Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Flash back: Lisbon (Lisboa), Portugal – Dec 12-15, 2007
Back to late 2007, after less than two weeks of rest from our jammed pack trip to Egypt, we were on our way to Lisbon for a few days. We bought this trip back in September, where we found a deal too good to pass up to Lisbon. Round trip tickets, hotel accommodations for less than 250 Euros (or less than $400 with the exchange rate at that time) for both of us. Portugal was on our top 10 list but we never could find an affordable deal even if we fly out at an ungodly hour and stay at a hostel. So when a good deal comes along, you just got to bite the bullet and work extra comp time to build up enough leave to go.
Lisbon definitely does not get enough credit for being such a cool city in Western Europe. Wonderful & relatively cheap food, gracious people, nice climate, UNESCO heritage sites, great shopping, this city has it all. Set on seven hills, we got around easily with their underground, bus, and funiculare (cable cars) systems. Every surface street seemed to be cobblestoned, which gave a really ‘old’ feeling about the city. We sampled port wines of different vintage in the wine school every night before venturing out for dinner, or a fado house (Portuguese traditional music). One local specialty that we sampled many times while visiting was a drink call ‘gjin gjin’. It is a sour cherry liqueur usually sold at holes in the walls establishments. You can order it in small or large, no frills and the locals would get a drink and socialize around these establishments. We loved it so much, we bought a bottle of this wonderful concoction home. Let’s hope it makes the trip back to the U.S. May be we can open a hole in the wall serving this yummy drink in our dungen (basement). :)
Lisbon definitely does not get enough credit for being such a cool city in Western Europe. Wonderful & relatively cheap food, gracious people, nice climate, UNESCO heritage sites, great shopping, this city has it all. Set on seven hills, we got around easily with their underground, bus, and funiculare (cable cars) systems. Every surface street seemed to be cobblestoned, which gave a really ‘old’ feeling about the city. We sampled port wines of different vintage in the wine school every night before venturing out for dinner, or a fado house (Portuguese traditional music). One local specialty that we sampled many times while visiting was a drink call ‘gjin gjin’. It is a sour cherry liqueur usually sold at holes in the walls establishments. You can order it in small or large, no frills and the locals would get a drink and socialize around these establishments. We loved it so much, we bought a bottle of this wonderful concoction home. Let’s hope it makes the trip back to the U.S. May be we can open a hole in the wall serving this yummy drink in our dungen (basement). :)
# posted by Antipasta @ 9:01 PM 
