a NOLA girl in a Big world

Lisbon is stunning. It’s vibrant and colorful. It’s ungodly hilly. Thankful to have had a few days rest prior to arrival, because I don’t know if my legs would have survived.

We started our adventure with the National Tile Museum. Lisbon is full of tile. The sidewalks, the streets, the buildings – are made of tile. Not ALL, but 70%. It makes every street you turn on, unique and beautiful. It’s picturesque.

The tile museum was wildly informative. Starting with how original tiles were hand carved and painted, to today using machines. The old tiling work is impressive. The skill and patience needed to create beautiful works of art on 4 x 4 squares is baffling. I could never.

And to see the entire city filled with tile, puts in perspective how painstakingly long it took to build. But I’m grateful for the colors of the tile in the city because this weather needs it.

Being a coastal city really has the weather all over the place. It’s sunny and hot, then cold and rainy. All in the matter of 30 minutes. Then it starts all over again. But when it rains – it’s gloomy, so the colors are needed. I’m a sucker for a colored door or window sill and thankfully there is no shortage here.

We walked and saw all the different town squares and popped into so many cafes. I’ve had more coffee the past 2 days, than I’ve had all year.

Oh and the tarts. These folks love their egg tarts. There is an egg tart cafe on every corner. How they all remain open, is a conundrum to me. Egg tarts aren’t my thing, so I don’t have a photo for you – but the desserts here are MAD GOOD. Not overly sweet like in the states and perfect size proportions.

Our plan for Lisbon is to go neighborhood by neighborhood and so far we have done Alfama, Baixa and Avenida.

This trip is about wandering. We have no plans and it’s been lovely. It’s a very different way to vacation – for the both of us. Philippa is a PLANNER, as am I, and it’s been nice to just go with the flow.

To … take the left when we see a pretty yellow street car.

To … enter a hole in the wall cafe that opens up to a stunning view

To … stumble upon a pink street and watch the locals gather around a TV to watch a champions league soccer match and yell and scream because their favorite team was losing.

Wandering has been good to us the past 2 days. Tomorrow, we head north, to wander and discover more.