Left, Right, Left, Right, and Then Uphill

Left our lovely apartment in Portimão by 11am and traveled west on small roads. This led us through tiny farm towns that seemed like they were stuck centuries back. We drove to the most western point in continental Europe. Just before, we saw signs pointing a monolithic monument and being adventurous, we wanted to see it. However, after 10-15 minutes of driving down a small road, really only enough room for one car, we decided we had fallen victim to a tourist trap. The only potential "monument" we saw were rocks on the side of the road. At least we tried.

Followed the Atlantic coastline, driving through more farmland and cork plantations. Stopped by a cork farm for a picnic lunch where Martin couldn't resist "collecting" (as he called it) a piece of cork bark straight from the tree.

Arrived in Lisbon and were greeted by our host, Paulo, who we will be staying with (another find on AirBnB). His apartment is very eclectic, including a cool collection of artwork paired with retro pieces of technology. He left for work at a restaurant around 6pm. Before leaving, he promised to show us his favorite neighborhood bar when he got off work around 1am. At this moment, we realized it was going to be a long night, so we walked down the street for a cup of coffee in preparation.

Ate dinner at the apartment and tried a delicious bottle of Chateau Mont Redon from Lirac. We read a good review about a bar with live Fado music and decided we wanted to check it out. With the address and map in hand, we set out at 10:30pm to find it. This proved much more difficult than anticipated... We got lost within the first 10 minutes, and it didn't stop there. We spent another hour and a half trying to navigate our streets before we finally gave up and headed back. We did see this beautiful archway.


We've concluded that the streets in Lisbon are completely illogical and have no rhyme or reason, even worse than in Venice. It is amplified by the numerous hills that make it not only an extreme maze but also a work out.

Somehow made it back to our street, which is one of loudest and liveliest in the city, at least that is what Paulo said and we didn't believe him until we turned the corner back towards the apartment where we finally understood. The street was jammed with young people talking, smoking and drinking. We decided to join in with the nightlife by stopping at a bar. Shortly after ordering a drink and starting to take in the atmosphere, we realized what kind of bar we were at... A gay bar where we were some of the oldest people there.

Soon after, we met Paulo at the apartment. (We noticed that there is a bar right underneath our apartment, which had not been open at 10:30pm when we left but was now a happening spot.) The three of us went out to meet his friends at a bar that only serves Portuguese drinks. We started with a cherry liquor called Gijna that is poured into a shot glass made out of chocolate, which you eat at the end. It was delicious! Then we tried a local sparkling wine. We were shocked by the local customs in the nightlife scene - right after getting the glasses of wine, we walked right out of that bar (carrying the champagne flutes) and over into a neighboring bar. We impressed by the number of people spilling out of bars and into the streets as if it was just one big party. We called it an "early" night around 2:30am, leaving Paulo and his friends. When we got back to the apartment, we were brought back to our college days by the pounding music below; however, we have had many years of practice and that does not deter us from having a good night's sleep.

- Martin & Kate

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Location:R. do Alecrim,Lisbon,Portugal