Lisbon - The first impressions of the capital

We had just seen it from the mountain. Now we had already arrived. Lisbon 🥰

The first thing that stood out was that driving in the city was all about going up and down. That was perfectly fine. It only got strange when the GPS suddenly led us into streets where we both didn't think cars were allowed. But that's how it was 🥴. We had arrived in Bairro Alto, the vibrant bar and nightlife district, the home of our apartment. The streets were so narrow that the 360° cameras of our SUV kept turning on, the warning beepers went off multiple times at once, and making a turn without multiple attempts was almost impossible 🙈🍷. An SUV is definitely the wrong choice here. Due to the narrowness, Bairro Alto consists mainly of one-way streets. The problem is that these are driven in the opposite direction every day. So you have to orient yourself to the directions of other cars. That was clearly too much for the GPS. So we had to make four rounds through the streets until we finally found the only possible path to the underground parking lot. Then the next challenge was waiting. Entering the parking lot (which seemed to have been designed for toy cars) had nothing to do with normal parking, but rather resembled threading a needle with yarn 😂🙈. Well, after we had overcome this hurdle as well, Lisbon could come.

By now it was already 9 p.m. and after a quick check-in to our large and very chic apartment (about 80 sqm), we went in search of food. We found it in the middle of Bairro Alto at the restaurant Rosa da Rua. In retrospect, it had the most convincing overall concept of good food, a nice atmosphere, and very friendly service in Lisbon 👍.

We combined our first breakfast directly with sightseeing and visited the delicious but also overpriced Time Out Market, a large street food area of the local market hall. Strengthened, we continued along the Rio Tejo to the famous squares 'Praça do Comércio', 'Plaça do Rossio', and 'Praça dos Restauradores'. Again and again we explored the smaller side streets and other smaller squares on which you can almost always find a round kiosk for refreshment. As a newcomer to Lisbon, you are of course obliged to adapt to the local conditions and spend some time there with a refreshing drink 😉🍷. Here you can also enjoy the constantly changing views from one or the other hill 😊. If there is no kiosk around (unlikely), you can of course treat yourself to a freshly made Pina Colada from a pineapple from the roaming bicycle vendor for a mere 10€ to sweeten the view. It definitely tastes quite acceptable 😬.

We rounded off our first full day with a ride on the famous Lisbon Tram 28 through the narrow streets of Alfama. It's actually very fascinating how the mini tram wiggles its way through the streets. You could actually ring doorbells from the open windows 😳! You must not just walk out of your house here...