Life as J

Another gorgeous Mediterranean day - we started off with pastries at a local cafe, and then explored a super cool store filled with things that are made in Portugal. For lunch, we went to Cervejaria Ramiro, which was insane. We had tried going for dinner the night we arrived, but the line up was too long. Today, we made sure to go as soon as they opened for lunch, and we now understand why there would be such a crowd. The waiter was super helpful in recommending what to order and we ended up feasting on crab, the biggest tiger prawns I've ever seen in my life, and razor clams cooked in garlic and butter. So yummy!! After lunch, we headed to El Corte Ingles to see if we could round out our shopping for the day. It was interesting getting out of Alfama because there are definitely differences in architecture in the other neighborhoods of Lisbon. Buildings looked more modern, there were still residences that followed the same style, but not the majority. The only common feature was th...

What an amazing day for food - at our host's recommendation, we headed to Pois Café for breakfast. It was a much-needed healthy meal for both of us, and in a very comfortable, laidback environment.  From there, we explored the area around Praça do Comércio. We found a stall selling chestnuts that were roasted to perfection. The blackened chestnuts were cracked so that all you had to do was loosen one half, then the whole chestnut would pop out easily.  We kept on walking towards Mercado Da Ribeira and explored the market. There, we discovered Time Out Market - an unparalleled collection of mini restaurants serving up glorious food of all varieties... a foodie paradise! I wanted to try so many things but we had just eaten, so I was related to choosing one thing to try: a local specialty of codfish with scrambled eggs and sliced potatoes. We also got a couple of natas (Portuguese custard tarts) to go.  With full bellies, we decided to head for some wine tasting at the Instituto dos V...

Before leaving Spain, we had one last breakfast at La Mallorquina and a quick trip back to Primark. Packing was fairly smooth, then we were whisked to the airport in a taxi for our flight to Lisbon. Observations from the transportation: McDonald's in Spain has very classy decor in airports and train stations, the Iberia flight between Madrid and Lisbon had a lot of leg room in economy, and taxi drivers in Spain and Portugal are super skilled in driving along narrow streets. In Lisbon, we didn't realize how hilly this city is - lots of stairs are involved when walking around. Also, reservations are important for a lot of restaurants. We tried going to one restaurant, and ended up putting our names down for tomorrow. Then, at Cervejaria Ramiro, we waited for an hour before giving up and going elsewhere. We ended up dining at Via Graça, a pretty fancy restaurant at the top of a hill, overlooking the city. It was an amazing view, and the food was the most posh we've had the who...

We covered a lot of ground for our last lap around Madrid. Starting off with some churros and chocolate at Chocolatería San Ginés, we braved the cold weather with some hot beverages from Starbucks and headed to El Retiro Park, a.k.a. the green heart of the city. While wandering around the park, we saw fountains, a lake where people could rent row boats, the Palacio de Cristal (a huge glass building), a rose garden, and the Palacio de Velázquez (somehow affiliated with the museum of modern art - Reina Sofia). There were also musicians playing randomly, for the amusement of passersby and those sitting enjoying their coffee. The rest of the day, we rested and explored shops, making sure to keep warm in the cold weather. Tomorrow, we'll be off to Portugal!

Sunday in Madrid is a busy day. Everyone seems to be out and about, enjoying their pastries and coffee, and wandering through the largest open-air market in the country. We tried our hand at blending in with the locals (they weren't fooled in the slightest) - managing to get a table at La Mallorquina. Then, heading to El Rastro, the market that spills into streets as far as you can see, with hundreds of stalls, and thousands of people bobbing around the stalls looking for a piece of treasure. After the market, we had lunch then went to check out Primark - specifically, the second largest Primark store in the world. It was a towering 5-storey building, filled with impossibly low-priced clothing. It was filled with people looking for deals and grabbing whatever they could find - far more boisterous than any other clothing store I've ever visited. To finish off the day, we stopped by El Corte Inglés and then had dinner at Txirimiri for a second amazing meal.

Today, we walked through the entire Prado museum. We saw paintings collected from as early as the 12th century, all the way through to special exhibits featuring pieces created this year specifically for the museum. I learned to appreciate paintings by Goya, Diego Velázquez, Rubens, and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. There were a few paintings by Raphael on display as well, which was a pleasant surprise. Apart from the museum, we also enjoyed fresh churros with chocolate, breakfast at Mercado Antón Martín, and huevos rotos at Almendro 13.

Travel day! We had a simple coffee and pastry breakfast, shoulder to shoulder with local Sevillians at La Campana, then packed up and took the high-speed train to Madrid.  By the time we got settled in and replenished a few supplies at the local supermercado, our tummies were rumbling. From a recommendation, we decided to try dinner at Txirimiri, a tapas restaurant. It was fantastic - the octopus, tartar of avocado and shrimp, and fried hake were my favorites.  Tomorrow will be a museum day at Spain's largest museum: Prado.

Finally, a relaxing day with no fear of pickpockets, timelines, or political conflicts. We got to sleep in, eat whenever we wanted, looked in a few shops, and just took it easy. Highlights were just getting the R&R we needed! Tomorrow, we'll be heading to Madrid by train.

In Spain, the day after Halloween is a national holiday: All Saints Day. This meant that almost everything was closed except for restaurants and a few tourist attractions. Luckily we made reservations for the Alcazar palace in Seville. Since we knew everything was closed, it meant we had all the time in the world to walk around and explore the palace and adjoining gardens. The only limiting factors were hunger and how long our feet would last. The palace was a mix of the Arabian architecture we saw in Alhambra and traditional European architecture, due to influences after Seville was reconquered. I would say that Alhambra was more impressive, but that Alcazar has a wider variety of ceramics. After Alcazar, we meandered across the river to Triana and then to Plaza de España. We found a booth where we rented a 2-person bicycle cart thing - not sure how to describe it, but it was like two bicycles side-by-side in a cart formation with a roof. We had fun riding around Par...