First up this morning…purchase a Viva Viagem card. This is the magic way to ride public transport in Lisbon. One can ride the metro, trams and busses by waving one’s card at the fare reader. Only sold at metro stations.
There was a bit of a tussle between Me and the card-selling Machine. It politely declined my Visa debit card twice. I figured trying it three times was only for those of unsound mind. I noticed the woman next to me inserting cash into her machine. Oh! The moment she was done, I claimed my place and fed sufficient cash to the hungry machine. In return, I got my Viva Viagem card, zapping option. Meaning you simply put some amount on the card and then come back and zap more euro on it as needed.
Cards in hand, we went in search of the 15E tram, which would take us to the Torre de Belém (Tower of Belem) and the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Monastery).
I will leave the destination descriptions to Grubb today. I’ll just say that once again, I enjoyed the journey more than the destination. Perhaps this is a karmic life lesson.
The meal of the day? Kind of disappointing. True to form, we both went with cod. We waffled between that and grilled octopus. The picture of the cod won out. Corn bread crusted cod on a bed of steamed collard greens. The fish was dry, and the flavor was bland. I did start with a port wine tonic with lemon and lime. That was yummy. Grubb ordered a side of sheep’s cheese as a spread for the crusty bread.
Tomorrow, maybe we branch out to a paella or an octopus dish. We shall see.
We agreed that a cup of gelato would make up for the disappointment. I promptly googled “gelato near me” while Grubb wandered off in the entirely wrong direction. Big sigh. Intrigued by this tower elevator.
And yes, we did have our gelato. Cuz what’s a day without ice cream? Decadent dark chocolate for me, nutty pistachio for Grubb.
Moira and I have eaten enough boring Kabeljau (that’s German for cod) to think what you had looked better than average (though, if dry, maybe overcooked). Me, I’d have gone for the octopus (and the pistachio ice cream).