Lisboa

Lisboa was one of those places that I knew I should go to on some level, but I couldn’t tell you exactly why.  I’ve learned to trust these sorts of feelings w/r/t travel, so when I texted my friend the Wednesday after I had gotten back from Paris and he told me that he and one of my other good friends were going to Lisboa, I hopped on the train.  Quite literally.  Plane tickets were very expensive with only two days to go, so I decided to take the night train to Lisboa, leaving Madrid at 9:45 PM Friday night and arriving 7 AM Saturday morning to meet up with my friends. 

Instead of paying 170 € for a plane ticket, I spent 90 € both ways for the train, but ten to eleven hours on a train is a long haul. I sipped on a Super Bock around midnight at the bar in the cafeteria car, looking out at the moonlit terrain, somewhere in Castilla y León.  Back in my seat, cramped legs and a stiff neck did an excellent job keeping the Sandman at bay for most of the night, as I faded in and out of a half-sleep.   

I had heard that Lisboa was supposed to have good seafood, and I assumed it was pretty similar to Spain, both temperamentally and linguistically, having had very little exposure to Portuguese.  I also knew that one of my favorite artists Panda Bear had left the states to live in the Portuguese capital, where he had made several albums that are among my all-time favorites.  It was a half-joke amongst my friends that we were going to find Panda Bear and hang out with him in his adopted city.  I wanted to see how my relationship to his music would change after I had spent some time in the place where he had created it. 

I watched the sunrise as the train approached the Portuguese capital, the growing light revealing a new country to my sleep deprived eyes.  Moving through the outskirts towards the station I felt like I was in Latin America even though I’ve never been to Latin America.  Large palm trees dotted the landscape, and the vegetation was much more lush than in Madrid.  Many of the buildings were pastel, and a lot of them looked like they had seen better days.  Spain was hit hard by the economic crisis, but Portugal took it even harder and that was palpable at points during my visits. 

I arrived at the station at 7 AM, which is an hour behind CEST.  I was going to try and walk to the Air B&B, but a light rain started to fall as I stepped outside, so I decided to take to the metro.   My friends had a different Air B&B originally, but evidently in less than ideal conditions, with a young couple and child as part of the accommodations.  They found another one right in the middle of Bairro Alto, one of the hipper and happening places in Lisbon. 

This was my first experience with Air B&B, and it was really great.  There were three of us, and we had three beds, including one king, a very well-equipped kitchen, shower, living room, etc.  Hostels are nice if you’re looking to meet people, but if you have a group already, it’s great to have some privacy, the ability to cook if you want, and something slightly more formidable than a 3 inch pad to sleep on.  Obviously, you’re in a new place to eat their food, but it’s good to be able to have the option to cook.  We ended up making brunch and dinner during our stay. 

The next few posts will deal with Lisboa, its food, its sights, its charms, its sounds. Bom dia!