Portugal knew I was coming.
That’s the only possible explanation for why the City of Lisbon (Lisboa) would pull out all the stops and give me a string of experiences that led me to want to pack up my things and hop the next flight back. I like to consider myself well traveled and though there are many entries remaining on my “Places To Visit Before I Die” list, never before have I taken holiday to a location where nearly every restaurant, bookseller, convenience store, supermarket and gas station offered me a coffee.
The way to a man’s heart may be through his stomach, but the way to a rockstar’s heart is directly connected to how much caffeine you pump into his bloodstream and Ladies and Gentleman, Portugal is in the lead by a long shot. At this point I can safely say that unless you plan to connect an IV as soon as I deplane, your city is not going to fare well in the Great Caffeine War of 2011 and that’s okay. Man / Rockstar cannot live by caffeine alone.
In fairness I should disclose that prior to planning this trip neither my roommate nor I had ever considered a visit to Portugal. We’d never even thought about it until making a knee-jerk change of course from our planned excursion to Venice, Athens and Corfu. We did not regret the decision for a moment. If anything, I hate that I didn’t visit sooner.
It was when I ordered a Coca-Cola on our first outing on Day 1 that I remembered how Europeans don’t use high fructose corn syrup on a large scale due to production quotas. I took a sip and had an out of body experience that I would repeat throughout the trip, far more often than I would have had I been at home. Later that same day I would be asked if I wanted Coke by a well dressed, good looking chap on the street. I turned and responded, “No Coke, Pepsi.” and walked away.
Want Some Coke?
Speaking of the Coke incident, if there was one downside to the Lisbon vacation it would be solely in the number of times my roommate and I were offered drugs on a daily basis. Bearing in mind that these encounters only happened when we were in well known tourist areas such as the party district of Bairro Alto or the high foot traffic lanes of Rossio, it was still disheartening to be sitting at an outdoor café and have no less than three dealers come right to your table offering cocaine, marijuana and most surprisingly, hashish. People still use hash? Really?
Despite the minor annoyances I couldn’t have been more taken by the beauty and vibrancy of Lisbon. You can see it everywhere from the centuries-old architecture to the freshly designed subway stations like the surreal Olaias station that was just under my temporary home, Hotel Altis Park. The station itself was an art installation that would have made Lady Gaga drool, complete with mismatched pods and canoes built of stained glass panels that were hung from the ceiling and acting as light fixtures. Many of the other stations would be similarly appointed.
The Hotel
The Altis Park Hotel was clean and comfortable. The staff was among the most courteous, well spoken and helpful I have encountered in my lifetime, a trait that made up for some of the minor inconveniences that I dealt with during my stay.
Internet Access
Internet access is insanely expensive, for example. At the hotel itself, one hour of access will cost €3 (about $4.40 US), and the time ran only until you logged off. A 24 hour internet pass could be had for €15, but the time would begin when you logged on for the first time and not stop regardless of when you were actually using it. The hotel’s “Business Center” was nothing more than a bank of 4 woefully inadequate desktop models that were unavailable more often than not and were difficult to use even when available.
Accommodations
As for the room itself, room 1421 at Altis Park was as clean as you could expect from a lodging facility. The bathroom had a bidet (hello, civilized Europe!) and a shower that was a religious experience unto itself. My favorite feature of the rooms was something that is not common in the US, in fact it is one that I have yet to encounter stateside. Upon entering the room with your card key, you must insert the key into another slot inside the room to activate power. This means that when you leave the room and take your key, you aren’t wasting electricity. Good on you! I hope hotel chains in the US start looking at this model; I can only imagine the thousands of dollars it might save over the long haul.
Breakfast
Altis Park Hotel features a complimentary breakfast buffet that had a surprising collection of food given that it was complimentary. I guess I got accustomed to the standard American fare continental breakfast that consists of coffee, bottled juice and individually wrapped pastries. This was much better than that.
The large coffee urn could not make up for the fact that I was high on espresso and it was woefully inadequate. What did help tremendously was the large urn of hot milk that ensured by properly made morning coffee would not lose temperature on the way to my table. There was always a large vessel of freshly squeezed orange juice of which I availed myself many times and in large quantities. Don’t judge me, the stuff was delicious, fresh and local and I enjoyed every one of the 6 or so glasses I drank every morning.
Breads were available and it was interesting to watch the guests from various countries gravitate to one over another. The Germans for example, stuck to the hard rolls and butter, ham slices and muesli . The French gobbled croissants, eggs and coffee. The Asians eschewed the breads entirely, dining on fresh fruits, yogurt and juice. My standard breakfast included a bit of all of these and varied little during our 9 days there.
- Coffee
- Fresh orange juice
- Scrambled eggs
- Croissant with jam
- Hard roll with butter
- Cherry yogurt
- Orange slices
- Granola with milk
Admittedly I ate more at breakfast time than I have in many years but it was free, I didn’t have to do the dishes and it fueled me for the many busy days of exploring that were ahead.
The Metro
I mentioned previously that the newer subway stations in the Metro were works of art and they are – literally. Some include sculptures in various forms, all include visionary artistry in use of painted tile work. Each stop along the way was a new experience, including the Jardim Zoologico (Lisbon Zoo) stop whose walls featured various animals.
The four lines of the Metro – red, yellow, blue and green – are surprisingly simple to navigate even to those with no experience doing so. My roommate had never been on the subway and yet with some basic guidelines she was able to do so on her own without a problem.
The Food
The first meal we ate was at a modern, hip joint called Hippopotamus. Given that we’d just passed a butcher shop that sold horse meat the name admittedly gave me pause but I just went with it. Because of my limited (read nonexistent) Portuguese, I opted for the only thing I recognized on the menu and enjoyed a delicious burger.
We would often take a taxi to our dinner destinations, enjoying a variety of foods from Japanese sushi to Thai to traditional Portuguese fare. We also enjoyed Italian pasta dishes on several occasions. The verdict with few exceptions is that the Portuguese people take food very seriously and they do it very well.
While wandering around a local mall I spotted a food court that included McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King. Curious, I had to take a closer look so I ordered a grande Coke (remember, no HFCS!) at the golden arches so I could spy on the menu. A large Coke was 20 ounces, a fact that no doubt contributes to why I didn’t see the rampant obesity in Portugal that we have in the States. When I noticed that the ketchup packets looked different, I grabbed one to look more closely and as I expected, no HFCS!
Have I mentioned that I am ready to move to Portugal? Because yeah…
At dinner you can expect to be offered an aperitif, dessert and of course, coffee. You should know that "coffee" means espresso. You’ll thank me for that when you’re not peeling yourself off the hotel room ceiling at 4am.
More to come…
