Saturday, 5 September 2015: Back to Lisbon
Written 23 June 2016
On Saturday, it was time to head for Lisbon, where we would stay the night before catching our flight home on Sunday morning. After a last run at the Melia Ria's great breakfast buffet (left), we retired to our rooms to pack, got a cab to the train station, bought our tickets, and set about prospecting for lunch in the area.
On the plaza in front of the station, we came to this piece of art, larger than the one near the hotel, and this time with some facial features, but clearly by the same artist. Appropriate to a train station, it has arrows all over its legs, and I think that's supposed to be a suitcase by its feet.
While David watched the luggage, I scouted for few blocks around and found this place, which posted much of its menu in the form of photos mounted on the columns outside its door.
Alas, many of the dishes were available only at suppertime, but we still did just fine. This view of the interior gives an idea of the atmosphere—butcher paper over cloth tablecloths, almost communal seating, hand-written menu of the day on the tables.
I ordered the marinated grilled chicken, which was pretty good. David, uncharacteristically, chose the "mixed grill" of sausages, chops, and cutlets.
Both came with white rice, fries, and salad
Dessert was chocolate mousse—no photo; it looked just like chocolate mousse.
After lunch, it was back to the train station, which, like so many others, was heavily decorated with glazed tiles.
A nearby shop window displayed these fanciful creatures. At first glance, I thought they were made of bread, but given their pale color and the large basket of ovos moles on the shelf below them, they are probably meringue.
The train ride was uneventful, and the motel we had picked out near the airport was entirely satisfactory—the right-hand photo shows my room, neat, spare, cool—except that it's restaurant essentially served TV dinners.
I therefore poked around in Google and located a couple of promising spots. Our top choice was a roast-suckling-pig place that looked wonderful, but after hiking over there we found it closed for renovations.
We ended up at O Patio do Tony." On this, the uphill side, no patio was in evidence, but the large picture windows out the back were 15 feet off the ground and did give a terrace-like feel.
We started with this lovely creamy, crumbly cheese, described on the label as "queijo do vaca e ovelha curado," which I take to mean "ripened cow and sheep cheese." I wonder why we never saw this one on the Hemming.
I ordered the pork cutlets, and David had the skewer of turkey. Again, they both came with fries and white rice; very good bread on the side.
We shared the Brazilian feijoada (so called on the menu, to alert us that it would be made with black beans).
At the right here is the display of cheeses. I can't quite make out the maker's name, even in the larger version of the photo, blown up to full size.