Lisbon

We're back from Lisbon, and never have my legs muscles known such a vacation!

Before we left for our family Thanksgiving trip, I did almost no research on the capital city of Portugal. I figured my mom had done enough research for the five of us, and I wanted to be surprised.

So the first thing I learned upon arrival is that Lisbon is built on seven hills. Which affords for beautiful views overlooking a colorful city and the sea beyond. And lends to a wicked workout, because one is always walking up or down something.

My brother rented us a little house wedged into a row of matching abodes on the side of a hill in the Alfama district. The Alfama district was one of the few regions in Lisbon that hasn't been heavily damaged by earthquakes, and the houses and storefronts were full of charm.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon, just a few hours after my parents and brother had arrived. According to the weather forecast we expected it be the only day of good weather, so we decided to get going to appreciate the city in the sun. We handed David the map and asked him to navigate us to the Castelo de Sao Jorge.

After some hiking and many stops to take photos, we arrived at the castle just before sunset. If the castle has an interior we didn't see it, because we were busy scrambling around the top and in the courtyards, taking in the amazing views.

As dark began to fall, my mom started thinking about getting Thanksgiving dinner ready. If you remember the story of last year's Thanksgiving in Barcelona, you may recall that my mother smuggled a pumpkin roll into Spain. Well, she outdid herself this year by smuggling a turkey into Portugal. Believe me, I did my best to talk her out of it. But to be fair, she only brought the breasts, and in the end it was well worth it. It was a tasty, well-travelled turkey.

She also managed green bean casserole (carried the cream of mushroom soup and the fried french onions in her luggage) and stuffing and threatened to make a blueberry pie. It was a proper Thanksgiving feast, just a little removed from the land of the Pilgrims.

Friday dawned surprisingly sunny, but we still left the house with umbrellas in hand. Again we asked Dave to navigate for us, and being the sport that he is, he led the party on a trek across town to a historic palace, the Palacio Fronteira. Originally built as a hunting lodge, the house was closed to tourists, but we were able to wander the gardens as we pleased.

From the palace we returned to the city and spent the rest of the afternoon at the Praca do Comércio, a pedestrian street of shops and restaurants. The rain had started by then, so we popped in and out of shops trying to stay warm and dry.

It was there that I was nearly pick pocketed, and was so upset and angry that I beat the offending woman with my rolled up umbrella (she was wearing a puffy jacket and didn't feel a thing). A security guard shooed her away, but my mom and I were both so rattled that we just wanted to go back to the house for a while.

That night we ate in a little local restaurant, where I had to pull out two guidebooks to translate the menu to simple terms like "chicken" and "veal". The list of fish was extensive, so my mother and Dave - the more adventurous in the group when it comes to food - chose their dinners at random. My mom wound up with a platter of little fried fishies, Dave got a whole fish on a plate. He looked at it and said, "Well I didn't expect it to have a face". My mom leaned across me and gave him disassembly instructions.

The next day my brother woke up sick, so we were disappointed to have to leave him behind. At the bottom of our hill, the remaining for of us hopped on a Lisbon tram and rode to the Belém district. There we visited the Jerónimos Monastery, where Vasco da Gama is buried.

Not far from the monastery we found the Pasteis de Belém cafe, famous for its namesake custard tarts made from a secret recipe developed by nuns before the 18th century. The place was packed with tourists waiting in line for the tarts, but we had little trouble finding a table for a small lunch. Afterward I insisted that we all try the pasteis, but I was the only one who really liked them.

After lunch we took a blustery walk to the shore and the Belém Tower. The weather broke long enough for us to climb to the top and explore the different landings and views.

By then I had received quite a few bored text messages from my brother, so we went back to the house to collect him. We decided to spend our last evening shopping in a trendy section of Lisbon, then had dinner in a cute restaurant on a plaza.

The next morning Dave and I had enough time to sleep in and enjoy breakfast before wheeling our luggage down the hill and picking up a taxi to the airport. My brother left that evening, and my parents stayed until Wednesday. I guess the weather finally cleared for them, so I expect the rest of their stay was pleasant.