04 Nov Travel- Part II Lisbon and Porto, Portugal Trip

First, it seems I ran out of space to mention something else we did in Madrid. Then we’ll discuss our experience in Lisbon, Portugal.

PART I of our trip was the time we spent in Madrid, Spain. Have a read!

Prado Museum in Madrid

The amazing Madrid Museum, named, The Prado Museum, was so spectacular! I have a tough time in museums as we move slowly through the portraits and fascinating works of art, but benches were available to sit at times.

I marveled at the works of Bosch, Goya, and Rubegn to name a few. Goya’s “Black paintings”, made up of his own nightmares, were given their own room to explore and decipher.

We were not allowed to take pictures in the museum, but have a look at some of these works. 

I loved the Seven Deadly Sins by Bosch, each square representing one of the sins with the Lord in the center.

wikipedia source

Our next Stop- Lisbon

We took a plane from Madrid to Lisbon, and in an hour we were at My Story Hotel. A more modern hotel than Hotel Europa, we were in the center city once again. I love just exploring the city, and popping in local shops.

We took a day and went to Sintra and Cascai, the latter being a seaside town. The atmosphere was very picturesque and we walked along the walkway overlooking the sea.

in Sintra, a beautiful castle was awaiting, and it was fascinating to see.

The first night we were in Lisbon, there was a downpour as we were looking for somewhere to eat. My hubby, ever the techie person, and restaurant connoisseur, found this wonderful place, out of the way, hidden in the corner of an older street. We made our way up many sets of stairs and ran into the open restaurant, where there were about 8 tables. Magdelena, the owner greeted us, but told us dinner wouldn’t be served until later. We asked, and then sat down to enjoy a bottle of Portuguese wine and some appetizers until dinner was ready.

The sardine pate was delicious as was the Portoguese cheeses. Dinner would soon be served and I ordered the “John Dory” fish. which was amazing! The rest of the trip I ate mostly cod as it is the fish de jour and is made many different ways!

We had a great start, despite the rain.

Two of the biggest items in Portugal is cod  and cork. My husband went into this cork store and bought a cork hat. It is pressed and really looks like leahter, very cool!

In regard to the Cod, I loved it and think just like in America, we have 1,000 ways to cook chicken. Well, I think there are 1,000 ways to cook Cod! One of my favorite ways was cod with cream. I shared the dish below, which also contains potatoes, and come with a cornbread like crust. So warm and hearty!

A delicious meal of cod, egg and potatoes with olive oil. This was the stop for lunch when we went on our tour and boat ride down the Douro River in Porto.

It wouldnt be Porto without trying some of the Port Wines. I enjoyed trying them, but the favorite of mine was the dry white port. Tawny ports are sweet and are meant for more of a dessert, at least for me!

Churches

We visited many churches in Lisbon one being the Church of St Anthony.

“The Church of Saint Anthony of Lisbon is a Roman Catholic church located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is dedicated to Saint Anthony of Lisbon. According to tradition, the church was built on the site where the saint was born, in 1195. The church is classified as a National Monument.”

We went about 4 days in Lisbon, and then we were off to Porto.

Have you been to Lisbon? What memories come to mind if you did?

Jess xx