Thanks for the great update. This makes me want to go back again to check out everything we missed. I did not know about the Lisbon Winery. You stayed at the same hotel we did, I’m glad you liked it. We didn’t try the restaurant. It was empty all the time.
Part of the reason we chose that hotel (besides the good reviews and the central location) was that it had a restaurant, since there wasn’t going to be much open on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. My impression of the restaurant was that they have a small staff and can’t handle a rush; they wanted reservations on those days even for hotel guests, and I never saw the place more than half full. I can’t fault their execution though - the food was very good.
The oceanarium was open on Christmas Day, so that’s when we went - they have a café there. The only other food places I saw open that day was one café on the riverfront, a pastel de nata kiosk in the shopping mall (the mall itself was open, but all the stores save this kiosk were closed - kind of odd, but it was full of folks taking a mid-day stroll) and a large Burger King we passed by on the way back to the hotel. It looked quite busy; I was wondering if those folks were tourists who got caught short for a place to eat that day. Our first tour was on the 24th - our guide said people had been asking him for recommendations on where they could eat on Christmas and he said he didn’t have any good suggestions - the only place he knew for sure dinner was going to be served was his mom’s house!
To me, at least when it comes to food & drink specifically, as far as “Bang For Buck” goes, Lisbon is THE best major city in Western Europe to stretch your travel dollar. From incredibly fresh, wonderful seafood in both little rundown, nondescript (and dirt-cheap) local joints where no English will be spoken to luxurious 4 Star ultra-modern gourmet bistros (though still extremely reasonably priced compared to similar places in Barcelona, Brussels, Berlin or Brighton) to the 50 cent glasses of delicious vinho verde at any (non tourist-specific) cafe, oftentimes served to you by a hauntingly beautiful Portugese would-be supermodel, I haven’t found anyplace to equal Lisbon when looking for a budget-friendly weekend getaway.
(I guess I should mention that Eastern Europe is a bit of a different story, where a week in a luxury hotel in the heart of Krakow, Budapest or Prague can be had for the cost of one nice dinner in Venice, Paris or London, but that’s a whole different subject)
I totally concur. It is a fun and easy place to visit.
Then it has really changed. In the 90s, food was iffy, public toilets were non-existent, shopkeepers were suspicious and unhelpful. We traveled extensively when we lived there, and the further away from Lisbon, the friendlier the people were, and the better the food. Good to hear that Lisbon has finally embraced tourism.
There’s a huge building boom going on as well, including lots of hotels. It was impossible to take a photo of the skyline in Lisbon without including cranes.
António de Oliveira Salazar held an iron grip over the country from 1932 to 1968. He treated the people like they were children and resisted any changes from the outside world. It didn’t help that much of the world would have nothing to do with his government because of its colonial policies. Even after he was gone, his regime didn’t really collapse until 1974, when there was a military coup.
So Portugal was basically stagnant for over 40 years, while the rest of the world marched on. Portugal finally entered the EU and later was able to start getting monetary benefits from the alliances. But that was just starting to take hold in the early 90s, when I was there. Clearly, things have improved dramatically in the intervening 25 years.
As much as I enjoyed Lisbon and it’s delicious food, excellent wine, typically warm and friendly people and the extremely affordable prices, it was really obvious that the Portugese people as a whole do not speak English nearly to the level of other Western Europeans, (Dutch, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians in particular) even many of those working in tourist-centered locations and occupations, which I suppose could be a reason why more travellers don’t visit, which in turn might keep overall prices down.
In general, many Eastern Europeans, in particular the younger ones, speak at least semi-fluent English and are usually incredibly happy to practice when they meet a native English speaker, but for some reason, the Portugese, Spanish and Italian people generally don’t seem to have a high percentage of English speakers, even just compared to many former Communist countries, who apparently eagerly embraced learning English after the Cold War ended and they were able to freely interact with Western people.
The Gulbenkian museum had a good timeline of the history of Portugal and the info on the 1974 revolution was especially interesting. There was a photo of a soldier and some kids in the streets of Lisbon that I know I remember seeing around the same time. This isn’t the same one that’s in the museum, but it’s got the same feeling to it.
Our walking guide told us that as part of the 2008 European stimulus plan, Lisbon had to give up rent control; some long-time residents were paying as little as 20 Euros a month in rent. That’s kind of … amazing.
Personally when I visit a country whose primary language isn’t English, I don’t expect to be catered to. I try to learn at least enough to basically get by (and I’m really glad Google Translate exists with its audio files of the correct pronunciation of things - though that often leads to the other person I’m trying to talk to just using what English they know. Yep, I suck). I wish I’d had the opportunity to learn and use multiple languages as Europeans do. I took 4 years of French in school, and while I can read and write some basic French, I certainly cannot speak it. I would need to work hard here in the US to find a way to practice enough to be any good at that.
Anyway, that said - as far as I could tell, where plenty of tourists in Lisbon even in December. Just sitting in the square near our hotel and seeing the number of people joining tours and taking selfies there showed how popular the place is now.
And hey, Madonna lives there now (a smart-ass friend of mine told me if I saw her to say hi for him …).
I didn’t find it to be much of a problem in my time in Spain and Italy. But Portugal had decades of self-imposed isolation. The older Portuguese who spoke a second language tended to know some French, rather than Spanish as you may have suspected. But the younger crowd seemed to be studying English in school as a second language. Most of the younger Portuguese who worked in the US embassy were pretty fluent.
It’s been nearly 21 years since I was in Portugal, so things may have changed. When I was there, restaurants would usually bring bread, olives, and cheese before the meal - quite delicious (well, the bread and cheese were; Portuguese olives are fetid, IMHO), but not free. If you eat any of it, you get charged for it. It’s well worth it; eat up!
I found Portuguese food not to be tremendously varied (though I was only in Lisbon, so what do I know), but it was always wonderful tasting. It was as if they’d decided to concentrate on just a few basic dishes - salads, soups, bread, grilled meats - and figure out how to make them exquisite.
I’d been told about this prior to our visit (the appetizers being brought without mention you would be charged for them if you ate them); it just never happened to us. One odd thing that does happen in Lisbon when you go through the ‘restaurant row’ areas (for us that was mainly near Rossio Square) - you will find restaurants that have large photos of their food posted, and men who will approach you with large notebooks containing the same sorts of photos. They are mostly selling paella, which isn’t a Portuguese dish. Our walking guide told us this business sprung up due to visitors asking for paella, assuming that since Portugal shares the same land mass as Spain that the cuisine was the same. When we were on this very same tour, we were approached by one of these men. Our guide said something to him - just a brief one or two words - and he backed right off. I should have asked her what she said!
I also remember the people at the table next to us at the hotel restaurant on Christmas Day being disappointed that there wasn’t a special Christmas menu. Not sure what those folks were expecting - I’m just glad we got fed, and the meal being excellent was an extra bonus. I had pumpkin gnocchi (decidedly not Portuguese, and the restaurant didn’t know the English spelling of gnocchi, so it was listed as nhoque - Google Translate to the rescue on that one) served in a cheese sauce made from Portuguese cheeses. It was divine. I would have licked the plate had I not been in public. We asked the waiter for a red wine suggestion and he brought us something very good - and only 17 Euros. I’m still gobsmacked by the wine prices.
I’d also been told in advance that portions would be large. This was largely true. You will not go hungry if you decide to visit. Too bad I’m not a teenage boy.