D-Man and I road-tripped it to Lisbon for our anniversary, and after six hours of mushed-up butt syndrome, the sight of O Cristo-Rei was a welcomed one. Overlooking Lisbon, O Cristo-Rei was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
And so, we rattled down Ponte 25 de Abril and into the heart of Lisboa.
D-Man and I quickly found our hotel in Plaça de Pedro IV, dropped off our luggage, and skipped out to stretch our legs, de-numb our butts, and enjoy the views…
Plaça de Pedro IV
Clock on Rua Augusta
Praça do Comércio…enjoying a refreshing breeze from the Tagus River.
D-Man lived in Lisbon for over two years back in his day, and thought it wise to begin our evening with the fruity fiery water known as ginjinha – a strong cherry liqueur. Served as a shot, what really does you in are the soaked cherries at the bottom of your drink.
Ginjinha shop in Lisbon…’twas happy sailing from here on out.
So happy, in fact, that we hopped onto this cheery little tram that took us up to Bairro Alto, where we wined, dined, and made friends with the Portuguese bartender who fed us Brazilian caipirinhas all night long. Which is why making our way down steep little lanes like this one in the wee hours of morning soon became the feat of a lifetime…
Mere hours later, The following morning, D-Man and I decided to return to Bairro Alto for more touristic purposes. Bleary-eyed and exhausted, we looked to El Elevador de Santa Justa for help, and she agreed to take us on up to Bairro Alto for the better part of the day…
View of Plaça de Pedro IV from Bairro Alto’s Carmo Square.
Feeling nostalgic, D-Man took me to his favorite bakery in the district he used to live in, Bairro de Belém. Originally owned by monks, Pasteis de Belém serves strong coffee shots and sweet custard mini-pies that are still made with the original 175-year old recipe.
Caffeine coursing our veins and our tummies filled, we took off towards the Tagus River, where ships once departed to make their way to other worlds. The Padrão dos Descobrimentos, shown below, celebrates the Portuguese Age of Exploration, which occurred in the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese conquests have included Brazil as well as territories in Africa, India, Malaysia, and China.
Padrão dos Descobrimentos
Torre de Belém, the Padrão‘s neighbor on the Tagus River.
As we do, D-Man and I made our way to other sights, walked the cobble-stoned streets, and stuffed ourselves with a variety of Portuguese and Brazilian food, which I forgot to photograph as I was busy being a silly, dazzled num nuts whenever D-Man spoke Portuguese to our waiters.
Next stop, Sintra!
Love Mondegreens 
We adore Lisbon – spent Christmas 2009 there in an amazing flat we rented in the centre. The 28 tram went right past the door! Looks like you had a fantastic time…some lovely photos and you both look so happy! We´re hoping to get to Oporto soon…have you been? Lisbon is such a beautiful city with everything including the sea (and great custard tarts of course).
Tarts! I couldn’t think of the word for the life of me, and wrote “mini-pies”. :)
I haven’t been to Oporto, though David went several years ago. We did go to the Algarve together back in the Fall of 2008 – it’s beautiful there as well. I would love to keep going back to Portugal to learn more about it! (And have more of those tarts!)
Hahaha! “mushed-up butt syndrome”. I had this all through Bulgaria ;)
I want to try Ginjinha! Getting wasted with your man is one of the best things in life :) And I love it when you’re travelling with somebody to a place they have lived in, it’s such a different experience!
(And I don’t know how you always manage to do a friggin butt-mushing roadtrip and still look like you just got out of a magazine editorial!)
I agree, it’s quite nice being shown around and told the history of the city by your own personal and loving tour-guide. ;)
I’m so sad that I didn’t bring a bottle of Ginjinha back with me! They also had chocolate Ginjinha – it looked like a thick delicious chocolate liqueur mixed in with the cherry liqueur. I didn’t try this one, but it looks like it would be a great dessert.
(P.S. There is a reason why I chose the photo that was taken of me from FAR away. ;) 6-hours of mushed-up butt syndrome makes me look like the “celebrities in rehab” section.)
(P.P.S. I want to hear more about your latest trip to Bulgaria! The pictures are breathtaking!)
gorgeous photos of Lisbon (yet to go. darn it!) and happy memory making after one yr of marriage! now that you are on to more years of wedding bliss, don’t get too anxious for children until after 30!. just imagine those steep little lanes with a baby carriage (or better yet, a stubborn toddler), much better to handle even with a bit of drink. (says me who was on a beach in the south of france and proclaimed life a bit boring…how ’bout some kids? – we laugh about it now. – boring?? on a beach in the south of france??) :) happy anniversary…..
Hi Monique! Thank you. :) Perhaps you’ll get to go soon! Are you and your family taking any detours when you come visit Italy?
Nooo waaay, kids are not on the horizon anytime soon! (Though they’re awfully cute these days…) I’d like to enjoy the rest of my 20s and perhaps a bit more, which should allow for a hefty amount of time! I cannot imagine having to trek up any steep slopes with little ones.
Your memory of Southern France reminds me of when David and I got stuck in Cinque Terre, Italy for an extra 2 days (a total of 5), because we got caught in a terrific tropical storm. We were so desperate to leave the hostel, it was quite boring being cooped up…but THANK GOD it was just us! :)
i dont think any detours – will prob stay put by the lake – as much as Id love to go to many other surrounding places.
good for you! I was 32, and david was 40 when our first was born and we both had traveled (together and separately) tons prior, altho it’s never enough!
pity, not tried Ginjinha last time. wish i have a chance to go to lisboa again, lol. looking forward to your next journey and happy anniversary!
Thanks Fiona! I really wanted to try a kind of Portuguese cheese David had told me about, but sometimes you’re so busy doing all of these other things that it’s simply overlooked! I hope you get to try Ginjina someday :)
Absolutely beautiful pics, as always Michelle. I’d love to go to Portugal someday… well I’d love to go everywhere some day but that’s a whole other story :D Looks like you guys really enjoyed your little get-away. I was going to say something about D-man’s Portuguese and you guys celebrating well into the night but this is a family blog and I’m not one to defile that :D :D :D
Now I’m curious as to what you were going to say! :)
I’d love to keep going everywhere… I have yet to make it to Asia or South America. And I’ve only been to Northern Africa – there are so many places I’d love to see, and sooooo many foods I’d love to try! Really, it makes me want to throw myself on the ground when I see my long list of “countries and cultures I want to experience” and “languages I’d love to pick up so I can be one of those cool people that ever-so-casually state: ‘Oh, I speak 5 languages.'” ;)
Lovely pictures, lovely occation, lovely city… although I liked Porto more :) Nice shoes by the way :)))
Thank you love! And I’ll keep Porto in mind for the future! :)
Great post…..I adore the boots in the first photo!!!:-D
Thanks! They’re my absolute favorite! :)
I love the photo of the red boots! Awesome!
And Lisboa makes me want to explore more of Portugal!
I love your brief little history lessons and names of all the sights in your posts. Sometimes (most of the time), I’m too lazy to actually pay attention to where I am, let alone include it in my posts. Glad you take the time to highlight the spots. Fun reading this post again now that I’m in Lisboa!
I hope you and your brother are having lots of fun in Lisboa! Make sure to go to Bairro Alto for a fun night out. :) I can be lazy when it comes to the names of things too, but what I sometimes do is photograph what I see, then look up extra info online later. It’s really cool for me to read the history of places and sights, especially after having been there! This particular trip though, D-Man had tons of info in his head and was really just an awesome tour guide.
Where are you guys off to next?? :)