Bob and Jan's Travels: Goodbye England - Helloooo Portugal

We actually slept quite well and got up to a quite vibrant and safe Luton. We hopped on our Easyjet flight to Lisbon at noon and arrived at 3 pm. After a rainy 8 days in England, it was beautiful here about 20C. Our taxi driver spoke no English but we were able to give him the address. We are staying at the Pensao Residencial Geres just off Rossio Square - this is an area very well known for its African population - we are quite close to Africa. We checked into our small and clean room with a view of the square. Great location. There are 4 main areas to explore in Lisbon: Bairro Alto and Chiado, Baixa, Alfama and Belem. We went for a walk in the Bairro Alto and Chiado areas. We took the Elevador da Gloria funicular up to this area. We stopped at the Port Wine Institute and had a couple of glasses of port each (a ten year old port and 20 year old port) - you have to try port as it originates here. It was very good but we determined that the younger port was fine for us and much cheaper. We went to the top of the Elevador de Santa Justa and had a great view of Lisbon. We walked by Cafe a Brasileira, a 100 year old cafe which was the literary and creative soul of Lisbon in the 1920's. We decided it was time for dinner and, after surveying a few restaurants, stopped at the Restaurante a Licorista down a back lane near Rossio Square. As we were seated, the waiter dropped off bread, codfish cakes and octopus salad - these appetizers are not free and if you do not eat them, they will not be on your bill. But we had to try - the octopus salad was delicioso! We ordered the grilled codfish to share (the Portuguese say there is 365 ways to prepare codfish) and Vinho Verde (another local favourite) - a wine translated meaning green wine referring to its age not its colour. The fish was delicioso and melted like butter in our mouths. The dinner ended with a shot of Ginjinha - a cherry liquer - delicisio again! Obrigado (thank you) to our waiter and back to our room for some rest, relaxation and blogging. We have our patio door open and listening to and watching the activity in the square. Love Portugal!