Lisbon, 9-11 October 2010

The last weekend of September we had booked our tickets for Bedlam at the Globe Theatre. Despite not being written by Shakespeare, it was a well-written play set in (where else?) Bedlam (a famous mental asylum). The posh Londoners would go and see the inhabitants as modern-day people would go and see a film, all very amusing and entertaining. The show suited the Globe very well, and this time we had a good view. It was actually the first production at the Globe written by a female.

It was Rob's birthday on the 13th of October, and our friend Storm shares his birthday. So they decided to have a long weekend away in Portugal to celebrate, the weekend before. They decided to make it Lisbon, as it was unlikely to be beach weather anyway so might as well just hang out in a nice apartment in the city. We arrived late Friday night, got completely ripped off by a cabbie going from the airport to the apartment, but put that behind us and excitedly looked around our apartment, which was over 2 stories and very nice. We then managed to find an open restaurant and got some traditional Portuguese fare, featuring fish, potatoes and lots of butter - very tasty and filling.

The next day we went out late and had a look around the city. The first thing that struck us is how many shops there are around with yummy pastries, it seemed like every third shop sold them. There is also a lot of squares with statues in them. We walked up to St Georges castle, which is a great walk. You get a really good view over the city.
On they way there is a kind of ruin with great colourful graffiti that everyone was quite taken by. There is an old ruin of a couch that is the perfect place for posey photos.

We also came across a couple of perfect red deck chairs.

We couldn't resist snappping this sign:

While we were waiting in the line to get into the castle we were kept amused by these spectators:

The castle was quite impressive, and there is a wonderful view.

It is quite big, and on our wanderings we came across this guy who plays music for money, but obviously uses it to buy food for all the kittys that roam the castle. We gave him some money.

That night we had a mini-party, and made some potent vodka jellies. Then we went out wandering and found a great little restaurant on a side street somewhere in suburbia. The poor staff were waiting for us to leave by the end of it.

The next morning we had arranged an amazing breakfast with bacon, eggs, cereal, fruit and yoghurt and were well prepared for our trip to Belem to find the best custard tart in Portugal. Belem is a short tram ride out of central Lisbon. While we were waiting we looked at all the fishies in the harbour and admired the square (yet another one...)

There are loads of tourists, 90% of them lining up at this tart shop. We lined up with the rest and got our tarts, and they were good, but not amazing. They were a bit too burnt. We had a look at Jeronimos Monastery but didn't go in. The Discoveries Monument is also in Belem - we were fans of this one.

Belem Tower is apparently one of the most photographed monuments in Lisbon. We didn't go in but appreciated it from the outside.
We really enjoyed Lisbon but didn't think we needed any more time than what we had. Next time we visit Portugal it will have to be somewhere beachy and warm...