Surprised by Lisbon, Portugal

I find myself a bit weary with travel.  We have so many opportunities and do try to take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way, yet I'm in a spot where I would like to just stop for awhile.  But nevertheless I boarded a plane bound for Lisbon, Portugal.  I didn't crack open a travel guide.  I didn't look at tripadvisor.  In fact, I knew nothing about this country when I landed.  Even upon arrival I didn't make much effort to find things to do.  I took a totally different approach this time around.  I didn't expect Lisbon to wow me, but the city did take me by surprise.  Here are 5 things that I instantly fell in love with.

1.  Architecture - I was instantly charmed by terra cotta roofs rippling through the city and exterior facades decorated with tile.  Standing on one of the seven hills of the city, the buildings stood in refreshing contrast to the blue ocean stretching out.

2.  Food - Seafood is the staple of the country.  I found the best battered and fried fish I have eaten in years and Chad enjoyed trying octopus for the first time.  In the trendy warehouse food court by the water, I had a marvelous salad.  A bed of greens, sprinkled with berries had a lovely slice of goat cheese topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  I can't wait to try this at home!

3.  Affordability - Even though Portugal uses the Euro, we found everything from a hotel to food to shopping very affordable.  How refreshing to have a wonderful meal and not feel like we had broke the bank.

4. Things to do -  I was surprised at the variety of tours available.  Sitting in a plaza one afternoon I watched Segways roll past, a group of bicycles peddle by, open top hop-on-hop-off busses stop to load and cable cars with "city tour" painted on the side clanged as they floated out of sight.  We opted for a tuk-tuk tour.  I enjoyed the five minute stops around the city and relaxed in not being dumped with a lot of overwhelming information.

5.  Port and Plazas - Plazas abound throughout the city, each with a tall monument in the center hailing the victory of some long forgotten battle.  Fountains dance with water springing from cherub's lips.  They are fabulous places to rest under an umbrella and enjoy a glass of port, for which the area is so famous or a glass of sweet sangria to match the cool breeze winding though the city.

So I leave having learned two things about Portugal:  there is much more to enjoy and see than I ever dreamed and it is the poorest country in Western Europe.  This was mentioned by friends we went out to eat with the first night and indeed, the next morning I saw cardboard box homes set up on the steps of building and grates in the plazas.  I haven't seen this since we left South America and it took me a bit by surprise.  Beggars are common and consistently approach you.

I guess one other thing that comes to mind would be a comment from Chad.  "I've never been offered drugs as much as here in Lisbon."  I was surprised and answered back "Have you ever been offered drugs before?"  After a thoughtful moment the answer was "no."  We survived two years in Colombia without being approached one time, yet over and over someone would come up to us and open his fist to reveal a saran wrapped packet and the word "cocaine?" would pass through his lips.