We headed out this morning for an early run once again. The afternoon temps have been getting a little uncomfortably hot, so we thought another early departure was the best idea. This time we headed straight for the football park, which is on a long and sloping grass hill at the top of Lisbon's wide main avenue called Avenida da Liberdade. In the football park there is a huge screen to watch the World Cup matches. I can't believe that I thought it would be a problem to watch the games while traveling. Every restaurant and bar advertises that they will be showing the games and sometimes has specials offered as well.
The shot below is a little blurry, but it shows the uphill run to the park. This area has the most expensive shops we have seen in Lisbon.
Behind Katherine is the giant screen for watching the matches.
At the top of the park we had a view of the aquaduct system. The aquaduct is not used anymore, but still looks pretty cool.
When we got back from the run we showered and then ran a few errands. The post cards had to be mailed and then we had to stop at the market for some lunch. In the streets surrounding the hostel they were shooting a car commercial. They had a drone camera operating from above and another boom camera mounted on a vehicle. It was cool to watch, but difficult to cross the street with the police stopping everyone. It seems that werever we go, there is a film crew in the way. Leave us alone!
We took another nap to sleep off the hottest part of the day. There was talk with the hostel staff about going out to a cool bar on top of a parking deck. I needed to recharge my batteries in my body, so that nap really helped. The Portuguese have way too much energy. I don't see how they do it. Dinner was another success in the hostel with Ana preparing chicken piri-piri, which is local favorite. Portuguese cuisine is not usually spicy, but this chicken dish is an exception. While we found the chicken delicious, there was not much heat compared with what we are used to in the American Southwest. It was great to have something with a little spice though. We made some young French friends at the table that spoke very little English. They thought the chicken was way too spicy! I have noticed that the French don't eat spicy food at all either. My joke is that they will ruin their palate for other delicious meals. It's probably a good idea.
After dinner we were waiting to go out to Park, the rooftop bar. Ana had some problem with her car and was unable to make it, but Luis and Soriah were able to go. After waking up early and hitting it so hard during the day, Katherine and I typically never go out late while traveling. However, when you are invited out by some very kind, cool locals, you do it. We went for a walk to the Bairro Alto neighborhood, which has over 250 bars, working our way through the crowded narrow streets. Luis mentioned that this was a less crowded night than usual with a lot of people attending the giant music festival along the river. My take on it was that there were still a LOT of people.
If you do not know where Park is, you are in trouble. It is not marked. You just walk into a regular parking garage and head to the very top where the top level has been turned into a bar with a killer view of the city. We took the super small parking garage elevator (you know the kind) to the highest level. This place seems to be super secret, but once we came out on the roof there were crowds of people enjoying a beverage, the crisp night air and the view of Lisbon and the super moon. We stood around and conversed for quite a while until the place closed at 2 am. From there we walked back to the hostel for our last night with our friends. Katherine and Soriah talked it up while Luis showed me a lot of pictures and gave advice for the next location to which we are going. He happened to grow up in the area where we are headed to after Lisbon. I would say that he is a coastal Portugese expert. His phone was full of photos and stories about his trips. I love talking with him since he is just as likely to go off on a tangent as I am. To the girls, that are much more focused than us, we are pretty annoying!
Fernando Pessoa the famous Portuguese poet, Me, Soriah, and Katherine.
I guess you can get more info about Lisbon if you scan this giant QR code on your phone. It's made from Portugese stone!!!! How cool.
Tomorrow, we're outta here. We will catch a bus headed north to the beach village called Baleal. We are looking forward to a week of surfing, but once again, we are sad to be leaving our new friends. Good thing for email and Facebook. We'll be in touch.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment