I heart Lisbon

What three nights in Lisbon, but with a day in Sintra and leaving for the Algarve, we only had one full day in Lisbon.  We managed to squeeze in a lot though, particularly food.  The wine continued to be excellent - we had a lovely local white several times (Arinto).  The places I particularly remember are:

- Open, a lovely restaurant in a hotel where we went the first night.  It was lovely to be in a modern, spacious area with excellent food, wine and company.  And it was within walking distance of our hotel due to my excellent navigation skills.

- The little kiosk in the metro station on my way to the aquarium.  I asked for cafe con leite grande and a pastel de nata  (custard tart) to take away.  You can only get espresso take away, so I stood at the counter with everyone else, sprinkled cinnamon on my tart, and had breakfast.  It was fabulous.  I felt like a real Lisboner. The plums I bought from the cart afterwards were the icing on the cake.

- We took a cooking class. There was a Canadian (don't add too much salt) and a Romanian taking the class with us.  I had envisaged us making each dish ourselves in a master chef type environment.  Fortunately, we all cooked each course together giving me plenty of opportunity to drink wine and eat the Lupin beans, olives and bread.  I did have a fairly major role in dessert and also chopped onions.  Cooking was fun, but it was also great to chat to our hosts and fellow cooks while eating dinner.  (www.cookinglisbon.com)

We did see more than restaurants.  I went put to the aquarium by myself the first morning.  And accidentally had a good look at stadium as well.  On the first floor there is four quarters with sea life from different parts of the world interspersed with sections looking into the inner aquarium.  Penguins, Otters, coral sea life and I can't remember the fourth.  Downstairs is mostly about the inner aquarium with sharks, stingrays, big ugly arse sunfish, and loads of other stuff.  The temporary exhibition was by a Japanese photographer who makes art out of the plants and fish in aquariums.  The message of both the permanent and temporary was about preserving nature, and stopping and appreciating nature.

We did a walking tour including the number 28 tram.  The guide really knew his stuff and gave us an interesting summary of Portuguese history.  There was a second hand bookshop before the tour started and I peeked in.  It's one of those shops that looks small but goes on forever once you're inside.  It included an English language section so I picked up a couple of Penguins for Abi, and a book of Lisbonese poetry for me.  The tour included some great viewing spots over the Lisbon version of the Golden Gate Bridge and Christ the Redeemer, as well as the rest of the city.

The last morning started with a drive-by tour of Belem to see a tower and some white towering statue on the water.  We parked briefly and I was a fair way from the other car.  A man appeared to tell me to move closer and then expected a tip.  I wasn't playing that game so he was out of luck.