Vinho Verde in the Bairro Alto

Sunday. Paris.

I'm back from my winter vacation in the Iberian Peninsula - Lisbon, Madrid, Cordoba and Seville (for just a short while). I'm sure you've been wanting to hear about my trip, so I'll be writing about each place in a separate post (to avoid making one VERY long post). Let's start with Lisboa.

Lisbon is one of those cities which is past its zenith and where one can see echoes of this former grandeur throughout — the large cobbled footpaths; massive churches, building façades laden with ceramic tiles; and those ubiquitous trams that take you back to the early 1900s. The city is relatively hilly, and hence you have a maze of narrow winding streets lined with rundown buildings. Two of Lisbon's neighbourhoods, the Bairro Alto and the Alfama are situated on such hilly areas, making for some interesting walking. Cody and I were staying in the Baixa neighbourhood right in between the two — the historic city center. The Bairro Alto is a somewhat chic area with tiny shops and scores of restaurants, whereas the Alfama is a little more classic, and is dominated by the Castel São Jorge (which provides you with some magnificent views of the city, by the way).

Among our culinary discoveries in Lisbon were "vinho verde" or green wine, which is a refreshingly light and crisp white wine, in fact. We had fun opening a bottle in our room one evening without any corkscrew. I also tried the "pasteix de nata" (sp.) or custard tartlets, which made for a delicious breakfast one morning. They can be found in any bakery in the city.
The only thing about Lisbon that disappointed me was its lack of waterfront, inspite of it being along the Tejo, which is quite a large river (if at all, it feels more like a bay). Barring a tiny kilometre-long stretch with a few cafés, most of Lisbon's waterfront is dockland. From the looks of it, Belem which is further down the Tejo may have had a better developed waterfront, but I'll need to visit that the next time I'm in Portugal.

On a final but separate note, I'm glad I finally visited Portugal because I've now visited all the Romance countries, the others being France, Spain and Italy. It sure is interesting comparing the language and the way it's used in each country — I've had quite the time drawing parallels between all four.
Check out some Lisboa photos below.