Lisbon trip (1, 2)

Thursday the 3rd of January

I slept about 3 hours due to wanting to leave the house tidy after my inlaws’s stay and of course having a baby makes it harder to go to sleep fast so that’s just how it was.

I was not in a good mood and I had planned to wear Lolita. It didn’t feel right and I wanted something more casual so I just picked random stuff really fast, put some foundation on (still struggling with post pregnancy severe acne) and just left the house like that. We wanted to leave the house at 9am but were a bit late and that resulted in freaking out a bit with not knowing if we would get to the train on time. It ended up being fine but I sighed with relief when we sat in our designated spot next to the “restaurant carriage” (which when traveling with a baby is very convenient).

I must have slept a ton because I don’t remember anything after the city of Aveiro and when I woke up we were already in Lisbon.

We were travelling with a bit of luggage since my inlaws have their suitcases filled with presents for their family members and friends so we chose to take 2 cabs instead of venturing in the subway.

My husband chose a small cozy Hotel called “As Janelas Verdes”. 

It's got charm due to the building and decoration as well as location but especially due to its history:

“The history of the Casa d’As Janelas Verdes is connected with that of the street from which it took its name:

When king Dom Manuel built a Royal Palace in Santos at the beginning of the XVI century, a number of aristocratic families also came to live in the area, along with some religious orders. The Casa d’As Janelas Verdes and its annexes belonged to one of those families – the Counts of São Lourenço-Sabugosa – who owned several large properties in the same part of the city.

The Rua das Janelas Verdes (Green windows street) became one of Lisbon’s main thoroughfares and formed part of a major road that ran from the Chiado quarter to the Belém area. Its importance only decreased when a landfill extended the city’s shoreline into the Tagus Estuary and subsequently made it possible to build Rua 24 de Julho.

However, the predictable decline that ensued actually helped enhance the street’s history when in 1880 two English ladies opened a small guesthouse in part of the former Mariano Convent. Frequented by numerous writers and intelectuals – António Nobre, Oliveira Martins, Antero de Quental, Guerra Junqueiro and Batalha Reis among others – it became the meeting place of some of the greatest artistic and literary figures of the time.

The XIX century thus witnessed a renewal of the street’s vocation. It took on a literary and cultural dimension that has become internationally recognized and has remained alive until today.

The great novelist Eça de Queirós made a dicisive contribution to this evolution when he located “O Ramalhete” – the famous house in the novel “Os Maias” – in the street. Eças immortalization of the whole of the Janelas Verdes quarter at the beginning of his masterful tale made the street the object of an obligatory pilgrimage on the part of thousands of Queirós fans who come from Portugal and abroad to visit.

The possibility that Queirós himself lived in the count of Sabugosa’s house for a while makes the writer’s presence in the quarter even more vivid, enriching the past of a house that takes us back to a time that is worth revisiting.”

As my husband is a fan of Portuguese literature I completely understand why he would want to stay in this particular place.

The hotel is not very stroller friendly but it does have an elevator. It’s antique looking, cozy, not too big and it is also very pleasant as the guest has total freedom to walk around and even use a small “kitchen” to get drinks, tea, cake, etc on his own. Some of the things at our disposal are for free but some are not and it is up to the guest to write down what he has consumed and then give it to the hotel desk upon checking out. I find that freedom and also trust to be rather pleasant.

Anyway we went to our rooms, enjoyed them for a bit and left.

It was lunch time and we were starving.

We ate at a local small and rather plain restaurant and chose from the daily specials. I got the bacalhau com natas and it was good. It was also cheap so yay.

After that we had to make a choice: visit the neighbor Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga or visit the Belém area. The fact that my inlaws were tired made us stay here and visit the museum.

I do not regret the choice because I loved it there and I hadn’t been there yet either. Enjoy these lovely photos of some of the museum’s collection:

After that we returned to the hotel and rested. I also had my afternoon tea and enjoyed the view from the balcony.

At 8 o’clock my inlaws told my husband that they still weren’t feeling like going out to have dinner and so me and my husband decided to go get some Pastéis de Belém for them to try. They are very famous and they taste like a piece of heaven.

We got back carrying a bunch and went up to the third floor where there’s a library but also a place where we can get tea, coffee or chocolate. 

We had tea and ate these delicious little tart like temptations and everyone was really happy with that choice.

After spending some time there with Mari we decided it was time to head back to the hotel rooms and rest as well as get things ready for tomorrow.

I took a bath with Mari and got my outfit out for tomorrow and just felt asleep in an instant. I was beat.

Friday the 4^th of January

Everyone woke up early and we went downstairs for breakfast. I love breakfast in hotels so much! All the different options and eating things i don't really eat for breakfast like fried bacon is so much fun! 

We then came up and started getting things ready for leaving. 

I asked my husband to take some pictures of what i was wearing before then because I knew if I didn't take them now i wouldn't take any later. The dress was super wrinkled though, traveling with such a small trolley and whatknot doesn't help.

We called a cab and left for the airport. My inlaws had so many suitcases + Mari's cart + my small trolley so it was hard to manage to get all of them into the taxi, it was a little like playing tetris. 

At the airport we did the usual airport stuff, just waiting for the check-in to open and then staying in line.

This made me think about how weird i must look to these people. Some of them were wearing track suits for comfort and i have even on one occasion traveled with my triple fortune hat with a huge veil and feathers. I really did feel like a freak thinking about it. :X

So then we just went to the departure entrance gate and hugged, cried and all that terrible jazz that goes on when someone you love leaves. They took a final photo with their grand daughter and we saw them disappear in the crowd.

We then took care of Mari because she was getting upset (hungry and needed to change diapers) and finally got in the subway back to downtown lisbon. My husband could have gotten out earlier to get on a train back to Porto but he was super nice as usual and decided to help me find my hostal instead.

Mari really likes buses, trains, cars... her cart.... she likes the movement and usually falls asleep or stops crying when on one of those. The same happened on the subway. I think its super cute. <3

We left in the downtown area and took a while to find the hostal but finally did and it wasn't hard at all if we didn't forget the door number. After checking online it took us 2minutes. 

The street is pretty famous but its a very annoying place to walk in because there are a couple restaurants and every time you go by one there's a guy tying to get you to go in. Since I'm sleeping there i have to go through this over and over and over again. 

There's a subway and a sex shop right next to the hostal and a hair salon in the same building. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out which one is most useful. haha

Anyway we had lunch in a small regular restaurant in the area that has ok food for a very cheap price and I walked my husband and Mari to the nearby Terreiro do Paço where he got on the tram to the train station. I miss them so much! Gah

I didn't have plans for the rest of the day so i checked some of the nearby stores and sales. I think sales are pretty weak this year. I want to get new boots but the ones i like are all around 50 euros on sale. 50 euros doesn't sound cheap at all so i'm disappointed. 

I got a pair of over priced pants for work, a hat that wasn't on sale but i always want the hats, all the hats!, a bag that i don't need but always loved, two hair bows and a corsage that day. I also got a ton of clothes for Mari. I kind of overspent.

But clothes look so cute in mini size! How can anyone not wanna buy them all?

I tried making two sets that would match and they had tights in the same color of the teal t-shirt but not in her size so i'll try to get them at ZARA but in my area. Crossing my fingers.