Working for My Dinner
Another travel day! Yay….
Well, before that…we decided to spend half the day in Sintra and leave for Lisbon in the afternoon so Meg could get some work done and I could check out the palace I skipped out on the day before. It was a short 10 min walk from the hostel we were staying at so I got up early for breakfast and headed out on my own. I got a map and started wandering the gardens. There were many things to see all over the place, but it was actually quite smaller than it seemed from the map and I wasn’t really following the paths I thought I was on so I put the map away and just walked, choosing this way and that. I eventually found myself at a fountain and this was my favourite part about my trip to the palace…not the fountain itself, but who I met there. He was quietly working away, sorting through pieces of marble, completely concentrated on the task at hand. Jorge, as I learned later, had been working on restoring the fountain facade for 7-8 months at this point, removing and cleaning pieces that had become covered in mold and were dislocating from the wall. I probably ended up watching him for what ended up being about 1/4 of the time I actually spent at the gardens and palace. He didn’t mind me capturing some photos of him and worked away quietly as I watched, explaining things here and there in his broken English. I love how much care and focus he clearly put into his job. Testing this piece and that to see how it would fit until he found the perfect one, and measuring and comparing the pattern to the opposite side to make sure everything was accurate. I finally left to explore the rest of the grounds, but that was definitely the highlight of my trip there.
Before heading back to the hostel to leave, I stopped in for a pastry, one of the ones Sintra is known for, at one of the many cafes. It was a rectangular flaky pastry filled with something delicious…couldn’t tell you what, but it was yummy! That basically ended up being my lunch and Megan and I left shortly after to begin the short trek to Lisbon.
After getting a little off course (as per usual), we finally made it to our Airbnb. It was a beautiful little place! Since Megan booked it and I didn’t see all the details, I didn’t even realize we had the entire place to ourselves! It wasn’t big at all, but so nice to have a quiet space to ourselves to relax in. The main floor had a little living room/kitchen/dining room combined as well as a bathroom, and the bedroom and a second bathroom were on the floor above, with a slanted ceiling and window right above the bed (which was incredibly comfortable I might add). After we got settled, the first thing on our to do list was finding food. Luckily, we didn’t have to wander far. We found something literally about 10 steps from our apartment and sat down. After perusing the menu and much debate with myself, I ordered the grilled sardines. Not that I like them or anything, but it seemed to be one of the things to get in Portugal and since I’m open to trying new things I figured I should go for it! After all, I wanted to try some authentic Portuguese food.
Our plates came out and I looked at my 4 little grilled fishes. Megan and I didn’t have much conversation that meal. It took all my concentration to eat my dinner. I felt like I was doing surgery to remove the meat from the fine bones and avoid eating the internal organs. It would take me forever to build up a little pile of fish before I could finally I could take a decent sized bite. I think that’s the most effort I have ever put into eating a meal. I can’t say I loved their intense salty, fishy taste, but it was an experience I’m glad I didn’t miss out on.
After picking up a few groceries at a nearby convenience store and letting our food digest at our temporary Lisbon home, I somehow came across a gelato place on TripAdvisor and I decided I deserved a sweet treat after all the energy I put into eating dinner (fair enough, right?). We were staying in the Alfama area, which was a bit of a maze, but luckily it was a straight shot to our destination. Amorino was the name of the cafe, and we quickly found out for ourselves why it had such great ratings. Not only was the gelato delicious, but you just paid for the size and could mix and match as many flavours as you wanted. That meant you could have every single flavour and they would divide your medium sized serving into 23 portions in a cup or cone! Megan and I both only chose 4 flavours and even that was amazing to watch them portion out. We walked back as we ate and that concluded our first night in Lisbon.
Meet Jorge…
Dinner!
