Lisbon, Portugal (part 1)

My trip to Lisbon in the summer of 2011 was divided into two parts. I arrived in the capital of Portugal on July 12, and left on July 17 to later return in August and spend another week there. I will divide the Lisbon post into two so that everything is chronologically mentioned. This was partly a business trip, since I needed to test native Portuguese speakers for a research project.  For this reason, during the first week in Lisbon I worked during the day, but was out and about at night exploring the local nightlife, so this first part shows more of that.

The hostel I chose in Lisbon was called Oasis Backpackers Mansion. Great place! So far the best hostel I’ve ever stayed in. They offered dinners every night for only 5 euros, which is less than you would spend at a restaurant in Lisbon. Comfortable beds, clean bathroom, and a BAR! The bar was a place to hang out and share experiences with fellow travelers. Bartenders Pedro and Nuno led the party, with delicious typical Portuguese drinks and music to get everyone in party-mode. I met some really cool travelers there, as well as locals.

Sangria

Oasis Backpackers Mansion was a little complicated to get to from Portela Airport. I had to take a bus and then walk for about twenty minutes up and down the many hills in the Chiado area. Twenty-minutes if I hadn’t gotten lost. I didn’t have a map with me, but I was able to ask someone for directions and finally found the hostel after walking up and downhill for almost an hour in the brutal summer heat. All I wanted was a drink, and a drink I had. After dropping off my backpack, I went to this small café at the Miradouro de Santa Catarina and had some cold and refreshing sangria to help with the jet-lag. Delicious Portuguese food for reasonable prices could be found nearby at Restaurante PRÍNCIPE do Calhariz (Calçada do Combro 28 1200 Lisbon, Portugal). A complete meal and a half-bottle of house wine cost less than 10 euros. A word of warning: most restaurants in Lisbon will charge you for dinner rolls and their respective spreads. If you don’t want to pay for it, do not touch it.

Back at the hostel, it was time to mingle with other travelers (after a well-deserved nap). I headed down to the bar and had my free welcome drink: the Caipirão. According to Pedro, bartender on duty, the Caipirão is very much like our Brazilian caipirinhas, but instead of cachaça, they use a famous Portuguese liqueur called Licor Beirão. Was it good? Definitely! Better than caipirinhas? I’d rather not answer that. The full-liquor bar opens at 6pm, and closes whenever they feel like it sometime after 1am. Mojitos, fresh-fruit sangrias, cold Super Bock on draft, Port wine, absinth, they have it all.

That night I met Lars, a Norwegian who sounded more Brazilian than me. I’m generally baffled by people who can speak Portuguese as a second language with such little accent. Like many other travelers I met, he had spent some time in South America, so he learned the language after living in Rio for a little less than a year. Quite impressive! The other Scandinavians I met that night were in Lisbon to surf. It’s important to mention that some areas right outside the capital are popular surfing destinations. In fact, many parts of the western and southern Iberian Peninsula receive surfers from all over the globe.

Praça Camões

After the 5-euro dinner served by the hostel chefs, and a few more drinks to help digest all that Portuguese deliciousness, 11:30pm was time to meet at Praça Camões  for what would be one of the most intense drinking marathons I had ever had the ‘pleasure’ to participate in: the Pub Crawl Lisbon. I mean, how scary can that be? We’re going to hit a few bars, chat with some locals and try some of their local brew, right? Not quite. Pub Crawl Lisbon is structured in the following manner: you will visit three venues. Two bars and a club. The first bar is where they collect your 12 euros (10 or 6 if you’re a second timer, and you should definitely be one) and give you a wristband for access to the other venues. The group will stay in that first bar for an hour, which they appropriately call “The Power Hour”. During the power hour, you are allowed to consume as much beer as you physically can, while the organizers come to you with trays filled with what I like to call ‘mystery shots’. They are shotglasses with some kind of alcohol in them, generally absinth and rum with Coke or Sprite as a mixer. The Power Hour is not for everyone. Some succumb after less than 45 minutes. Did I see a Belgian teenager passed out on the street covered in his own vomit? Sadly, I did.  The trick? Pace yourself, you’re not in college anymore (if you still are, go crazy). If you want to have a good time, use the Power Hour to socialize with fellow travelers so that you are going to the remaning venues in a group of five or six. It makes it easier to find your way back to the hostel as Lisbon is filled with hills, and they all look exactly the same after four hours of pubcrawling. One of our hostel mates was greeted by a homeless man who gently pissed on his feet as he was walking back alone, so don’t let that happen to you.

 
I vaguely remember my first pub crawl. I remember heading there with Lars and some of the surfers, along with Briallen and Claire, from Australia. Once there, we ended up mingling with travelers from other hostels, including a group from Belgium (that’s how I know the kid I mentioned above was from Belgium, not because he was wearing a Belgian flag as a shirt). When we went to the second venue, we were at least ten. The second venue was a busier bar where you could get one free drink with your wristband. I think there was a DJ there. I could be wrong. It all blurred together after that. The third venue was a nightclub, which the wristband gives free entry to. From what I noticed, that’s generally where everyone makes out with everyone. If you’re into that, don’t miss the final stop of the Pub Crawl.

Great Tower of Shotglasses

Since I was in Lisbon for about two split weeks, I went on the Pub Crawl three other times. American travelers Monica and Jennifer helped me build the Great Tower of Shotglasses you see on the right. My longtime friend Ryan joined me for the second half of my trip around Europe, so I took him to the Pub Crawl. The third time I don’t remember much, but I do remember that was the reason why I didn’t drink for a month after returning to the US. My liver was really mad at me at that point.

I have to admit that, as much as I love my job, it was hard to focus on work in Lisbon. Great food, cheap drinks, good weather… who wants to work? I’m glad I did, though, because one of my test subjects was Lisbon-native Carolina, whom I met again in Czech Republic during the EGG Summer School. Carolina and I became good friends, and she was nice enough to show me her hometown once we were both back in Lisbon (more details in the next Lisbon post).

Carcavelos

 

In spite of the busy work schedule, I managed to organize my time so I was able to go to the beach. Three other hostellers joined me, so we headed over to Cais do Sodré station and took the train to Praia de Carcavelos. Portugal has beautiful beaches, most of which are a little hard to get to from Lisbon. Carcavelos was not my favorite, but it was all right despite how crowded it was. Another word of warning: the Atlantic Ocean is ‘very’ cold even in the summer, so you may hyperventilate.  Drinking on the beach is allowed, and you will not wait more than 10 minutes until you see someone screaming: “Olha a cerveja!” That means they’re advertising cold cans of Sagres for one euro.  That’s a good deal for Europe.

 

During that first week in Lisbon, I was able to finish the first part of my work. Sadly, it was time to go, but I would return three weeks later. From Lisbon, I boarded a train to Porto, the second largest city in the country located about three hours north.  That’s where I started my first European road trip, which you’ll read about in the next post.