Friday, October 15, 2010

Flea markets and new shoes in Lisbon

At 8am we are jostling together in the small shared bathroom after all the young things in the hostel have departed following hours of grooming and using up all the hot water. After breakfast Alan decides to do his own thing as he suspects Rose, Sue and I will be doing too much shopping for his liking. He departs to ride the hop on-hop off bus around the city. We walk up the little alleyways of the old town to find the Tuesday morning flea market up by a cathedral. It is very much a flea market - mostly old junk but I buy two fabulous tunics from a young designer. We meet up with Alan back near our hostel to have lunch and to toast Rose, who is leaving us in the afternoon, with a jug of sangria.


Alan, Sue and I walk back into town and visit a couple of fabulous exhitibitions. At the Viva la Republique exhibition on tourism in the early 20th century we buy lots of  postcards and arty gifts. Afterwards Alan does his own thing again and explores museums and takes lots of photos around town. Sue and I do some serious 'shop bothering' without too much luck although I do manage to buy two pair of shoes - a pair of red scholls and cheap sandals. Near the main square by the port while we wait for Alan I ceremoniously dump my old black sandals in a bin. They are barely hanging together after the many hundreds of kilometres walked on this trip.


We collapse back at the hostel on our bunks for a few hours until going out for our final dinner in Lisbon. The restaurant is empty when we arrive.


Sue:


"Restaurant Trigio Latino is just a stone's throw from our guesthouse Beira Mar. It is decorated in a combination of retro furniture and modern tile art. Front of house is a charming young Portugese man wearing a vest and jeans and his Swedish partner. We start with a complimentary cocktail and after some advice I choose the duck and date pie. Lee chooses the prawns with a mango sauce while Alan has stuffed chicken breasts with a mushroom sauce. The wine is good - a Duoro red for me and Lee and Alan has a white. The restaurant is packed as we wait for our desserts. I have the zablagione with eucalyptus icecream, Lee has the fresh pineapple with chocolate sauce and Alan a blackberry cheesecake with basil icecream, which he tries to swap for mine."



Goodbye Rose - we miss you!

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