Lisbon Birthday

Up early in time to open the birthday cards. Some lovely ones – wonder what the obsession with cupcakes is all about. I hope no-one is insinuating things! It was great to receive such lovely wishes. Then a breakfast back in the Flores, with fruit, yoghurt, cereals and pastries with OJ and tea.
Marisa was ready to whisk us off at nine, but the weather was pretty ghastly. Low cloud and rain had come in overnight with no hope of clearing before the afternoon. Nevermind, we have waterproof jackets and decent shoes. Marisa took us all over the city from Avenida and Baixa to Alfama with its narrow streets and Castle of St George, with some photo ops on the way. 

Eventually we stopped at the famous bakery in Belém, or Bethlehem in English, where they make the best and the original pasteis. These are a traditional custard tart of Lisbon and this bakery was given the secret recipe when the monks were disbanded. They have guarded it ever since; passing it down from generation to generation. We certainly enjoyed ours sprinkled with cinnamon accompanied by the traditional cup of strong black coffee. Marisa explained that Starbucks weren’t popular in Portugal as they make too weak coffee – short, strong and black seems to be the way they like coffee here – with or without sugar. After refreshments, we braved the weather again to visit the World Heritage sites in the area, the Monastery of the Hieronymites that was disbanded in 1834 as were all religious orders, and the Torre de Belém both built in the unique Manueline style of the early sixteenth century. The last place we stopped at was the Monument to the Discoveries built by the dictator Salazar in 1960 to commemorate the 500^th anniversary of Henry the Navigator. It put us in mind of the statue to Peter the Great in the middle of the Moskva River in Moscow. Just a little OTT.

Marisa dropped us in the square known colloquially as Rossio where they were preparing for tomorrows general strike – all public sector workers are expected to join it. It had now stopped raining which was great, so we could make our own walk about. First we decided on a little lunch – Marisa had pointed out a traditional restaurant, Nicola, and we decided to have omelettes – the waiter asked us would we like some bread and it came along with wafer thin ham and air dried cheese, then the omelettes arrived with chips! (Just a light lunch!)  It was, of course, very good and we did plan a bit of a walk afterwards.

We set off and stopped to take pictures of the station that looked very pretty. Outside was a chestnut roaster who was making lots of smoke. We noticed that this was quite normal and no-one bother about it. We popped into the church of Sao Domingos with its marble faced interior, then walked through Praça da Figueira, then up and down the parallel streets running down to the Tagus. We came to the triumphal arch and the U-shaped Praça de Comércio with its wide open space and trams.

Now it was time to make our way to the Elevador de Santa Justa that takes you straight up to the Barrio Alto area. We could ride free on our Lisbon passes and we lined up with a crowd of tourists waiting for the car to descend. Soon we were on board the car and away we went, rising up through the amazing wrought iron structure built by Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard, an apprentice of none other than Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. When we got to the top we could climb up the narrow spiral stairs to a viewing platform with panoramic views (32m). Great fun. Then we walked across the bridge to Largo do Carmo, under the walls of the ruined Carmo church. There was a dreadful fire in the Chiado district in 1988 that destroyed the church and much of the Chaido area. This road took us back to Rua Garrett and eventually to the hotel for a cup of tea in the ground floor bar. 

This evening we have had dinner at the Restaurant Eleven. A Michelin star restaurant, called Eleven after the entrepreneurs who funded the enterprise, but maybe with a nod to the towers at the viewpoint above Parque Eduardo VII. We sipped champagne as we perused the menu. We opted for the tasting menu – I think there were five courses mentioned, but by the time we had tasted two amuse bouche, some small dishes in between courses including sorbets, and petit fours, we must have had maybe – eleven! And we tasted some delicious wine with the wine matching menu, too. 

The wine was: a reisling-gewurtztraminer; Chablis "Cuvèè Elegance" (Chardonnay)2009; Chef's Collection (Portuguese) Reserve 2009; Roco Plana Syrah (Spain) 2009; Port Late Bottled Vintage 2002; and Ortega Beerenauslese 1999

They called us a taxi at 11.30pm.

What a great birthday!

Pasteis de Belém 

UNESCO World Heritage in Lisbon

Restaurant Eleven