05 November: Coimbra to Lisbon

Obama Won!! What fantastic news :)

We took a train from Coimbra to Lisbon today and checked into the Grande Pensao Alcobia (it sounds far more glamorous than it was!).

Had another disappointing lunch today. I am just not that in tune with Portuguese / Spanish food. Nothing I order is quite what I'm hoping for and it all seems to be an exorbitant price to pay for what I've been getting! Sigh. None of my trips has ever topped Thailand food-wise.

After lunch we took a stroll via Praça da Figueira to the Praça do Comércio to see the sea :) We also wandered past the Casa dos Bicos (photo on left - officially in English that means House of the Spikes, but it's more commonly refered to as The Diamond House ... mostly it just reminded all of us of Madonna's famous connical bra!)

Then we strolled up to the Castle of São Jorge and enjoyed a gorgeous view of Lisbon from up there! The views were stunning and it was almost sunset. I think this was the first time I really wished Varen had been there to share the experience. Obviously I was missing him in general, but there's something particular about a sunset over a city that makes you wanna share it with someone special :)

Eep, I have just herd on CNN that Michael Crichton died. That's very sad :( I really enjoyed his books ... especially Jurassic Park & The Lost World (the books, all the movies after the frst one just plain sucked!)

23h00: I just got back from dinner at a real Porto restaurant, completely with screaming soccer fans! We took the Elevador de Santa Justa up (it's this crazy elevator in the middle of Lisbon, truly a bizarre concept!) because you really get a spectacular view from the top at night (see below).

And wandered around until we found a spot. I ate a simple shrimp soup. Cheap, easy and the first time in a while I wasn't envying what someone else ordered!

In the photo on the right, you can see the Castle of São Jorge in the middle at the top of the hill and the brightly lit square is Praça da Figueira.

After dinner we stopped at Casa Brasileira for a traditional Portuguese Custard Tart (during our short time in Lisbon, this became a favourite spot for pastries!). Also, I got a fab photo of myself with the famous (another one of those things one only learns about thanks to the postcards for sale!) Fernando Pessoa (although I only found out who he was once I got home thanks to Wikipedia!). Turns out he actually went to school in Durban, score one for the South African chick ;)