On Saturday morning, we lingered over our croissants in the apartment while we chatted with the next guest, Charlotte. We learned that she had lived in Washington D. C, but had taken a job in Paris and was having difficulty finding a “flat.” We wished her good luck and were on our way to the airport, not Charles de Gaulle, but Orly, which is much smaller and easier to navigate.
Our airline was known for being inexpensive. That means it offered few services. After standing on line for an hour, we were told that we were too early and we should come back later. We used our time to have lunch. Only in France does the airport restaurant have three kinds of mustard on the table.
The flight itself was uneventful. I took out my Portuguese phrase book to do some reviewing, because I had been trying to learn a little Portuguese by computer at home. I could interpret written Portuguese because of its similarity to Spanish, French and Italian, but I discovered that except for a few words, spoken Portuguese is not similar to any of them!
Our hotel, the Hotel Lisboa Plaza, was a block from the main street, Avenida Liberdade. We were delighted that it had four stars and was very comfortable. Having eaten very little that day, we inquired about the closest restaurant. Called Gina, it was around the corner.
We were happy to see that many of the diners were locals, which is always a goodsign. Nick ordered octopus and I, chicken. Although my meal was good
, I decided to try seafood in the future, because Nick’s octopus was delicious.
Exhaustion had caught up wth me. I didn’t record the numbers of steps I had taken that day, but Fitbit told me that I had slept for 8 hours, for which I was very grateful.
I have great memories of two trips to Portugal
Did you go to several cities or just to Lisbon?