Lisbon - Day 1

We planned a self-guided walking tour for first day in Lisbon. A wintry day in Portugal meant rain, rain, rain. It just wouldn't stop. At it's best it was reduced to spitty rain, but for the majority of the afternoon it just pissed down.

Our first stop was the Praca do Comercio.

Then we paused for a pastel de nata aka Portuguese Tart.

These ones didn't have pastry for some reason.

Enjoying my tart with a blue tiled man.

We made our up the hilly streets, past the tram cars....

... took note of the tiled footpaths. Yes, reminiscent of Macau.

Then we passed the Lisbon Cathedral.

Very Notre Dame-ish.

At the peak of the hilly Alfama region was the Castelo de Sao Jorge. The views from the castle overlooked the city and onto the river Tagus.

The mess of the rooftops looked like the buildings were going to fall over each other. I can see how charming this would be in nicer weather.

Afterwards, we made our way to the central and Bairro Alto areas of Lisbon. We passed by several patisseries on Rua de Augusta, all tempting us with their tarts in their display windows.

We ended up buying eight from the shop above and had two as a snack, saving the rest intending them as midnight treats. Heading to the Bairro Alto area, we had hoped to find it buzzing with people in bars and restaurants. The torrential rain stopped all that and it was deserted, dark and wet. This only made the area look like a junkie zone. We sought shelter under a shop front and patiently waited for the rain to abate but no luck. We then decided to make our way to the nearest Metro and go back to the hotel. In the chaos of avoiding puddles and sharing a tiny umbrella we realised we left our six spare tarts at the shopfront :( I could have cried then and there.

The rain really put a downer on the day and we resorted to eating in the hotel. Boo hoo. Some lucky person will be scoffing down our tarts.