Exhausted from yesterday, we started our morning slow and didn't head out until close to 11am. We walked to the Pastelaria Versailles (check out the photo of the inside of the place) to get some pastries for breakfast. This bakery has been here for over 100 years. There were a bunch of older men working the long counter. We got ours togo, but several people were inside and outside at tables enjoying a cup of coffee. We decided to find a bench under a tree and eat our goodies. They were fabulous except the ones that looked like mini donuts...those were even too sweet for me - and that is saying a lot! After these treats we headed toward the Hop on Hop off buses. On the way we passed another bakery and thought we may need a bus snack. We came upon the Pastelaria Sequeira, which had also been in business since 1902. They didn't speak English as well, but we did leave there with two fabulous little cheese sandwiches!
We made our way to the same Hop on Hop off bus company that we had been riding all over Spain. But in Portugal they didn't take a credit card. Several places in Lisbon didn't take credit cards. So luckily we've had enough Euros on us when we needed them, but there have been a few meals that we could have been in trouble! - So we get our tickets and begin today's adventure. We took the red line first (there is also a blue line). It went on for about an hour and a half, and at one point at the Marina we did actually hop off. The red line comes by every half hour and the blue line is every hour. So we made a mental note to ourselves not to hop off the blue line! We also hopped off by the train station and I got a Starbucks and we walked around a bit. We hopped back on and took it back to the main bus area where we hopped off and hopped right onto the blue line. We made about 4 stops and we decided since it was about 3pm we'd better get lunch. So we hopped off.
We walked around in a wonderful pedestrian area and looked at several restaurants. Guy chose Moma Bistrot. He was wanting to either have calamari or little fried mackerels. So today's special just happened to be little fried fishies. I got some photos to document his lunch, but he didn't eat the heads. He apologized to the waitress that he left the heads on the plate, but she said she is Portuguese and she does not eat the heads either. She didn't like eating the eyes and teeth she said. But she did love the tails because they were crunchy and delicious. So as we are waiting for the check, this adorable Indian family sits a few tables over. They had two little boys, one about 3 and one about 9months (he had maybe 4 or 6 teeth in the front if you moms out there can put an age to that description). The waitress had brought them menus (paper) and the baby began eating the menu. It was hilarious. He would take a bite and then spit it out. He was like blowing it out of his mouth. We were dying laughing, but the mom had him on her lap and she was laughing, too. I got up to go to the bathroom and when I came back, the menu was gone and the mom was covered in tiny pieces of paper. The little bugger was adorable with black hair and big brown eyes. Funny.....
So as we walked back to the bus pick up area we hopped onto the bus that came immediately. We are already seated when I asked Guy if it was the red or blue line. It was the red, so we hopped off! Remember we had earlier made a "note to self" to not hop off the blue bus because it ran hourly? Well we kinda forgot about that. So we seriously stood there and people watched for easily 40 minutes. When the blue line did come by we were ready to sit! So we rode the bus for well over an hour and we called it "the bus that went nowhere". Really, some of the areas we went were kinda sketchy and not really worthy of our limited tourist hours. It even went to the airport. Really? We decided that it was only to promote the Portuguese airline. The blue line also went onto the main roads (almost like an interstate) and when you are on top of the bus and it is open, that gets a bit scary going so fast. If in Lisbon, we don't recommend you take the blue route of the Hop on Hop off bus. In our opinion, your time is better spent in the area down by the marina or the square by the train station. We did hop off early because it was close by the hotel and it was a bit drizzly, so we went into a mall - the El Corte Ingles. It had everything you could ever need. A movie theater with 14 cinemas, a grocery store, clothes, electronics, gourmet foods, restaurants, souvenirs...the list goes on! After a quick look around we headed back to the hotel.
Once back to the hotel it is nearly 7:30. We are tired. So we Trip Advisored a place to eat. We contemplated going back to Limoncello, but decided from 2000 possible restaurants in the area, we should probably try a new place. We chose a bistro called Lateral. It is like 33rd out of 2000 places and it had a variety of options and was within walking distance to the hotel. We did catch a cab on the way there because it was raining and it cost less than 4 euros. I'm not sure the cab driver was too happy...but maybe he'll get us tomorrow when we have to go to the airport. :) The driver turned onto the street, but was heading in the wrong direction, so we just had him stop and we walked back less than one block to the restaurant. The staff was friendly and like we have recently become used to... they brought out an appetizer but don't tell you it cost 2.60 euros per person if you ate it. Guy read it on the menu. At least last night at Limoncello they did tell us there was a charge if we wanted to keep the appetizer. So we kept it and it was good - bread with a couple of hummus options and butter. Guy ordered a hamburger and I had a Caprese sandwich that had eggplant on it. Guy said his burger was good and he'd order it again. Mine was good, too, but I would not give it another go in the future. The potato wedges I had were good, but he had the fries and they were cold. They were skinny fries like Steak 'n Shake and they called them salted chips, so maybe they were supposed to be more like long skinny potato chips. We weren't sure. So at the end of the meal we ordered a chocolate mousse because people were giving it great reviews online. It was certainly delicious, but extremely rich! Almost like eating icing.
We walked back to the hotel because the rain had stopped and even though it was about 7 or 8 blocks, it was a nice walk. Back at the hotel I got the pictures from today downloaded, filled out some post cards and chatted with mom on the phone and Amanda via Viber. Even tho today's blog isn't really too detailed, the day was action packed and we got a lovely narrated tour of the city. The photos from today really tell the story of the bus tour and what we saw. Blessed again, the weather was gorgeous until the very end of our bus ride when the drizzle moved in. It already seems to be clearing off.
So now the packing begins...yikes. There is no way it will all fit into our bags and we didn't buy a little duffel bag or anything, so we'll see how it all goes in the morning and since our flight doesn't leave until noon, we figured we could make an emergency run to a shop for a bag if necessary. :) Good night from Lisbon. Looking forward to tomorrow night - sleeping in our own bed and seeing Nero.
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