's actually pretty cool. There's an interesting mix between a sort of run-down, very urban feeling that seems to dominate the city, and pretty little spots that pop up randomly. You'll walk down some alley, and at the end will be an apartment building that's covered in bright, painted tiles. Or you'll stumble into some cute little park where you can sit and do nothing for a while.
One thing of note is that everyone honks their car horns constantly. I'm not sure why. I surmise, as Dave Barry once did, that the drivers merely wish to convey the important message that their cars are equipped with horns. I can hear them from my room on the 18th floor, like outsized, indignant geese.
The restaurant where we ate dinner last night was, in a word, cool. It's inside this old water distribution tower-type-thing that's left over from Roman times. It was part of the largest aqueduct in the empire, I guess. Anyway, it's maybe twelve tables suspended (on two levels) inside and at the top of this fifty-foot whatever-it-is. It's very modern, wood and steel and all that, except you're surrounded on all sides by this ancient stone. I want a room like that in my house.
Lisbon's nice enough - it's got some wide, pretty boulevards and it's neat layout-wise. Lots of hills, and cool cobblestone roads and sidewalks. Go wiki the history, and it turns out that Lisbon's actually pretty cool. There's an interesting mix between a sort of run-down, very urban feeling that seems to dominate the city, and pretty little spots that pop up randomly. You'll walk down some alley, and at the end will be an apartment building that's covered in bright, painted tiles. Or you'll stumble into some cute little park where you can sit and do nothing for a while.
One thing of note is that everyone honks their car horns constantly. I'm not sure why. I surmise, as Dave Barry once did, that the drivers merely wish to convey the important message that their cars are equipped with horns. I can hear them from my room on the 18th floor, like outsized, indignant geese.
The restaurant where we ate dinner last night was, in a word, cool. It's inside this old water distribution tower-type-thing that's left over from Roman times. It was part of the largest aqueduct in the empire, I guess. Anyway, it's maybe twelve tables suspended (on two levels) inside and at the top of this fifty-foot whatever-it-is. It's very modern, wood and steel and all that, except you're surrounded on all sides by this ancient stone. I want a room like that in my house.
Their specialty is in wine pairings. For example, the 48 Euro menu that I ordered came with four small dishes: First, a salad of oranges and Bacalau (which I will not be ordering again. Google it. It's a sorry story) paired with champagne; second, a simple salad with duck foie gras and dressed with oil paired with Sauternes - this might be one of the most delicious dishes I've ever had; third, a sort of lemon/black pepper quail with a red whose name I can't remember; and finally a dish of poached pears in port wine reduction, figs, apple crumble and some delicious, mild sheep's cheese with an apricot sauce, matched with a tawny port. None of the food - with the exception of the foie gras and the dessert - was particularly wonderful, but each dish really does shine as a complement to its matched wine. Quite a unique experience, and made all the better by a complete lack of pompousness. A restaurant like that in the states would have been such a production, with sommeliers breathing down your neck and thirty-dollar tapas. That's not to say it was the cheapest dinner, but really, we were just paying for the wine. Which might make it ok.
Today it's gray and rainy. Winter in Portugal means 50's, but everyone here is miserable. All we did today was go to the Museo Calouste Gulbenkian. Some Oil Magnate amassed this amazing art collection and donated it all when he died, so they gave him a museum. If you're ever in Lisbon, go there. For me, the paintings were'nt as impressive as the other objets, like this tiny little bowl from 2700 BC, and an entire Rene Lalique collection that had some of the most amazing things that I've...ever seen. I didn't have my camera, so all I can do is direct you to Google.
Paris tomorrow.
Oh, yeah: To cook an octopus, you have to freeze it for two days, then boil it in a pressure cooker, and then put it in the oven and cover it in mashed garlic and oil. And here I thought all you had to do was fry it or something.
Today it's gray and rainy. Winter in Portugal means 50's, but everyone here is miserable. All we did today was go to the Museo Calouste Gulbenkian. Some Oil Magnate amassed this amazing art collection and donated it all when he died, so they gave him a museum. If you're ever in Lisbon, go there. For me, the paintings were'nt as impressive as the other objets, like this tiny little bowl from 2700 BC, and an entire Rene Lalique collection that had some of the most amazing things that I've...ever seen. I didn't have my camera, so all I can do is direct you to Google.
Paris tomorrow.
Oh, yeah: To cook an octopus, you have to freeze it for two days, then boil it in a pressure cooker, and then put it in the oven and cover it in mashed garlic and oil. And here I thought all you had to do was fry it or something.
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